I have been hearing and reading some alarming news about Zibbu, but have no confirmation or the source to check. I did send him a message just the other day and he responded. He has been unwell. I do hope he recovers.

Another day of bonding with the kids and spending some quality time with the little fellows and discovering so many fresh aspects of their exciting life. Such joys are so wondrous.

I am so tempted to write on a topic that shall surely become so annoyingly controversial that I shall have to contain myself and keep away from it. But this I can say that the times in the lives of us of today and the times in the lives of us then, have been through a sea change. And often have we wondered, which was and should be the better option. The elders always dwell on the past and the days gone by, never to come again. This generation shall have similar feelings in the years to come. Their present attitudes shall remain with them pristine and protected. They will refrain from entertaining any other. We at their age and circumstance would and had behaved similarly.

We at this stage may be in a position to get shocked or dismayed by what we see hear and experience. To those of now, nothing seems out of place. What is normal to them is perhaps alarming to us. Long may this difference last. But alarms are forerunners of change and at times drastic in nature. They are not necessarily easy to accept. We may find it hard and impossible to perceive what transpires today. But the people of today look upon it as normal and acceptable.

Within the industry, similar thoughts and sentiments exist. What could have been behind closed doors earlier are now blatantly open and acceptable. Time and circumstance changes everything. I guess we need to be thick skinned broad minded vestibules of this generations’ attributes. So be it. Some will acknowledge it, most not. I cannot find myself in either category. I do hope someday I shall, because I would want to.

I labor now to compose to think to write. I labor not for want of material. Material is immaterial. I labor because I am overburdened by prudence. Life is not without its restraints. Many feel honored to have exercised it. Its safe and dignified. At times though dignity and safety vie with each other to occupy the seat at the back. Back of an auditorium, back of a line, a queue - a position of insignificance. Pushed by desire, position, false pride, unacknowledged privilege, the front seaters of life enjoy abstract momentary bliss. Is that what we strive for, or should. Would that go down in history as acceptable form or would it be forgotten and declined as years pass by.

Ethics and culture shall survive the harshest quakes. The value and potential that they express would put any impudent mortal to shame. The momentary acclaim of recognition and fame and reverence, shall fade in the dark but lasting shadows of timeless posterity. Provided posterity had the potential of being timeless. Some from posterity do, most do not. The present shall never be able to understand this until they are overtaken by the future next. It is most harsh and difficult to comprehend. Letting go of the rainbow in your hand is devastatingly heartbreaking. But the rainbow is not the only respite. And even if it were, there would always be space for another.

I would work for the other if the one now were to be snatched away dishonorably. I would not expend much energy over what prevails now. Someone has already spent so much time and effort to achieve this. Better to look for fresh pastures, new horizons and unchallenged peaks. Better to be first there, stumbling and falling over in brave effort than to be reconciling with the transpired. Transpired is exhausted futility. Burden yourself with it and you shall carry it all your living years. Leaving it behind to selected freshness, but keeping it within vigil is appropriate and rewarding.

I would wish for all to thrive in reward. But contrived and subjected to manipulation, reward shall always be regarded as an ugly misnomer - one that I shall never be able to perhaps contend with. And I hope many others too.

A disturbed mind for creativity spells doom and nothing less. Creative minds will be disturbed. It enhances the effect of creation. If the disturbance is carried forward in the, work of his creation, for his creation, by his creation, I am comfortable with that. But if it does for its finite state, I shall not allow it to be entertained within me. It would be draining for me to indulge in any matter that is obtuse and evil and built to cause deformity. But it is also a form, unfortunately, that shall play relevant episodes albeit momentarily. The danger really is that many there in the environment, are satisfied by this short term presence. Better with something than with nothing. Sensible at times, but not in the context of what we discuss today …

Its been a long night and perhaps a longer morning tomorrow …

Good night then and may you accept my love in abundance …

Amitabh Bachchan