Happy and a prosperous Diwali. Health, peace and good will. Laughter, joy and success. All these I wish for my extended family, for their loved ones and friends. May we all remain together in an endless bond. May we respect and admire our individuality. May we give strength to each other, be in compassion and love. And may all of this be with you for eternity.

Its been a wonderful day. An early drive to Lonavala for BiggBoss 3, the meetings and interactions with the house mates as they are fondly referred to in Tv jargon, an episode with Akshay Kumar as he visits us for the promotion of his film ‘Blue’ and home to welcome the wife back from Karan Johar’s fashion show and Abhishek and Aishwarya back from their outdoor at Malshej for ‘Ravana’.

The decorative lights of Diwali are all up in every home, in every corner. The firecrackers explode all over the city, people are out in celebration on the streets, traffic is horrendous, but an air of festive spirit abounds. It is the hour of gaiety and laughter and expressing affection and cheer to one and all. Blessings are sought from the elders, gifts and sweet delicacies are exchanged. There is a warmth throughout and the Goddess of Wealth, Lakshmi is remembered in prayer and thought. The ‘diya’s’ that are lit around the house, the lights that illuminate every abode are an invitation to the goddess to enter into our humble homes and bless us with her benevolence.

Card games, mostly Flush, are played in the evenings with guests that visit. Lakshmi is sought in all the winnings and they become an indicator of what and how the rest of the year will turn out for them. Once a year, these traditional gambling sessions are conducted in the house as a ’shagun’ and loud exclamations of a victory in a game or the lament of a close loss are cheered by all. Men and women turn out in their Indian traditional best, the smell of ‘mogra’ about the house pervades, special food is cooked and the night goes down till the very late hours.

In many homes there shall be no celebration. No lights, no crackers and perhaps just a hint of the invocation for the goddess of wealth. A tragic event in the family, a death or remorse prevents any kind of rejoicing and so for them it turns out to be a ‘black diwali’. We sympathize with those that have lost loved ones, that have through some ill moment been kept away from any kind of celebration, and move on. Life wishes it so. There are many unfortunate that cannot have the means for celebration. To them we offer help and succor and hope that the brightness of this moment brings back for them all that they have lost and suffered. We raise our arms in prayer for them and hope that they too shall one day enjoy the love of life and living, of having that elusive happiness and joy that has been snatched away from them and become prosperous and honored citizens of our beautiful country.

Mr Majumdar of MidDay has responded rather cruelly on the blog to my mention day before on his unhealthy and tainted journalistic practice. I reproduce below his comment at *418 (?) on DAY 541. Apart from this he has carried a rather large and devoted article in his own paper, making references to the material on the blog, a copy of which has been scanned and produced also -

My comments shall follow after all this has been read and hopefully digested.

(abhijit20@gmail.com)

Dear Mr Bachchan,

I have found my mention a few times in your blog for good or bad but have never felt it was important for me to respond. Today’s post, however, is an exception because you doubt my integrity and accuse me of lying.

I maintain that I have not misrepresented you in the interview. The entire interview is in fact recorded, so there is no scope of misrepresentation.

As for the video recording, I had clearly mentioned to you that both audio and video would be recorded. Our photographer Pradeep Dhivar was there. But finally, it is your word versus mine, and my conscience is clear.

It is hard to believe that a man of your standing will lie, so I guess you have forgotten that bit.

Incidentally, a ’sting’ cannot be done on an interview that is anyway on record!

I have come up as a journalist the hard way and so far nobody, even my fiercest critics, have not accused me of malafide intent or even remotely hinted that my integrity is not in its rightful place.

People who know me will only laugh at anyone who suggests I’m not honest.

That said, I remain an admirer of Amitabh Bachchan, the actor.

Regards,

Abhijit Majumder
Executive Editor
Mid Day

And my response is -

Dear Mr Majumdar,

I am glad that you have found mention of your name on my blog in good or bad frame and that you have found it important now to respond as an exception, since you have felt it doubts your integrity and accuses you of lying. May I inform you most humbly that your desperate attempt at a clarification has done nothing to change that. Your integrity is not ‘in its rightful place’ and the accusation of you lying, remains.

You talk in your letter of misrepresentation. Strange. I have never mentioned anywhere that you have misrepresented me. Indeed I fail to remember that I have even made use of such word. I merely mentioned that the interview you did was below quality - in text, writing and language. The eloquence of my responses were just not captured adequately, despite the ominous presence of your ’sting’ camera. And please, don’t try and educate me on operations of ’sting’ cameras. I’ve been in the profession long enough - well certainly beyond your age - of knowing the intricacies of such gadgetry. Nobody comes along to shoot a video interview of a subject, as you so foolishly propound, by placing the camera at an angle that prominently exposes only his posterior and little else. Or maybe, that was your vain attempt at artistic representation. The ‘backside’ may well have been this great symbolic metaphor, of what you wished your interview would eventually be. It needs a brave man to think so poorly of his own creativity even before starting, and for this I must compliment you.

