Before all else, Kashmira our loved and dedicated FmXt I am informed by Ravi Malhotra has been hospitalized as she was not well. Wishing her a most speedy recovery and good health !

Jagganath ! Jagganath ! Jagganath !

It resounds in thousands of voices as we are pushed and shuffled among hordes of people excited and enthused outside the massive gates of this monumental temple, one of the dhams, places of the very utmost importance in Hinduism. The nectar for eternal life when it was brought out through the churning of the oceans and when all had wanted to possess it, it spilled in a few places and where it fell on the earth, there were constructed the dhams. So legend goes.

But this massive temple at Puri, the Jagganath Temple made in the 12th century where in the sanctum sanctorum reside Vishu the creator and on either side Balaram his brother and Subhadra his sister, is beyond description. How on earth did they build it to the size proportion and detail that it exists. The intricate carving on the stone work that goes right up to the very top of the main structure is impossible to imagine. The incredibly massive interiors and the intricate detailing within space after space of the corridors as you move in numbed by its presence, is unbelievable.

The 22 steps that lead up to the deity. The many massive door ways that you cross as you approach the sanctum, built perhaps to protect the interiors from marauders and invaders of the time, is a remarkable exercise for architectural research.

As I stand finally in the main courtyard craning my neck beyond its final flexability to have a vision of the immenseness of this spectacle, guides, well wishers, panda’s keep screaming out the historical facts of the temple. The panda, a name for the temple priest generally associated with a particular group of family whose records he keeps for time immemorial is an imposing individual and one who commands and demands respect during visits. There have been several occasions when I and the family have visited an ancient temple and the ‘family panda’ shall appear and present to you signed records of the visits of my great grand father and even before !

But this morning the security and the police male and female, because there were ladies in our troupe, had a tough time keeping some amount of sanity all around. Caps, badges, clothing, shoes - all lost and mangled in the melee that accompanied us. Yes it does take away the sanctity of the moment, but what is the alternative ?

The designated security detail by the police department that accompanies us in the car away from all the other protection that follows us on the road, turns around in his seat after having lost tons of weight through this manual crowd protection work out that he has just been through, smiles hesitantly to inform us all the details of the temple, but not before he gently pushes his autograph book to us -

” My Father is a great fan of yours sir. He sees all your films. After seeing one such film he has kept my name Amitabh too ! I too am your fan, could you please give me your autograph !”

We are in Bhubaneswar, the capital of Orissa on the eastern coast of India to attend the inauguration of a Gurukul, a guru - disciple institute initiated by the great flute genius and a warm friend of the family, Pandit Hari Prasad Chaurasia. His flute has regaled the entire classical world of music not just within India but indeed the entire world. He has through his charity set up this institute in Orissa for the furtherance of classic form, where students from all over the world shall learn and educate themselves in the classical music and culture of India. I was delighted to meet students from Germany, France, Mexico, Austria dedicatedly in tune with not just the music and their renowned Guru, but indeed inculcated with the very culture of the country in their demeanor and habit.

This age old cultural tradition of the Guru and the Shishya or disciple in the country is a most valued activity and it was wonderful to be associated with this most noble cause, propagated and supported by the Government of the State. The Chief Minister, Mr Naveen Patnaik, son of the the legendary Biju Patnaik a father figure in these parts of the world, was there to support and encourage the evening. Biju Patnaik a great industrialist and then an even greater freedom fighter, a man of immense talent and depth, one who initiated many of the accomplishments that Orissa is now known for, has been an iconic figure for the State. His son now, democratically elected, runs the State. Much before he joined politics, I had met him on several informal occasions as a soft spoken gentle human. He still maintains that demeanor.

Along with Hari Prasad ji was his equally legendary duo twin, Pandit Shiv Kumar Sharma the iconic santoor player. Santoor the exquisite string instrument played through delicate sticks deftly by the hand, originating from Kashmir, has been virtually immortalized by Shiv ji. And of course film lovers will acknowledge their most valuable contribution when they composed music for their first film - Silsila !!

As I sit back on the plane flying across the breadth of the country back to Mumbai, I reminisce all those glorious moments spent with Shiv-Hari but in particular, one magical new year night in a Delhi hotel where we had temporarily parked ourselves during the shooting of the film and Shiv ji along with another maestro, the tabla exponent, Zakir Hussain, had played to just four or five of us through the night, in what I believe was one of their greatest performances. It was informal, it was family, it was incredible. I used to possess one of those cassette players in those days, the one that you found in those days street dancers carrying on their shoulders and I did make a recording of the moment. I am now not sure where in my mass of stuff that has undergone so many location changes, that divine tape has disappeared. I must find it. It would be a sacrilege if it is lost. It was a masterpiece jugal bandi performance.

I prepare now to travel again in a few hours, back across the very skies that I had just traversed, to Hong Kong, for the Asian Film Festival LTA. Glory be !!

More then from there. Or more then on Orissa from there. The best and longest beaches in the world, Digha, the surf, Kolkata days, Konarak the Sun temple, language, clothing, the written word, text, design, culture …

Ah ! This wondrous land of mine. It is so beautiful and exquisite, with endless history and legend to it, and I have not even been able to scratch the surface on it…

My love in abeyance …

Amitabh Bachchan