Back home and away from the SunSeaSand and Solitude

Jalsa  , Mumbai                 Nov  7 , 2011                   Mon  8 : 21 PM   

 Back home and away from the SunSeaSand and Solitude .. its more Sublime now, Selective and perhaps Sleepy … ha ha ! never felt the need to think of sleep there, but here even before we land and reach home, the body wants to go to sleep .. fear of circumstances, work, getting occupied … who knows ha !

CNN IBN does a special programme on the KBC success and its effect on the nation and in particular the 5 cr winner Sushil Kumar from Bihar. They speak to me on phone. They are polite and encouraging and appreciative of the game show. I cannot remember when an entire FTN programme was conducted with a game show as its main theme. Times change and its very encouraging to know that KBC could mean so much to the media.

Earlier today had some interesting ‘other’ reactions from the media too. Yesterday a prominent journalist from the electronic media sent an sms to me, saying that the media has taken a voluntary decision to respect the dignity of woman and her pregnancy on Aishwarya and not disturb her and the family and have decided not to place any OB vans ( Outside Broadcast Vans ) outside our house or the hospital that Aishwarya goes to. Not a word will be printed until an official announcement.

Then this afternoon a print media sent a message – ‘have you told the Information and Broadcasting Ministry to stop OB Vans from being anywhere near your house and hospital during the delivery of the baby  ..’

This was of course not true and a lot of nonsense, so I put the PR agency to look after the matter. They came back with the response that they contacted the journalist and told them that the news was wrong and refuted it on my behalf, but also told me that apparently there is news that the I&B Ministry has passed an order stating that the dignity of a patient should be respected and that the placing of OB Vans outside Hospitals be not allowed.

Some media subsequently got upset with both of us – the Ministry and me, and sms’d me on the futility of my story and that they took no orders from the Ministry ! I felt that they had misunderstood the entire episode, so I hastened to clarify that I was never expressing anything that was even remotely derogatory towards them – ‘marna hai kya‘ – and thanked them for their decision to respect the dignity and not intrude on the privacy of our family during the time of the delivery. This calmed them down and all was sorted out in a spirit of good judgement and peaceful harmony. Phew !!!

But I would like to express my gratitude to CNNiBN and to Sagarika Ghose for conducting their FTN show tonight at 10 and lauding the merits of KBC and all that went into the winning of the 5 cr award by Sushil Kumar. I mention this because it is rare for media to speak so glowingly about a game show and that too one being anchored by a certain Amitabh Bachchan !!

All is well that ends well now … until the next mix up … ha ha ha !!

I have sought the DvD of the programme and permission to put it up on the blog for many of you to see ..

Till then its “good night and do take very good care of yourself” ..

Amitabh Bachchan