How strange and wonderful to be in the presence of creativity and to be moved by it emotionally. A great piece of music, an exquisite art work, a moment in film or that ecstatic spell of dance. Something moves within us and the tears swell up, the hair on the hands rise, a physiological reaction takes place. An abstract unconnected entity generates a physical moment inside a human body. I have often wondered what causes this phenomenon. There seems to be an invisible connection through the waves in the atmosphere that when touched, almost like the wires of a stringed instrument, convert themselves into a harmony of feelings which are capable of touching our hearts.

I think when we immerse ourselves completely into what we see and hear and feel, it carries with it the ability for us to become a part of it and maybe the physicality of the moment converts its energy into an emotion that invades our system. Once there, it overwhelms us with all its qualities and we are compelled into a reaction. The reaction could be one of appreciation and therefore happy or one of disappointment and therefore make us repel it.

I have nothing to do with a piece of fiction that gets produced for sheer entertainment. But the purpose of its creation could have been done with the objective of driving a connection with the viewer, in order that the appreciation of the product convinces you to invest in it.

I shall never become the President of the United States of America, yet when you witness President Bartlett of the TV series ‘West Wing’ getting involved in matters that have been fictionalized for the program, I feel for him the way others in the enactment do. And therein lies the success of that particular creation.

I must admit - and my pedometer at 107 shall vouch for it - that we have been glued to the serial today without moving an inch from the couch. It has been riveting. And my admiration for the construction and execution of the screenplay, the performance of even the smallest of actors, the camera work, the sound, all and every aspect has been an emotional roller coaster ride throughout the day. And we have stepped back from it at the end of a late night, not because we do not want to see any more, but because we want to stretch the number of days that we would wish to remain with it.

When I read the appreciation from my fmxt on my work, on the scenes that remain with them, the dialogues, the songs and the emotions, I tend to relate to it better from the fact of my own emotions on witnessing similar creations. And it is amazing how through the years and much longer, these moments of appreciation or the causes for it, remain within us for extended periods of time.

My friend who recovers here after his hospitalization is a great admirer of all the old songs of films from the 50’s and the 60’s. That is what he listens to in the solitude of the day. When I am with him I tend to remember all those old numbers, the words, the artists involved, the film and surprisingly, the interlude music that filled and separated the ‘mukhada’ from the ‘antatra’.

This is like more than 50 years gone by. But it remains as fresh as yesterday. Ask me the interlude music of any of the hit numbers of today and I would rather be happier climbing a tree. The intensity and the penetration of days gone by was greater in our minds. Perhaps the pace of life gave us an opportunity to allow time for greater concentration. Perhaps the pace of life today does not give us the required time.

Yuvak Biradari, the organization of young workers that I sponsor and actively support financially, sent in its yearly report and I am pleased with the outcome. As I have on many previous occasions written about the charitable and constructive work being done by my, this organization, all over the country - the floods in Bihar, the quake in Latur, Maharashtra and several other - it is heartening to see positive results coming in now. We had last year, initiated two distinct programmes - education and environment. The program for the environment called Vasundara Bachao, save the environment, has within the year worked towards tree plantings, pollution, observing basic civic senses in the cleaning up of cities and towns and in the villages and the Udaan Programme, which works on the principle of self employment, by teaching skills to the young in order that they may be able to generate earnings from the produce they are involved in. In a world where recession has had its toll to alarming degrees, it is commendable that the youth instead of lamenting the loss of opportunity for jobs, are able to applaud their effort in generating their own employment. I have initiated this program for three years, till 2011, after which we shall review the situation and perhaps take up other objectives.

Watching the seeds of your effort grow and prosper is most fulfilling. Almost like witnessing the growth of your own child.

Apart from the West Winging there is a whole bunch of scripts that need attention and approval. I start operating on them from tomorrow; a conservative figure of 11. Hopefully some shall turn out to be exciting for me to take up and others not. The ‘not’ are the most difficult to handle. Saying ‘no’ to enthusiastic first timer is so heart breaking, but it would be humanly impossible to accept all that came my way. Alongside this, is the desire to improve on my photographic skills. Manuals are being read and shortly a whole bunch of this art form shall appear on the blog. Its getting busy down here…

I PING’ed Abhishek on his BlackBerry and sent him an instant photograph of us in front of the TV, captioned ‘West Winging’, when he inquired from us what we were up to. When I responded to him with similar query, he PING’ed me back with a photograph from rain infested location which said - ‘Wet Winging !!”

Love and love as ever ~

Amitabh Bachchan