The tragedy of the earthquake in Sikkim as the epicenter and which has spread across the entire northern region of the country, is alarming and sad. The news filtering in is depressing. Our facilities for relief in such moments is still wanting and it is most terrible to see visuals of those that have suffered, managing their lives on their own. Many of the destinations in this hill region have been unreachable because of the roadways being cut off. The army is working round the clock to ease matters, but it is a most difficult task and one can only pray and hope that relief reaches the victims in rapid time and that they are safe. One keeps getting alarming figures of the causalities borne by those that were caught directly and they are all most sad. Sikkim of course has had to bear the deepest cut, but the adjoining regions have had no less - West Bengal, Nepal, Bangladesh, NE regions, Bihar and UP .. even down to mild tremors in Maharashtra ..

My prayers for those that suffer and have lost property and life ..

On the mention of Sikkim, my thoughts immediately ran to my dear friend and neighbor Danny Denzongapa, for he belongs to that region and on very short notice disappears to his home land to visit his village, to which he has to walk to. I called him and was happy to learn that all was well with him and his relatives friends and their homes and business.

Having got home early I spent sometime in front of the Tv watching some very dramatic Chinese action films. They are so amazing. Their stories resemble ours, but their technology is quite remarkable, fresh and innovative. Their speed of action sequences is so fast and quick that it takes a while before you realize what was going on, who won and who lost. Eventually of course the remote won ! Within a few minutes the remote came into being and that was it - the end of that sequence, that picture and switch off !! Enough flying, dodging acrobatic heroes ..

But then we were no less in our hey day. Punching kicking and fighting our way through all kinds of insane situations. Most cases, the villains were common in all, just a slight change of costume and we were transported to a fresh and new environ.

Artists are so adjustable ! Put us in any situation or circumstance and we shall find a way to express ourselves in exactly the way the director wants, even in trying circumstances. We may resist a location on first sight, but when it is understood that there shall be no way out, we get into it as though we had lived there for an eternity. The mud, the dust the heat the cold … everything just wishes away and all that remains is the desire to excel in whatever has been offered to us. …

I must write more, but strangely when I have rested well and not encountered other … the results have been quite the reverse .. odd is it not ??

So in keeping with the text and tone of the post … good night, shubh ratri, navratri, shabba khair ..

May God bless you all ..

Love, love ….. love andlove

Amitabh Bachchan