Indian cricketing great Sunil Gavaskar has one rule that those around him know well. Meal times are sacred. The Little Master will sign autographs, pose for photographs, chat with admirers and indulge strangers with remarkable patience, but not when he is eating. That, he believes, is the one private pause in an otherwise public life.

Which is why what happened at the Emerald Room of the Taj Mahal Palace in Mumbai last week carried a quiet charm of its own.

The Sportstar Aces Awards had wound down and the evening had softened into dinner.

Athletes, officials and jury members drifted between tables, conversations lingering long after the applause had faded. Gavaskar, chairman of the awards jury, had settled down to his meal with the awardees.

Among them was Olympic silver medallist Saikhom Mirabai Chanu, winner of the Sportstar Aces Sportswoman of the Year for Olympic sports. Mirabai had one wish. A photograph with Gavaskar.

Rather than approach him directly, she mentioned it softly to Sportstar editor Ayon Sengupta, who walked across to the table to check if the moment could wait.

Gavaskar listened, smiled, and waved away the hesitation.

For an Olympic medallist, he said, an exception could certainly be made. And besides, one does not keep a champion waiting.

Moments later the photograph was taken. A small breach of a famous rule, granted in honour of greatness meeting greatness.