It is a tough task to express oneself when emotion has got the better of you.

I never choked when I wrote about my Father’s passing or that of my Mother’s, nor of any incident that may have been close to it.

But I am choked today. The eyes swell up with that strange liquid that appears involuntarily at moments such as this. The keys and the text that appear in front of me, blur and the fingers move at a pace that have no pre determined design.

Truth has that exceptional quality that, by its admission, has the capability of moving mountains. Mountains in its finite form yes, but also in the other. I choke today because I have been confronted by a mountain of emotion, an emotion that has without any dilution, presented itself before me by my extended family. I do not think that there can be any doubt, that when we have confessed, faced truth, been a part of it, or admitted its presence, that we have not been overcome with overwhelming emotion.

The truth I face today is the limitless love that I have for this family of mine and the limitless love that it reciprocates me with, every day of the year.

I cannot decipher what it is I have done to receive such affection, but now that I have it I am not going to let it disappear.

NO…! I shall not stop writing. NO..! I shall not stop my connect with you. NO…! I am not going anywhere. I am here and shall remain here !

Your reassurance, your faith and your commitment to our humble medium has been beyond measure. I shall never have sufficient strength to ever challenge it. The impregnable walls that we have constructed around our little world, the unbreakable links that have formed within each one of us in our chain of friendship and family, the abstract air of deep understanding and togetherness, is not going to be swayed or dented by any encumbrance. We may totter unsteadily, we may run against obstacles, we may be suppressed through force, BUT .. We shall rise above it all, unscathed, to walk the path we have chosen to walk.

I do not drink. But let me hold a glass to that and say a cheer for the well being of our fraternity.

“Hurting someone is as easy as cutting the tree. But making someone happy is like growing a tree – it takes a lot of time !!”

Another day of relaxed intensity. An apprehension for perceived events. But when it evolved, a feeling of accomplishment and direction. What was it that Einstein said on those that fall into habits of thinking -

“Any man that reads too much and uses his own brain too little falls into the lazy habit of ‘thinking’…”

I do not possess a brain so its use is very limited and I do not read much either. What would Albert have had to say to that, I wonder. The desire for knowledge and its pursuit has undergone such intense change that all the old adages and sayings of the learned seem redundant. Seem, please note. It is not definitive. If there have been modern interpretations or modes that have been developed to acquire material of importance the end results of all have a base in the classics of the past. Written, spoken or manufactured. In budhi haddiyon mein abhi bhi dam hai. The strength still lies in these old and weary bones !

That little mention of Aishwarya’s indisposition has created a media hurricane. Headlines screaming she has swine flu have appeared along with other national news. The paucity of sensationalist material has created a herd mentality towards interpreting that gentle whiff of air into a storm of immense proportions. Getting the news out first has precedence over research and authentication. No, she does not have swine flu. She has improved and is much better and ready to resume work by tomorrow or the day after. I would have kept her home for another week. But …

In spirit word and deed, with you always ~

Amitabh Bachchan