First things first .. Fatima informs me that her father’s surgery went off well and that he is stable, though his recovery post operation is the critical part. We all send our good wishes and prayers. She has through me wished to express her gratitude and thanks to the FmXt for all the concern and good wishes and is very touched by the show of affection that came via the blog.

The font of the blog was under some scrutiny and there were requests to do it in a style that was more legible and larger.

Well, I must inform all that the blog has a mind of its own and this is the only acceptable design that it accepts. I tried going on Word and typing out the DAY in a more suitable font, but the moment I pasted it on to the page here, it went back to what you are seeing now. I have tried every other trick and tackle of the trade to get Mr Blog to be more receptive to change, but he refuses to hear our words and our pleas. Yesterday, I tried to fool him. I went to New Mail Message on Entourage, my mail software and one on which I write email messages, and typed my entire blog on that. Entourage deary, was happy and pleased to have had an exciting font and content that was seemingly larger in size to the ones he was accustomed to. But, horrors .. the moment I Selected All, copied and pasted it to DAY(?).. it rejected all the frills and came back to its normal self !! SO …

I am not in the habit of argument and particularly one that could be directed to this wonderful family medium, that we have nurtured with so much effort. I am therefore loathe to submit that the font shall remain the way it is .. size and all ..

O, yes… there are times when I have colored words and texts to bring a little variety on this page .. that is acceptable to Blog ji. But any attempt to fill an entire space has been met with resentment. So best to leave things as they are. Blog ji happy toh all happy ..!!

Someone mentioned about Singapore National Day and whether I was witness to its celebrations. No, I was not. But I did get to see it on TV and it was quite interesting to observe how committed and proud a small little country, tucked away in the corner of the Far East, is, about its achievements. The most striking feature to me was the uniformity of the celebration. Its not the parade or the march of uniformed army personnel or the guard of honor, or the fly past. It was the uniformity of the citizens that were present at the celebration. The massive stands built to accommodate viewers, was a mass of red and white, the national colors of Singapore. Every individual that sat on those stands wore a red shirt and each waved the flag held high, in great unison. All the flags were of similar dimension and when they lifted their hands to acknowledge a moment, the visual was stunning. Not just the people, all the VIP’s that attended the show, wore similar dress - white. White trousers and half sleeved white shirts and they all alighted from white colored vehicles, right from the President to the Ministers and Members of Parliament. The President wore a suit, but all the others were in white. Yes aesthetically, it looked gorgeous and attractive, but the uniform nature of the attire symbolized a lot more according to me - equality, a word that many brandish about with great patriotic vigor, but fail on most occasions to follow. The fly past may have been limited to just 3 fighter jets flying in formation, or a bunch of 4 helicopters carrying loftily the national flag tied to its under carriage , but the reception that they got, and the pride with which they were applauded as they went by, was exceptional. It was the spirit of the moment that invoked appreciation, a spirit that reflected the temperament of a nation. Impressive.

I read in the press about a celebration being planned on my completion of 40 years in the film industry of India. They talk of the participation of various artists that shall put up a concert as a tribute on a large scale. Some talk in this regard was, I must admit, broached one evening in Mumbai at my office, but I had not entirely agreed on the concept or even the thought of doing something like this. I would be terribly embarrassed. And I do hope that this is just another bad rumor. There are several others of great value and importance that need to be celebrated first. I would not be happy if this plan were to go through. What would make me very happy would be an opportunity to meet all the FmXt, if at all there is someone with an idea on how this could be accomplished.

The pedometer rests lazily among several items of very little interest in my daily routine. And this has to change. I must urge myself into activity and soon, before I start sprouting roots around the furniture in the room. I need to make a commitment. Nothing works in life without one. So I shall commit myself to the FmXt. From tomorrow morning, its back to the gym and a regular routine of cardio and weights and crunches and yoga. And then sitting in the sun for that vital Vit D. Its back to a controlled diet and no junk food mid night feasts, as you watch SUN TV or reruns of the Indian Cricket Team winning games against England and Pakistan on NEO TV. There !! Made the commitment. And I shall promise you that it shall be followed diligently and if not, shall be equally diligently, reported back to you. Ha !! Thats hardly binding is it ? Ok.. lets make it binding. Will the FmXt put up suggestions that, were I to default, what is it they would like to punish me with. Now, folks .. come up with something that would be do-able. Not some weird exercise of hanging upside down on the Eiffel Tower !!

OKKAAAY !!!

Right then .. that should get a whole lot of you busy for the day..

Till then ..its shubh ratri, shaba khair, namaskaar, sat sri akaal, aadaab ~