I have never ever felt that those that have connected to me were in any way ‘common’. I have indeed felt quite seriously that they are uncommon, genuine and by far the more intelligent lot from what you me or any else, would ever imagine.

I am pained to hear of their lives and the difficult conditions they exist in. I am pained to know what they do for a livelihood and what their meagre ambitions or hopes for the future are. I have learnt from them that the average Indian is one that is filled with a compassion that rules almost a hundred percent of their lives. I have learnt that these individuals are the purest form of exploitation in todays time, for, they give much more than they would expect, from any return. I believe this nature and this attitude does not come from the fact of lesser living conditions or humble environs. I believe that nature constructed those that inhabit this land, this virtuous land, with the gift of tolerance, honesty and rectitude. I believe that there are some among us that have discovered this most genuine trait and have ridden their shoulders for the betterment of their own. I know and do believe that these few that grew to learn traits of these their own, are by far the better. They are exemplary in their functioning. They were able to see what almost all of us were never able to see and still do not.

These ‘brilliant’ individuals realized the importance of basic emotion. An emotion that has remained with our polity since its very inception. We have had the brave and the valorous, the patriotic and the sincere nationalist who have from time immemorial fought for their land and its independence and its sovereignty. They protected us from losing our pride and self respect. But many never did value this.

The vulnerability of this citizen when contained by emotion has resulted in our nature. To this day emotion has governed all our steps towards building ourselves and our nation - a trait I do not entirely dislike, but also not one that I wish to endorse completely. Power and force have always played significant roles in the lives and the structures of many. In the commercial that I was shooting for the other day in Karjat for FORCE Motors, the byline or tagline or whatever else line it may be called, was -

“India mein sirf FORCE chalta hai ..!!” .. Force is what works in India . Now … as a tagline for the brand known as Force I guess this was considered to be smart writing. But in many ways, was the underlined emotion, one of hidden truth ? I wonder !!

The faces that I observe each day on the contestants for KBC, are not to be found in everyday life in our lives. But for those that live in those circumstances, it is a regular face, a face of destitution and despair. When a lady, a wife that is a part of a joint family with husband two children and in laws and several others to manage - a total of almost 8-9 individuals, is the only earning member, then it is truly a sad situation. Sad primarily for the fact that the man of the house has not taken up the responsibility of procuring for the family and is dependent on the lady of the house for his daily meal. Sad that despite all that the wife does apart from managing the kitchen and looking after the aged in laws, she teaches in a primary school so her husband can survive, is to me pretty shameful. A wife that after all this earns a meagre 9000 rupees per month and which is entirely consumed by the family, is pathetic. I would die of shame if I were to be in such condition. But .. there are examples of such existence that prevail.

When those in such condition get opportunity to make the kind of money within an hour, that which they would have taken perhaps 10 years to earn, then it fills me with a sense of achievement, albeit somewhat secondary.

KBC provides such stories and such opportunities and I am proud of the fact that even though it is designed by others for commerce, there is that element of sharing that commerce and its values, with those that are in dire straits or in desperate need.

When those that connect with me on the mobile or on the hot seat and express their happiness of merely getting the opportunity to talk to me or to be in the same environ, it embarrasses me. But somewhere I feel happy at the justification. For it is not something that brings me the joy of justification. It is the justification of the joy that I see in the eyes of the other. That for me is the moment of glory, if ever it could be called that.

Love to you and more in many more ways …

Amitabh Bachchan