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Yes, I met Winnie Mandela once, and being scared of her is also a form of racism.
It is very rare to encounter anybody of real consequence in your life. I probably only met two such people in my life. One of them was Winnie Mandela. Whenever I tell people from South Africa that I knew her, they always react with horror or fear. They tell me “don’t tell anyone else that”. In fact I remember that when she came for the visit, even the people arranging it were very, very scared of her.
So much so that, the local people could not really understand why they were so scared.
I can only talk of my experience with her. She was a warm, caring person who always greeted us kids with a smile and hugs. We were not quite sure what to make of her as we were in graduate school then. Three of us — two brothers (both of them quite famous now) and me (the nobody) who was their friend. They were nice kids, and I liked them, so I used to visit them from time to time to talk and do what all young people do.
I remember walking into an almost empty auditorium and one the way I met a very famous politician — minister, chief minister, then a central minister with a pretty heavy portfolio. You don’t encounter such people in a normal life. This man was pretty famous — and there he was with one more person trailing him, and when I came across him on the way, I was…
