A battle ensues. The cold with the body. And the cold is seemingly better at this than the body. Such a drain. Pun unintended. Listless and devoid of any energy, one merely lounges around, about to doze off. Its the antibiotics taking over and some other cold preventive drugs that are playing havoc with the system.

And the amount of remedies that are present in the times of today to beat and tackle this colorful ailment, is not even funny to imagine. What is really funny to imagine is the fact that none of these remedies ever work. A cold takes its time to appear and disappear. Except perhaps in my case where it takes months to disappear, hence the worry of a prolonged treatment !

Ok … enough patronage to this common cold ! It deserves less ! So away with it !

Cochin beckons tomorrow. A function by their Tv channel Asianet, an opportunity to visit ‘God’s own Country’ yet again and the chance to meet up with some of my favorites -MohanLal ‘Laletan’ and Mamooty. It is always a joy spending time with contemporaries, people from our own fraternity. They may be in different language, but when the camera rolls we are all the same - professional, disciplined and nervous as hell ! I have always admired the sense of discipline in the South. Have admired their management qualities and the reverence they show to fellow artists and to the profession. We in the Western parts of the nation still have a long way to go before we can match up to them in this, but I think that we are getting there. Cinema from the State of Kerala has always been aesthetic and sensitive even in their commercial versions, the literacy quotient being the highest in the country. Though according to recent analysis other states are catching up, if not surpassing them.

The point is that a higher level of education and understanding for the medium shall automatically bring about a sensibility that then leads to appreciating the finer works of art. Though I have to say that it is not always necessary that higher education means higher sensibility. When the level of education shall rise, when the opportunity to educate oneself shall be equal to all, then shall we see a marked change in the attitude of our markets and our consumers and our mind ! Most importantly our mind.

Of the many incidents that we read and witness, it is the absence of the mind in them that brings us the unfortunate tag of being lesser individuals. The wheels within the wheels of time and life are too complicated to try to resolve them. So, one smiles a wry smile and moves on.

I write in a whirl now. The head and body can be felt in revolt. They demand that I stop and pay greater attention to them than to struggle on. I generate a hostile yet friendly gesture of not wanting to betray the EF. They are the substance of my life now and they shall be the first to know perhaps if things are not going their way.

Much as I would like to continue, the sniffles and the tissues are now in great abundance. They are taking pride of place. They ride revolt. We get crushed by them ! Hence this !

I leave now with heavy heart … to conclude so urgently and with such abruptness is not my doing. It is the doing of the body which in most cases does not comply entirely with the body..

Love to all

Amitabh Bachchan