The flight back was peaceful till I slept to catch up on lost sleep. A kind and considerate hostess from KingFisher Airlines, gently spread a blanket over me while I was in deep slumber ; it was a bit cold in the cabin. Closer home there were autograph and photograph requests from passengers and the crew and then home. Again.

Most of the day was spent in catching up on what the others were up to. Kids were stuck to their PSP’s, Abhishek had gone for the day to Bangalore for an Omega endorsement event and the rest of the ladies were busy in household chores. The GQ magazine came out and the shoot at Singapore showed up in a few descriptive pages, India should be on their way back from South Africa after being eliminated from the ICC Championships - Australia beating Pakistan in a thriller, thereby sealing India’s fate and I prepare for a Dabur Event tomorrow, a product that I endorse, where I shall be asked to speak on the benefits of Honey !!

Women are like the police. They can have all the evidence in the World, but they still want a confession.

Always keep hoping for the good. As the Chinese say - ‘Keep a green tree in your heart, the singing bird will surely come !!

The wife sent me these as we lounged around in the day, not doing anything of particular importance. Hope and its manifestation in the Chinese proverb, came across with some strength and character. Lucky are they that keep hope so positively alive. The good fortune of always being able to hope for the good, may sound utopian in its belief, but if the Chinese are saying it they must have reason to say so. One does not necessarily argue with the Chinese.

But yes, the green tree of hope is symbolically within its right to expect the singing bird to arrive. For a perennial pessimist like me, the above may not make adequate sense and neither would it be acceptable to most that spend devotion with me, but it is an admirable twist of fate that despite these handicaps, the song of the singing bird has always been most sweet and melodious within my construct. Perhaps it was destiny, perhaps fate, but it did accomplish and reward.

Many have wished to ascertain whether fate took precedence over the singing bird and whether luck favored the tilt in my direction. I will not deny that luck and fate have had a tremendous contribution in the lives of many that had the gall to instigate it. Personally I have done the deed, but waited for some divine intervention to push me to the other end of the shore. I wonder if this could be a disqualification in the moral standards of the country’s established view. Superstition, particularly if it is religious superstition, has had the think tank of the country rumble a bit. Constitutionally it has been viewed and debated to the fullest. We await further details.

Tomorrow morning I am to be visited by personnel that may bring up an issue long since buried, but the remnants of the past may have to be considered and not what may be assumed by those that matter as effects.

The mind and body does work for peace and harmony, but it is now a bitter truth that they can only co exist if matters are looked at from a distance. The ability to shell yourself away from the issue on hand and give it a perspective that could form a stable reference, would indeed be the preferred route. Many though disagree. Disagreement is healthy in debate, but here it would not bring result. And harmony desires a result, else it does not exist.

My love

Amitabh Bachchan