Superstar Amitabh Bachchan's name is what 50-year-old Tinku has been using for more than 20 years to sell lollypops, toffees, biscuits and cigarettes to students in Delhi University's North Campus.

Tinku's name being linked with Amitabh's, which fetched him instant fame and many curious customers, was the result of a witty idea of Bollywood's bad boy Gulshan Grover in the 1980s.

Gulshan was enrolled in the Sri Ram College of Commerce (SRCC) but used to spend time with friends at Kirori Mal College (KMC) where the superstar was a student, Tinku said.

As a joke Gulshan told friends that Tinku was a batchmate of Amitabh, and the students came flocking to meet the four-foot-three-inch tall Tinku who can always be seen at Kirori Mal College wandering about selling his ware.

Tinku, who dresses up in white kurta and pyjama with a cap, is at the college from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. He carries his merchandise in a cloth bag that is almost half his size.

Tinku says now he doesn't need to say any longer that he was a batchmate of Amitabh as most juniors are told so by their seniors as a prank when they join the college. And if the juniors still ask that question he simply nods his head. But he says they soon come to know that the story is cooked up.

Recalling the days when the rumour first made the rounds in the campus, Tinku said: "Those were the days. In the beginning people were more interested in knowing about Amitabh. How he was then, his academic record and how I ended up selling these things.

"But slowly they came to know the truth - that I had studied only till Class 8. But by then they are impressed by my style of selling things. I admit, though, that it's only after my link-up with the superstar that my small business started looking up. At that time I used to sell products of Rs.500 of which Rs. 100 used to be my profit."

Asked about the memories that he has of Gulshan Grover, Tinku said: "Apart from the joke that he cracked in the canteen about my relations with Amitabh, the other thing that I remember about him is that he used to buy cigarettes worth Rs.50. I never used to worry about the payment."

In his 33 years of business, Tinku has met innumerable customers but there are a few whom he remembers vividly, including actors Shah Rukh Khan and Sushant Singh and members of the rock band, Parikrama.

Tinku recalled how Shah Rukh Khan helped him in getting a role in the TV serial "Doosra Kewal".

"Can you imagine I have acted along with Shah Rukh in 'Doosra Kewal'?" said Tinku and then added with a laugh, "I got a small role of a don who was required to bash up Shah Rukh."

Explaining the mechanism of his small business he said: "Those days profit margins were less and today when margins are higher then you have so many kiosks in and around every college. This has affected my business adversely but still I manage to earn Rs.100 daily."

According to Ram Prakash, the college gatekeeper, the first thing students do is ask whether Tinku has turned up or not?

"I have been here for the past four years and there was not a single day without someone asking about him. The moment these students enter the gate they ask, where is Tinku or have you seen him?" said Prakash.

A student said: "The repertoire he has of jokes and one-liners will just blow your mind away. He is such a funny man that he lights up everyone's face with his sense of humour."

Kumud, a third year student of the college, said: "I had read about him as a batch mate of Amitabh and that's how I first came in touch with him. But he told me that was a rumour. I feel Tinku's popularity in the campus is because of his own charisma."

Asked how he started his business, Tinku said: "I began with selling pens, pencils, nibs and other stationery in 1972 but soon I realised that I won't survive with what I was earning. So, I started keeping toffees, snacks and cigarettes, which were in huge demand then. Gradually all those pens, pencils were replaced by toffees, gutkas and other eatables."