” Hi Pop, how you doing .. all well … okay .. I have had a fall and am hurt .. doing a chase sequence for the shoot .. am coming back by the first flight .. have spoken to all, do not panic I am well .. ”

What does one do or react or feel is one of the most difficult moments in the life of any parent. You are away from your son - he being in Jaipur - you cannot assess the damage, you are worried whether all has indeed been transferred to you, and you get about preparing for his return and setting up doctors to attend to him as soon as he lands.

And funnily enough you transfer yourself back to your own days, your injuries and the information that you gave to the family, the steps taken to put them at ease when a similar situation arose. How did my parents feel at the time and what did they go through ? Should I behave in similar manner as they did or should I have my own form of reaction to the issue ? Tough one !

And so while you wait for details and cure and care, you put on a brave face and get back to work as though nothing has happened. Another tough one ! You are there but you are not there. You are listening to the director and the assistants but not really hearing anything. You go through your lines in rehearsal, but are not really rehearsing. You give your shot as desired by the director, but you know after it is over that that is not what you would have wanted. You ask for retakes. The expressions are right. The lines are not. The lines are right. The expressions are not. The expressions and lines both are wrong. You blow out some air through the mouth, you pretend that its not coming right according to the script and character. But in fact you are aware its other thoughts that distract you.

But you are a professional, and one that has been one for 42 years !! You better get this thing right ! Push all those thoughts aside, get back into the flow, deliver and redeliver till it is the only. Finally it comes and comes not with a sense of satisfaction but one that states that this is over and its a step closer to finishing for the day so one can rush back home to receive the son and see him … SEE him ! Until that is done there is that apprehension in perpetuity.

The flight has landed, as I drive back. The phone is busy informing the wife the daughter and others close by. The doctors are being briefed, the traffic is bad and is adding to the nerve. Why does everything move so slowly today !! Finally home and the wait, as son is picked up by daughter in law and driven straight to Hospital. A phone again. She waits outside the OT as he has been wheeled in. She is sounding reassuring. The doctors say there will be stitches. On the face ? He is an actor. Will it leave a mark ? How long would it take to heal and the scar would it show ? Questions on even as he is being stitched up. The call again he is out and done .. 6 stitches .. driving back home, rest on arrival …

The clamber to the front door as his car drives in … and there .. your son .. smile on face and scar on eye embraces .. you wish you could take away the pain and the injury from him upon yourself.

As a child he had woken up in the middle of the night unable to breathe because of an asthma attack he knew nothing about. You had picked him up and carried him out to the back lawn at Prateeksha, hoping that the fresh air would give him some relief, rocking him and consoling his sobbing face.

In time he came to know what the ailment was and how it needed to be handled. He handled it and now it is in remission. I wonder if I could lift him up now, cradle him and console him that all will be well. He has sweeter company to do that for him now ! But .. it is he that consoles me .. will take a few days and shall be fine he assures … sit lets have dinner together ..talk about everything else under the sun but the episode .. ok … I was chasing a character in the film and running between several hand rickshaws .. six retakes because the guy that I was chasing was not getting it right .. and then it happened .. missed a step on the platform and hit the metal on the rick ! Bled profusely .. Rohit Shetty directing, immediately put ice on it and asked me to put some sugar on the tongue the bleeding shall stop … it actually stopped .. sugar on tongue stops bleeding ? heard it for the first time !!!

Four more days before the stitches can be removed .. doc said will leave a scar, but will merge into the skin gradually .. meet up with some work related people later and they ask if the cut is on the right eye .. I say yes .. its lucky … lucky they tell me .. lucky to get a cut on the right eye ? Good night sir I shall have to meet you some other day …

‘No matter what, it is the most trying moment for any parent to see their child suffer pain’ … I tweet and shall go back soon after to see how many reacted to that .. would be mostly parents I would imagine .. they know best .. !!!

Good night … for tomorrow is another KBC … away from the roving 5D cameras of Ram Gopal Varma and his ‘Department’ …

Amitabh Bachchan

PS : Mahendra Chaudri … a very happy birthday .. love happiness and prosperity ..