Fatima, in her graciousness sends me greetings for Eid and all the FmXt joins her and all others in celebration. She has been through traumatic times, with illnesses and deaths in the family and we all pray that Allah protects her and those dear to her. May Allah also protect all of the FmXt and may He in his benevolence look upon all humanity with peace and kindness.

In Hindus, tomorrow is the last day of the period of ‘Shraadh’, a period when nothing auspicious is conducted. From the 20th onwards Navratri shall begin and the atmosphere shall be filled with the ‘garba’ and dance and music every night ; perhaps the greatest display of mass involvement any where in the world.

It is a moment of festivity in the Jews too I believe and then later in the month, Halloween. It is not mere coincidence that different faiths celebrate at the same time of the year. Beliefs are different but the reasons the same. Dear Lord, Allah, Bhagwan just make it such that we always remain together in celebration, in peace and in harmony. Let us not send signals of fear to each other. Let us all respect and embrace each other in happiness. Please remove the ugliness from within us towards the other. Help us to touch one another as companions. Get us to rid ourselves of hate and evil. Fill us voluntarily with understanding, forgiveness and love and remain with us all the time to help and guide us.

Some of the greatest joys in life come from the children of the children. They have the capacity to inject you with an energy and emotion that has long dissipated within you. Its like a reincarnation, where driving along a given path you are compelled to make a u-turn and start all over again. My grandchildren prepare to come over to join me and it is inexplainable how suddenly you start thinking about things that you had not thought about for years. Doing up their room, preparing special eats, designing activities, procuring little gifts, blocking all engagements, charting out plans for their entertainment … everything is centered around their time, their convenience, their wish. And what is their wish - the boy wants a Power Ranger Drago sword and in the color white and the little lady some stationery, a pencil pen and a diary to write in.

WHAT ..?? Is that all that you want ? Ya … !!

You could just cuddle them for their simplicity. The little things in life make them the happiest. That little book, that plastic sword shall be treasured by them as a long cherished wish that Nana fulfilled.

So Nana makes copious notes, checks the stores on phone on their availability, instructs driver of the possible destinations where object of desire can be bought, leaps out of bed on designated day, bounce in step, focussed and eager, striding out into the wide world of Singaporean Malls, smile on face, talking, checking animatedly on the best quality, never hesitating to mention why he is there and for whom, moving searching from store to store, possessively guarding the packages after purchase, rechecking them again and again in the room, packing them with great care and efficiency and then setting up for the journey home and the anticipation of seeing the expressions when they shall receive their goodies !! Ah ! Life is young again and rejuvenated.

And a small paper diary and plastic sword did it all !!

Complicated lives come from complicated living. We are our own culprits. We love to design our own complication and then when we have no solution we complicate it further by seeking external recourse. They that provide guidance and succor from our intertwined issues, lead the best lives. They are professionals that have studied human nature and its behavior. The unknown and the magical has always fascinated us.

What does the future hold for me. Will I be successful and prosper, free from illness and adversity. Will those that become family be in health and safe. How long will I live. There isn’t much more that we desire to know before hand. And there are elements in society that thrive on the needs of others. They appear before me from time to time. Not of my accord but of the desire of others who’s company I may keep occasionally. Their dress and face bear divineness. They move and speak in measured tones ; they are after all on a personal call with HIM. They look deep into our systems. They have the power to change and predict and profess and impress. They have trained well. Studied the options of their craft. Worked for years on screenplays and slights of hand. For in the troubled world we live in they have mastered the art of putting you face to face with the unknown and the magical. And when you bring in belief … your meal is ready to be served, cooked and baked to perfection.

I did a film on them once - ‘Jadugar’. It failed miserably. The concept was grand, the execution at its best ability, but it failed. Was it the wrath of divinity that was being directed towards us, or was it sheer incompetence on our vision. I think the latter. It is never wise to put blame on divinity. They have ways of settling scores. We never know how and we dare not ask. Questions directed to the LORDS have seldom been given direct answers. Unless … unless, you are one of them. But we are not and we are gullible by virtue of being humans and susceptible. Many will advise us to stay away from their terrain, you may get singed by the wrath of the propagator. So we refrain. You can never tell about the divine, unless you are a hardened communist. I had wondered why the security detail assigned to me during my earlier visits to the Soviet Union, would not enter with us when we wanted a tour of the church within the precincts of the Kremlin. Within the place of prayer, decorum was practiced. Functionaries went about in as normal a manner as possible. And that is how it remained. Confined and closeted. You could not propagate it outside in public space.

Would we in our society be able to bring in similar culture against those ‘Jadugars’ ?

I suspect not.

Yours in devotion ~

Amitabh Bachchan