Up in the hills of Kumaon and in particular around the hills of Nainital and indeed Sherwood, my boarding School, the wild vegetation harbored many a sting and many an immediate cure just beside it - a green soft unassuming looking plant that when rubbed against the wrath of the bite from the nettle, would ease the burn and bring the anguished area to some calm and relief.

There is a calm and relief in the media outputs today. They have come to me at my insistence, from the regional press. They are seldom called and when called seldom given an opportunity to meet the subject one on one. I gave them that moment today and they were filled with gratitude and grace.

They present themselves with some amount of apprehension perhaps and do question first the intention of giving them the opportunity of such priority and importance. I do not have the required answer or the adequate explanation for them, other than .. why not ??

Whereas a majority of the learned and elite of the country read the English medium press, a vast majority, indeed the entire majority of the nation indulges in reading what comes to them in their mother tongue. And if basic circulation economics were to be addressed, the medium that caters to the mass in the region, is the one that garners the maximum readership. But the complexities of governance over the country through the hundreds of years of foreign rule, has deprived us of a link that we all have with the earth of our existence. Our soil shall always beckon us. The element of our birth, strings along and no matter where we may eventually settle, it is this material matter of no confined shape or form that attaches itself to our skin.

The regional press therefore - whether Hindi, Urdu or Marathi or Gujarati and Punjabi. Whether Bengali or Malayalee and Tamil and Kannada. Whether Telugu and Oriya and all those wonderful diversities of this great nation, has and will always have a prominence of its own kind. I am delighted that I could find time for them and give them the concentrated importance that they so richly deserve.

There was a gentle humility in their demeanor. Almost as though they had walked into the wrong room. But they had the most perceptive queries within them and I do hope that occasions such as this help reverse the practice of the regional, aping and getting all its material from its more popular form, the English press.

So, thank you all that graced my office for this most interesting question answer. They were not all necessarily restricted to the film under promotion, but also questioned many aspects of behavior and attitude of those that were being represented almost by the main character in the produce. I enjoyed that and enjoyed leaving them with a memento of the film ; a cd an autographed flier and a cup of hot tea !

Tomorrow it is Chennai and into the mix.. Ha ha ! Sounded cool ! No… just getting there to get an idea of the mechanics that go behind a final product - background and sound and effects and titles and sub titles. They all make a difference.

And now for the bad news . The London and Dubai premiers stand cancelled. Several issues have cropped up and it would not be prudent to go ahead with it, under such uncertain pressures and circumstances. But Mumbai is on … at the IMAX Wadala on the 3rd of December and Aamir and Shahrukh have both assured me of their presence there, today, as I begin to send out letters and requests to block said date from the Industry.

Along with this is the preparation for the 28th of November and the ‘Bachchan Sandhya’ at the Bhartiya Vidya Bhavan. The arrangements, the invitees, the program and its functions, rehearsals for the recitation and getting the family to gear up for its participation.

So much to do ! So little the time !

So much to do, so little the time

Life moves along at a pace sublime.

We wander long and hard and true,

Where does the value all accrue ?

Enough of matching rhythms and getting all poetic … leave that to the masters …

My love and much more

Amitabh Bachchan