The sonorous drone of the falling rain numbs you into the feel of wanting to be inside the duvet with the soft pillow and a song in the ear. But not without my connect for the day.

Most of the time these days is spent on watching the progress of would be projects, which need to be made operational and in this regard substantial progress continues to be made. Simultaneously of course the rehearsals for KBC continue unabated. This morning we had an entire family over for mock rehearsals and it was fun to see how they bonded and joined hands to play together for the game.

There was an opportunity when all this was over to take the wife out to dinner and so we did go out. Called a few of our common friends and drove across to the Marriott at MezoMezo. Since I had not done that for quite sometime, it did feel good and refreshing. There was interesting conversation, sharing of ideas, information on the goings on of the world around and in general a most healthy evening.

But by far the most endearing episode of the day was the meeting with Avatar Gill, fellow actor, colleague and a gentle human. His friend he said had a desire to meet me to present me something and wrote down a small file of information , why.

His friend’s father and my Father had once many many years ago been on a common platform at a poetic symposium at the Red Fort in New Delhi. This must have been during the Republic Day celebrations, a regular feature dedicated to a patriotic feel of the day and moment. At the symposium the friend’s father’s poem or words that he recited, spoke poetically of what the poet thought was his contribution to the nation. This seemed to have invited a somewhat cynical remark from one of the officers that worked in the intelligence wing of the Army, where he almost taunted the poet of merely being fluent with words and not fluent with the actual physical work that the Army did for the nation. This became a piquant issue and friend’s father asa defiance listed himself for intelligence work in the Indian Army and on one of his missions was caught by the Pakistani’sand jailed.

After spending some years he wrote to my Father seeking help from him to perhaps put in a word with the right authorities for his release. My Father wrote to the Ministry and spoke to some people in the establishment, after which friend’s father got released. Friend’s father passed away a few years from now, having suffered the prison in Pakistan and greater problems on his return when he did not have the resources to conduct a normal existence. Friend now wanted to come across to meet me and to hand over a bunch of hand written letters that my Father had written to his father, giving him hope and promise that all would be well. I have agreed immediately and soon a schedule shall be set for this exercise to be concluded.

I have been most touched by this story and had no inkling of it, nor did my Father ever talk about it to me. I do look forward now to being able to meet this man and thank him for his association and gratefulness that he showed to my Father.

I have always felt, the need to offer help or succor for the needy never goes without it causing some issues with the chief celebrity ; his standing his prestige and most importantly his desire to be what he desires to be.

Yes celebrities do fall prey to the shenanigans of some twisted elements in society, but is there really a cure for it ? No … One could be adamant on this and say that this issue does not involve me per se and to run away from it. But at some point of time the truth has to be faced.

Scratch my back and I shall scratch yours ..

Its not the most comfortable situation to be in , but I guess it has its merits ..

Love to you for you and from you …

Amitabh Bachchan