The elegant Simi Garewal recalls Benazir Bhutto who assassinated on December 27 , 2007 with great affection. “She was strong and vivacious…. That something so ghastly could happen to her, it’s just so horrible. My crew of Rendezvous With Simi Garewal messaged me to say they remembered how I interviewed her in Dubai.”
Speaking on the Pakistani firebrand, Simi said, “The Benazir I knew was not just a superb stateswoman and politician, she was a friend. The minute we met for our Rendezvous we bonded as though we had known each other all our lives. I remember she had walked into the room where we were setting up equipment for the Rendezvous. She came in without a dot of makeup, her hair in a simple knot. When she saw how we had moved around everything in her home in Dubai, she exclaimed, ‘Oh my God! What have you done to my room!’My crew was smitten instantly. They found her so beautiful. Then she came down for the interview. We just bonded and it lasted far beyond the Rendezvous. I felt she was a friend I knew from school.
The one really vivid memory Simi has of that Rendezvous was the tea Benazir served after the interview. “She not only cut the cake and served the tea herself, she gave it personally to every member of my team. This was Benazir! I never felt I was sitting with a former and future prime minister. I felt I was bonding with a female friend… Yes, I felt the same with Jayalalitha. But not to this extent. Benazir and I giggled and giggled. After the Rendezvous, she said we must meet again in London. We used to spend a lot of time in London over dinners and lunches. Benazir, her sister Sanam, my sister Amrita and I had a sisters’ lunch in London.”
Benazir, says Simi, was very close to her sister. “I don’t know whether Benazir and her sister were as close as I am to my sister… but Benazir kept us entertained throughout. She had seen my documentary on Rajiv Gandhi. She was very, very curious about him. We talked about make-up. Benazir thought her make-up was terrible and she wanted tips from me. We spoke about everything from politics to astrology to the media…we spoke about so much so fast! We met many times. She could never stop laughing about how I tried to make her pose for the opening titles of the Rendezvous. She kept on saying, ‘What on earth were you making me do?’ She’d go into uncontrollable peals of laughter. That infectious laughter still rings in my ears. I still have her lovely letter saying how much she loved the show. We discussed her politics constantly. I remember Benazir being certain she’d be back as the prime minister. How was she to know death would be a much larger certainty?”
