Today’s predicament has been that. The shootings are over for a few days. Time is now being concentrated on the dubbing of films and there are limitations of on that. What has taken months of labor to execute in pristine conditions, cannot possibly be addressed within a few hours in conditions which are most certainly not conducive to the original. Its like acting twice in a film. Once in its original form and the other in a form which has no support at all from outside.

In our lives too, the support from outside is elusive and hard to get. What we manage on our own through our own effort is what we shall get, finally. The boxing ring ! Remember ?

But apart from that, when the day is filled with expectation and hope from other sources, it certainly covers up well. It would not be prudent or even permissible to talk about what else has transpired, but suffice to say that I am pleased with what indeed has.

My VOG as many know functions in India for the moment, but there are preparations on now for taking it into the beyond - to the United Kingdom and in time other countries. When the apparatus is ready and flourishing the information shall come thy way.

The responses on the blonde and those connected with the adrenalin rise were indeed remarkable. Of course there has been no attempt to make any deliberate derogatory comment to some of the blondes on the EF, but I think we are all mature enough to understand the light heartedness behind it.

The reactions to the pictures on KBC have been ranging from complimentary to the sensuous ! Ha ha ! I acknowledge the former and desist from acknowledging the latter. Sony shall be mighty pleased to hear of all the brouhaha on this, but I guess they all know what we are doing and where this programme is to be aimed at.

I am in great admiration of this younger generation, in its capacity to address and execute any issues that may and do arise during the course of our daily lives. What has been most revealing has been the calmness with which each one of this lot has addressed their preferences in life, been able to say and give what they felt needed to be said and done. My own time at their age was an example of an individual who was unaware of anything. How I marvel at the accumen that these young possess in matters which would have thrown us asunder in our time. How confident and acclimatized they are to whatever happens around us. How well they know what they are doing and where they are going. How beautifully they shall go about it in almost faultless fashion to achieve what they set out to do.

At their age, we were - or let me be more personal - I was, a wreck, an absolute mess. Had no idea what the world was about, how things functioned and how people behaved. I still do not. I am a classified naiveté. And in all probability as time goes by and I encounter greater challenges, I shall remain one ! Dumb, unfamiliar and ignorant !

One has grown up believing, that if the work that is done is good and appreciated, then it does not require us to be shouting about it from every roof top. This generation feels just the opposite. They say unless you scream about it no one is interested. And even though the screaming may be of a limited quality, quite obviously, the outcome remains the same. The screaming and shouting may have a limited life, but they say that that is all that is really required in the first place. No one wants able posterity, a posterity that shall look upon us with envy. No, that is not the priority. Its how soon and how much ! And then over and out to the next.

I have always believed that if the work is capable, it is undoubtedly going to be noticed. And if it has merit, it shall prosper. No amount of deliberate pushing shall ever have any effect on it. I can push it to the proverbial water, but whether I am thirsty enough for a drink is unknown. This is sufficient for me. Not just in its functioning but also in my belief. Not so with the young of today. It needs for them to be in your face till you have no other option to observe it. Likes and dislikes aside, so long as it has made a place in your ‘face’, it is enough.

Maybe the young have a philosophy that compels them to be so. Maybe they do not. I would not have an answer. But they somehow do. And looking at the way life moves and is moving for them, it seems as though they are right and we are hopelessly wrong !

For us here in India this has to be reviewed with a great amount of seriousness. The largest percentage of mass is in the age group of 16 to 35. A young nation, or as the commercial for a cola describes, a youngistan ! Be young with them, do young with them, say young with them and we are safe. If not be prepared to be left in the lurch.

These are harsh facts. But time and history has always been this. The old gives way to the young, until another young takes over from the previous. The old were young too and perhaps brought with them at their time the nature of their life the way they sought it. Now they are almost irrelevant. Not in the sense of being depraving. But in a sense of allowing nature, history and geography to take over, all at once.

Blessed are they that endure and accomodate the circumstances … I try too … but am not sure if I am making any sense … to them and to those that come with them … so help me God !

Amitabh Bachchan