In an age and generation when all reading is confined to the net and the mobile phone it is a pleasure to be invited for the release of a book. And so I go and release it. I am not adequately prepared for it, for I have not read the book – my time constraints do not allow it. If I am the chief guest for the book release I should ideally have done so. That is my regret. The other regret is that the author asked me read a few passages from the book, but that is under contractual obligations too and cannot be done. So what exactly am I doing here. I shall tell you … I am keeping a commitment alive and honored ! Once a commitment, always a commitment. It does not matter if there is inadequacy, but at least there is the dignity of word.

Also … admittance to the shortfall or the un preparedness of the occasion if shared with those that come to share the evening with you, does not take away from you. I feel it should be admitted and done with once and for all. The load is over, the truth is told, now get on with other business. I did just that. It is a clearing of the mind and perhaps the soul too ..

So the F1 roared its way into India this afternoon. And what an impact it has made in just one day. Over 100,000 at the tracks and an event that managerially went off with as much precision as did the winner of the day, Vettel. Suddenly and not surprisingly too, all eyes and attention drifts towards the Buddh Racing Track, to advertisers, only riding these powerful machines, and the media both print and electronic gushing over the event and its magnitude. Change gets accepted so rapidly when change is the by word. The country is getting inundated with fresh thoughts ideas happenings and seems to be well on its way of acquiring global recognition, at last. What was considered an impossibility is now a reality. The nay sayers, bully and belch inanities, but the strong and durable, muzzle them away. The world today talks of India so often in almost every class of conversation. The quantum leaps we make are tough and often with criticism. But fact and its outcome weigh beyond all other. If you want to be up there among the leaders, that frog leap is the only solution. It may be dismaying to leave behind a vacuum, but when has there ever been a situation of rapid acceleration without the remains of a space which needs to be filled up. Or maybe just ignored and left undone. This vacuous space could be a blessing too. Ironically or maybe coincidentally as we talk of the F1, does not the speed of the leader create that vacuum behind him as he accelerates away. And does not the smart follower behind, get into that space to be sucked along without any effort on his part at all … !! So even if we create vacuums, let us drive close by in the ‘drag’ area so we can harness ourselves to the speed of the one that is ahead of us … and then in one final thrust when it is time, push the juice and overtake  … !!!

I wait patiently for that moment …

Love to you and more ..

Amitabh Bachchan