Paris in the morning, Paris in the sun

Paris just like never before, thriving attention.

It is difficult to describe the air of casual elegance that this city encompasses one with. It could be the train station, a walk in the Tuileries, an upscale restaurant or a busy crowded street, nothing deters the visitor from just staring in admiration and wonder and awe at the passage of time and the excellence that followed close behind. And no matter how far or how long one may keep away from this monument of eternal beauty, when it draws you in, it is impossible to resist the temptation.

I am again in temptation land to meet up with producers and directors and projects that show promise and opportunity. There is an excitement that exists without fading, on everything that is Indian. And in this euphoria there is a desire to work with collaboration and joint ventures. The mystique and the the magical of India, its culture and its society, now form an integral part of any discussion and I feel honored and proud to have been born on a soil that now reaches out to the rest of the world and begets only admiration.

It has been a while. But a while that was worth its wait in gold. When one has witnessed 6 decades of the existence of his country, one has witnessed the immense changes that have occurred. Better or worse one cannot say. Just the fact that change has been implemented and executed, is enough energy to change lethargy and complacence into the joy of opportunity and the diligence of its execution.

Nothing can ever compare to the love one has for its own country and nation, a love that has the capacity to transcend all else. Murray may have lost at Wimbledon, but the manner in which his country and its media stood with him in modest and humble openness is the remarkable quality that defines a nation. They covered his errors as though it was theirs. They talked of his almost glory and the fact that he being only 22 years of age, he could and would be in a position, perhaps the following year, to make amends and succeed. There is no mention of the superiority of the opponent. There is mention only of how close, their hero was to the final verdict, through the dexterity he showed in the game with his rival.

The West Indies lost the game yesterday, but the commentary only sang praises of the effort they made and diverting the loss to an ugly Duckworth/Lewis system of calculation and the repeated closures in the game due to rain, robbing thereby their team players of a fair playing field and the resultant success that should rightly be theirs.

But look closely at the attitude adopted by us when we were thrown back from the T20 tournament. Nothing but criticism of the team, of the captain, of every conceivable avenue of complaint possible. The electronic will run scathing cynical and lustrous remarks. The print will give well worked out sensational headlines, thrashing the ‘culprits’, without as much as giving space to them to retaliate.

And the game goes on. A game that suits the commercialism of the product. A game that ridicules our own sons, but never hesitates to show praise to the other. Never encourages them in defeat, never stands by them in supportive element.

There are mistakes and shortcomings in all. But is it all that necessary to rub the proverbial salt on their wounds. Defeat breaks people. A success gone wrong hurts. Suffer the loss, but do not pass that on to the team. They know where they have gone wrong, is it really important for us to burst into their world and attempt to teach them how they must needs conduct themselves.

Let us bring this up for debate. Let us talk on the issue with an intention to improve the lot of the players through logical formal analysis. Let us not demean them to such an extent that they lose their very spirit to exist for the team.

I shall travel wide now and at rapid intervals. There may come a situation when my post may suffer delays.

Delays yes. Disconnect never !!!

My love

Amitabh Bachchan