Arif & Pitt bond.

I have critical new information on Pitt-Jolie in Pune.

The rickshaw driver who took them on their famed 20 minute rickshaw ride through my beautiful home city has been identified as Arif Mohammed Hussain Bohri.
At 27 his life has changed forever. The media is hounding him, the rickshaw driving crowd all want to be him.

A simple man. Driving his rickshaw around town. This day was like any other. He picked up a couple in Lullanagar (very close to my house in Pune incidentally) who said they wanted to go to Le Meridien. They were a friendly couple and chattered excitedly about going to see a 'film shooting' at the hotel. He dropped them off. The hotel was chaotic with reporters and photographers. Must be someone famous he thought but wanted to get out of there as quickly as possible. Just as he was about to zip off, a hotel employee grabbed him. " We need you just for 15 minutes," he said and led Arif into the basement of the hotel.

He had no idea how famous the three people were who sooned climbed into his rickshaw. He was instructed to drive them around the city for a bit -just generally show them around. But everywhere he zoomed, the photographers and journalists followed. It wasn't a fun ride and soon the man in the back seat asked him to return to the hotel.

This is my favorite part: He had no idea how famous these people were until an employee back at the hotel said to him "Jitna Amitabh Bachchan India mein famous hai, yeh dono utne duniya mein famous hai" (this couple is as famous around the world as Amitabh Bachchan is in India).

Pitt even patted him on the back and called him "a nice man, a good driver" and the hotel gave him 500 rupees (just over 10 dollars) for what would have been a 60 rupee ride.

Oh dear.

I'm turning into a trashy tabloid journalist. Sigh. Well at least I am not saying "Pitt and Jolie forced to flee in rickshaw after media hounds them". Forced? Flee? It was a rickshaw ride! Life is a rickshaw ride. Gettit?