'Hair-raising' experience for Azhar; finds himself locked in salon

New Delhi, Nov 26 (UNI) A 'haircut' was the last thing on Mohammad Azharuddin's mind when the former Indian cricket captain found himself locked in a salon in Mustafabad in North-East Delhi last night, an experience which he later said made his 'hair' stand on end.

In the last leg of campaigning for the November 29 Delhi Assembly polls, Azaharuddin last night went to the Mustafabad assembly seat to campaign for Congress' Hasan Ahmad. But he was in for a shock when he found there was a stampede-like situation among his fans, who in their quest to touch and have a 'dekko' of their favourite cricketer, got into a mad scramble and became disorderly.

Seeing the ''overenthusiastic response'' of the people present on the scene, even policemen present there panicked and to wriggle out of the situtation they whisked Azhar to a nearby salon, 'Khushnuma Hair Dresser', and locked him there. He was ''released'' only when the reinforcement was called.

Talking to UNI, the former cricketer said,'' Policemen took me to the hairdresser's when they saw the situation getting out of control. I came out only when the reinforcement was called in and they were reassured that my security was in place. It literally made my hair stand on end for a minute.'' A 14-year-old local resident, Kamran, said, '' Even I was at a loss of words for some time when my younger brother Jamal innocently asked me why the former cricketer was being brought all the way from Hyderabad to a remote corner in Delhi for a haircut. I was perplexed for some time, but after I assessed the situation did I get to know what kind of disorder had prevailed there and under what circumstances Azhar had to confine himself in a salon for some time.'' UNI RL RP HT1415