DAY 1934
Jalsa, Mumbai Aug ½, 2013 Thu/Fri 1 :41 AM
Last night at the sitting for the music of Sudhir Mishra’s film, with Aadesh Srivastava was one of utmost enlightenment. The banter, the story telling, the laughter and within it all the sudden selection of a song for the film, one that about 10 years ago Aadesh and I had merely out of fun recorded, and one that fitted in so perfectly, was just a perfect day at his studio. What helped was the fact that all the people concerned with the evening - about 5 of us - were all from the same region in UP !! Recollecting the oddities of the times gone by, the little tales of amusement, the language, all put together turned out to be most special … despite the late hour, my ailing back, it was such an exciting evening, one that we experienced after a long long time ..
Connecting with your environ of birth has always been so nostalgic and so pertinent. It has the habit of never leaving you, no matter where you travel or reside and make home ..
Mumbai is home. It is the city where I have lived and spent the maximum number of years of my life. It is the city that gave me my present vocation and profession. That gave me my first house, indeed the first house of our own ; one that even my Father never could have. It gave me my wife, my children and my grandchildren. Mumbai is my ‘karmabhumi’, and Allahabad my 'janmabhumi’ ..
One can never forget the roots of your birth or the feel of the earth of ones birthplace, just as much, you can never forget the place which you now call home. This city of Mumbai gave me name, recognition and dignity. It welcomed me the way in which it welcomes thousands of others that come in regularly everyday.The power and strength of Mumbai is infectious. It is a city that invites you to go out and seek. And if you do that in sincerity, it rewards you. It does not allow you to sit back and rest. It wakes you up in the morning, dresses you up and kicks you out to face the challenges of life. Its large heart, accommodates all, feeds them provides them shelter, and opens opportunities for them to avail and succeed .. this beautiful collection of almost seven islands, linked together to become Bombay first and now Mumbai, was a gift in marriage during the time of those that ruled over us … the British Raj … its transformation into this magnificent metropolis is what great stories and tales are made of. Truly one of the great cities of the world !
At times I consider the good fortune that came my way during my years of life. I got to know and learn the ways of Allahabad and Uttar Pradesh, where i was born. Came to learn the culture and language of the region - that typical 'awadhi’, alongside the environs of my Mother, born Sikh. The culture and language of Punjab feel into my ears. Then came the shift to Delhi, boarding school in Nainital and Sherwood, a missionary institute, built by the British as a student environment for the families of those officers and soldiers that formed the army of the United Kingdom, now posted in India … so punjabi and that typical casual drawl of the Delhite, its own importance as the Capital of the country … followed soon after by University, another unique experience … passing out through graduation, the search for a job and my travel to Calcutta, now Kolkata and living there in an intense Bengali and corporate atmosphere, or the 'box walas’ as the executives of the times were referred to .. and finally then to Maharashtra and Mumbai.
My Father had wished that his family should marry into different regions of the country … and quite coincidentally, I married into Bengal, Jaya being a Bengali, my brother married a Sindhi, my daughter married a Punjabi, my son went South, into a Tulu family …
So … in the presence of all my Sikh relatives I speak Punjabi, with Jaya’s in Bengali, in UP in Awadhi … and I am still to get to the language of Aishwarya, the Tulu, from the Mangalore region … we are then in the true sense a pretty 'mixed up’ family … ha ha ha … !!
Ideally I would want to be able to speak in all the prominent languages of the country … along with some of the prominent languages of the world - French, German, Italian, Russian … I wonder if I would ever succeed in doing so ..
Love,
Amitabh Bachchan
