Came in by the morning hour on a flight from Abu Dhabi to a warm and intimate welcome by honored dignitaries that conduct the International Film Festival, and where day after, the Lifetime Achievement Award shall be conferred on me.

The country is unique in its environment - dry picturesque mountains leading into the deep blue crystal clear waters of the sea. And further south I am told, large expanses of green much like our own state of Kerala during the monsoons. I am informed this from our host lady, a Malayalee, so I would imagine she knows what she is talking about. The visuals as one drives out from the airport are modest and not too ostentatious, unlike say, Dubai. There are no high rises and towering structures, indeed nothing glaringly obvious. It is I am told how the ruler wishes it to be. To allow the originality of the area not be disturbed, to maintain much of what it was as it was, but with an emphasis on greening the region. Hundreds of palm line the driveway, equally distanced from one another through patches of manicured and healthy lawns, sprinkled with colored bougainvillea and the kayna, as we call them in India. A million more are to be planted in the coming year as per the wish of the ruler, his fondness for the environment being more than evident.

Many may perhaps wonder why there was this ambiguity on non disclosure of my destination in the past few days, when it has been a recognized practice from me to be doing quite the opposite.

I really have no adequate answer for this except that I just felt like doing it. And may I also inform all those that had started a guessing game on the probabilities of my locale, that none and no one was even close to the actual !!

The ‘opulence’ was the opulence of the structures that I was being exposed to during my travel. Loud, striking and beyond imagination. The philosophical, was the state of my mind in the presence of such an accumulation of abundance, and since it had become too heavy for the readers, many expressing their reaction to it in cricketting terms, as ‘bouncers’, I lightened it up with the next - between two yellows and a green !

Two yellows and a green ! A hint of it from an earlier post. The post with pictures of the painter fan that made exquisite classroom faces of mine in my different avatars, and my mug on the mugs ! Study my picture standing in front admiring the presentation. Did not one of you mention my three watches ? Notice the colors - two yellows and a green ! A yellow and a green watch on the left, and a yellow on the right. Between two yellows and a green ? What do I do when I write to you. I have in font of me the Word Press where I type my post. I have below it the laptop computer. I type with single fingers of both my hands, and when I do, the words that form in front of me are geographically between my two hands - two hands that bear two yellow watches and a green. Hence what appears to you as you read is coming to you ‘between two yellows and a green’ !!

Applause !!

Thank you. And now that the mystery is over we should get on with other concerns.

Anat Magen ! And her horrendous experience with a stranger in her store. Well done Anat ! And thank the Lord for the outcome from the courage that you showed. Not many would have reacted the way you did. Keep well and secure always. Keep that big guy husband next to you all the time !

It is the year of Lifetime Awards ( LTA ). Hong Kong’s Asian Film Festival now wishes to honor me with similar recognition before the end of the month. And so soon after I leave the picturesque shores of Oman, I should be heading further east to receive what I believe, not so much a personal recognition, but one that comes to me as a member of the film industry of India and indeed India itself. Yet another moment when the Indian tricolor shall earn recognition on foreign soil. A moment of pride for me, a fraternity of which I am a part and a country whose citizenship I cherish.

Many among you were disturbed greatly with the images that you saw of Shashi Kapoor at the Filmfare Awards. Yes it was not the most pleasant sight. He has been most reticent for some years now and has avoided public places and visitors. I have been talking to him on the phone now and then and I shall most certainly visit him when I return. And Shashi ji is not ‘nearly 80 years old’. He is just 4 years older than me. Shatrughan Sinha and Vinod Khanna are 4 years younger than me. Jitendra a few months older and Rajesh Khanna a few months younger. And Dharam ji about 6-8 years older.

And while on Shashi Kapoor, here are some moments with him and without him during the making of Ajooba in Russia where it was mostly shot. Ajooba as you all know was directed by him. It has been sent to me by Zhenya from Siberia.

Most of the shooting for Ajooba was done in Yalta, that historic location in the Crimea. The location that boasts of its healing properties in its climate, especially those with breathing problems. To get there you need to land at Simferopol, the airport some distance away from all the resort areas on the Black sea. It is a very long drive through beautiful mountains and forests and the Black Sea clinging along the roads. As you turn into one of the lanes of the highway, a massive mountain rock almost all by itself, uncannily, takes on the figure of a large bear crouching down on its front paws almost, to drink the waters of the sea. Did the legendary Russian Bear take on its symbolic presence from this ?

It was here one evening when taking a walk by the sea side after pack up that I was accosted by a Russian in a shop window, who, from a distance, kept flicking an imaginary coin in the air and twirling his hands as if he were cranking some machine. He did not speak and the Russian translators accompanying me, were unable to make out what he was doing. I kept looking at him in his direction for long and he kept repeating his actions. Until … I realized …He was telling me about Sholay !!! Cute ! Did I ever narrate this to you before ? I was wondering if I did ? Perhaps not !!

The last picture of the child is my favorite. Its the expression on the child’s face that is the most attractive. Scared, cold, bewildered. ” Get me out of here Mom ! Who is this leather coated strange man ? ”

Opulence …..

From the top then. Thats the lobby of the room they put me up in. Next the ceiling. Hmm… thats what I see as I lay my weary head on the pillow of the bed - if you can find it !! The view from my balcony and the view of the the err… euphemism ?? The thingamajig where you do the whatcha macallit ..!!

And this ladies and laydaas … is one of their most ordinary suites. If I were to present to you what lay outside and the lobby and the entrance and the presidential suites … you would not want to know me !!

And this is not Muscat .. its the Emirates Palace Hotel in Abu Dhabi. Google it for amazement !

My love to you from serene Muscat …