I am told the Yerwada prison has become a major tourist attraction drawing Sanjay fans from all over the world who come in specially chartered flights to spend a few awed moments outside his cell.  I decided  to check it out.

What was a sleepy town is noisy with buses offloading chattering families.The streets are lined with souvenir stalls and Bollywood music batters the eardrums. One stall was even selling  cigarette butts purportedly smoked by Dutt .

The jail itself has a red carpet leading right upto the cell. The ticket was steep but it did not deter the thronging fans,  who chanted Sanjay Sanjay reverently as the queue snaked along. Closer to arathi time twice a day , I am told there is usually a stampede.

Welcoming the fans at the entrance to the jail is the Goaler himself with his right hand in plaster.  He waved it under my nose "See this is the hand Sanjay Baba shook when he left."

 "You mean he actually shook hands with you!  You must've been very kind to him".

"Well"…, he looked modestly proud" , I took his meals to him myself. And saw to it that all his favourite dishes were flown in from the Taj, Mumbai and he loved my wife's rasmalai"

"He came to your house for dinner?"

"Oh no, my wife and daughters came to meet him.  My wife brought the rasmalai.  Now she is exporting  her 'Sanjay rasmalai' all over the world."

" You must have made the poor chap feel very welcome"

"You see he couldn't couldn't sleep.  We imported a spring mattress from the US and installed a hi-end Bose music system"

"That's wonderful. He is used to great comfort"

 "See that split level air-conditioning - we had it installed in his cell….. he cannot be expected to sleep in all this heat.. And that door next to his cell leads to a sauna, steam room and his own personal gym"

"You really worked hard at making him feel good. What did Sanju Baba do for entertainment?"

"That is what the theatre is for. It has  a 70 mm screen ,quadrophonic sound system and over 20,000 DVDs. We even had entertainers like Rakhi Sawant and Daler Mehendi fly down to perform for him"

 "We have to treat our prisoners like human beings. But tell me what is that silver frame doing on the wall ?"
"It is framing a word carved into the wall by Sanjay's own hands".

 "Yes... but what did he scrawl?"

 "Err  its a four letter word beginning with an f"

 "Oh!  I guess boys will be boys"

 "All these footprints set in concrete are his own Gucci shoes…..we've preserved them for  when this place becomes a museum. Those are his finger prints where he wiped his  hands on the wall after eating. And this is the exact spot where he blew his nose"       
           
"I really appreciate the way you look after your prisoners…...true Gandhigiri. But who is that chap sitting under the tree with the crowd around him?"

"He is the constable Sanju hugged and the authorities suspended. Now he is a millionaire. He charges Rs 500 per autograph and for Rs1000 he allows you  to hug him"

"That is star power!  Tell me, if he  had all this going for him here why is Sanjay appealing to the Supreme Court to get out?"

"That is where you are wrong!. He is appealing to keep the rest of Bollywood out "