Mr Majumdar you say that you ‘had mentioned that both audio and video would be recorded’. That is undiluted garbage stinking rubbish. Every sms of yours seeking my interview is saved on my mobile. Every telephone conversation that you had with my office in this regard has been recorded. And, as you have yourself accepted, every move, action and word that you spoke on the day from the moment you entered my office to the time you left, is on video tape with me. No where, and I repeat, no where have you mentioned, that you would be doing a video recording. If you say your photographer Pradeep Dhiver was there, may I also inform you that my photographer Paresh Mehta and his two assistants were also there. You are not going to beat me by throwing names. These videos can be put up on my blog at the press of a button. Wanna’ see ?

And dear Sir, its not about your ‘word versus mine’, its about your video tape versus mine. And mine says that your conscience is not ‘clear’ at all. It is as densely clouded as the monsoon sky, so ironically visible on the day you came to take my interview.

You say ‘it is hard to believe that a man of my standing will lie’ and that ‘I have forgotten that bit’. I have not forgotten any bit, mister. From Bofors to Barabanki I have not forgotten any bit. From the Royal Courts of London, to the Honorable Supreme Court of India, they have all conclusively passed written judgement that I have not lied. Now, if you wish to challenge that, lets go to the highest justice authority anywhere in the world. It shall give me the greatest joy in securing another defamatory victory against you or any of your representations.

Your explanation of ’sting’ and ‘interview’ and ‘record’, is again very fuddled. I know that when a interview is on record there can be no ’sting’. But where have I said that ? I have merely said that you have recorded the interview ‘with a sting camera’. I am not as well educated as you are, but even a four old would have made out the difference.

You talk of coming up ‘the hard way’ and even your ‘fiercest critics’ not doubting ‘your integrity’. Mr Abhijit Majumdar, you are not the only one that has come up the hard way, we all have and we all have cherished and still do cherish the value that our parents instilled in us on our integrity. Your attempt at this puritanical white wash is soiling the walls even further.

‘People who know me will only laugh at anyone that suggests I’m not honest’, is what you say in your letter. I have news for you. The 100,000 extended family members that visit my blog everyday and 25 times that number that visit it each month, ARE NOT LAUGHING AT ALL !! And they far outnumber your ‘fiercest critics’.

Incidentally, do critics have critics. Never heard of any !!

You mention in your article under reference that I should not forget that the media has had a distinct hand in my stardom. Ho ! Ho Ho ! … now we are all laughing !

Firstly, I have never ever accepted or believed in this media created epithet of stardom or any other ‘dom’. And secondly, for 18 years under the ban of the media, Amitabh Bachchan ‘the actor’ that you admire, had his most successful run at the box office. So get off your high horse and smell the dung. Media will be incapable of making or breaking an actor. Only the masses have that strength and you are still very far away from that criteria.

Your claim in the penultimate paragraph of your article, sorry open letter, states -

“I think in our zeal to be self-righteous, some of us forget to thank the Indian media for exposing corruption and injustice every day …”

Ha ! Mr Majumdar either you have deliberately blinkered your myopic blurred vision, or you wish to hide behind your inexcusable naiveté. Tell me honestly.. oops.. sorry, cannot trust you with that term.

Tell me how many times have you exposed corruption in your own profession ?

Are you trying to tell me there is no corruption in the media, no injustice ?

How come only you have the liberty of asking all the questions ?

When was the last time you gave any answers ?

If you were to look me straight in the eye and challenge me, I would not hesitate to look you straight back and justify. Put this cap of self righteous zeal over your own head and then come riding with me. I’ll whip your horse and you mine and lets see who rides the furthest and the longest.

Your guilt sir, has made you spend and subsequently waste precious news print in defending yourself in a medium you control and manage. Just look how far you have gone in clarifying your position. It would have been better if you would have used the space in exposing the ailments of ‘our civil society’ that you seem to cherish so much.

In closing Mr Majumdar, I am least enamored by the fact that you remain an admirer of Amitabh Bachchan, the actor. I don’t need you in that capacity. For me, my extended family that is the life and soul of my medium, is more important, because they admire Amitabh Bachchan , the human.

Oh ! And by the way. Why have you removed the video under discussion, today from the net. Covering your tracks or removing evidence ?

Warm regards,

Amitabh Bachchan

Ladies and gentlemen of the jury, I leave the verdict to you. Mr Majumdars email ID and his Twitter contacts are written against his by-line on the article and in the response he has given.

With love … !!

Amitabh Bachchan