Arnie’s no show for Abhi

Arnold Schwarzenegger preferred to gorge on naan and daal over presenting an award to Bollywood actor Abhishek Bachchan. The 64-year-old Hollywood actor-turned- politician was due to attend the Green Globe Foundation Awards on Thursday evening to present Abhishek with a trophy for Outstanding Contribution by a Celebrity in creating a greener environment. But Arnie, as he is fondly called, skipped the gala to dine at Hotel ITC Maurya’s Bukhara restaurant.

Organisers of the event were befuddled at this. “We went to him asking him to come but he just didn’t,” said a source. Abhishek, on the other hand, pleaded ignorance. “I had no idea. I wasn’t told anything like that (about being presented an award by Arnie). I was just told that I’ll be honoured,” he said.

Schwarzenegger, however, tried making up for his absence by congratulating Abhishek on Twitter. “Congrats on the Green Globe, @juniorbachchan. More celebrities should be pumping up green progress. I’ll be back, & we should get together (sic),” he posted.

At Bukhara, Arnie asked for a tandoori fare — sikandari raan, tandoori jhinga, dal bukhara, bharwan kulcha and ended the meal with kulfi and rasmalai. A cigar connoisseur, he also went shopping for cigars at Kastros at the Santushti Complex. “He bought a pack of Cuban cigars from here. I couldn’t meet him, but he left a cigar for me,” says Manish Datt, owner of the store.