Jalsa, Mumbai Mar 27/28, 2015 Fri/Sat 2:41 am
The time is ominous. The hour is beyond apprehension. The dates move from a 24 region to another. The destination is the same. The day changes a digit ..
But the one that has not changed is the intent … the intent to connect to a waiting Ef, eager, anxious, to gather what today’s description of the contents of this post would smell like ..
‘Smell the coffee’ they often say for a reality check. What and where did this phrase come from. Smelling coffee ? Why ? Does it mean more than the smell itself, or is there a hidden meaning behind the mere philosophy of the cocoa bean ? I wonder and have no recollect on this. Perhaps some of my most educated, versatile and aware well wishers, would have an answer …
I travel to Egypt after long years. This visual is from my visit in 1991, in Cairo at the Pyramids and the historic Sphinx. A most memorable trip, if ever there was one .. the love and the affection of the Egyptians, their hospitality, their compassion and their extreme love for cinema, cannot be described in words. I can never ever forget those moments, those days spent in the midst of fraternity so loved and so caring towards their visitors …my sincere thanks to them in every walk of life … 24 years is a long time to be away from Cairo, though I did come for a visit in between to the Alexandria film Festival in the Northern part of the country, for a day, in the middle of my shooting in Los Angeles for Sanjay Gupta’s film with Sunjay Dutt and others …
I was there in Cairo before the 1991 visit as well. It was for the shooting of ‘Great Gambler’ around 1975 .. but little was known of the Industry and least of all me .. Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru was the most popular name then and for his great association and friendship with the President of Egypt, Nasser. The Oberoi Hotel was a place where we shot extensively and of course the Pyramids. The deserts were equally attractive, especially the tents out in the open and a song picturisation with Zeenat Aman. Most of those days is a blur in memory , but what remained then and now is and was the people … warm friendly and so compassionate ..
I go now with an earnestness to be in the midst of my friends and Ef in Cairo, to be a part of the celebrations that are conducted each year in the context of India -Egypt relations, an India Day by the Nile .. with an assurance to all the Ef from the region that I shall meet them and shall give my details as soon as I have them .. perhaps by tomorrow … so that those that are planning to travel miles to reach Cairo, are not inconvenienced in any manner ..
There is so much history in the civilisation of this great country, the culture, the standards of life, learning and its magnificent contribution to the Wonders of the World … it would require several years of learning to discover and gather all there is to know in this most strategically placed country .. almost a great point of unity among the East and the West, because of its geographic positioning ..
There have been great writings that have come out form here, great literature and academics, and I feel so honoured and humbled, that during my visit the very prestigious and renowned Academy of Arts, has decided to honour me with a Doctorate in the field of arts and culture. This is a rare distinction I am told, and I am most overwhelmed by its decision. I am but a very small and almost insignificant part of the fraternity of films from my country and find it most honourable on the part of the Academy to decorate me. They do not decorate me, indeed they recognise the film industry of India, and for that I am most grateful …
I must brag about one incident though. During my stay in Cairo for the Alexandria visit, I spent a night in a Hotel in Cairo, or perhaps a couple of nights, which was during the WW 2, being used as a residence of the Allied Forces, and the room I was in was where the legendary Field Marshal Montgomery of Great Britain had stayed. It was his room during the time of the war !!
Some of the more extraordinary visits in Egypt were to the son et lumierè at the Pyramids, the commentary on the site given by the iconic Richard Burton. Then there was Luxor and its monuments and the sound and light there, the Valley of the Kings, with its underground excavations, the Museum and the great artefacts of the time of the Pharaohs .. just an endless excursion of history and astonishing art work both in the objects as also the building and the preservation of the Mummies and the possessions of the Kings through time ..
That backdrop may be of New York, but how coincidental for me to be in possession of this picture as I write, for on my way back from Cairo, as I changed flight at London Heathrow and took off for USA, my daughter called from Delhi, urgently asking me to put the Tv on. Being airborne just then it was not possible to do that, but soon peculiar things started to happen. The plane diverted and abandoned take off, went back to Bay, stating unusual circumstances. On reaching the lobby area of the airport, there was immense tension that one could experience .. and then … I realised .. there were crowds of travellers gathered in front of the Tv sets .. and .. I actually saw LIVE, the 2 planes crashing into the Twin Towers in New York .. the 9/11 attack !!!
It has been late today, and for this I must apologise, but there are times in a day when it does become difficult to pull away from certain activities… activities that relate to years and days gone by .. of times well spent .. of times of great adversity and rancour ..
Blood shall always remain thicker than water .. and it is sometimes important in life to accept this renowned adage, to experience and share it and to know that they that confess relation of blood, shall ever be that … your own !!
Good night dear ones … may you be in ‘blood relation’ in family and in extended realm …!!