GRACE OF THE MOLEHILLS

I was reading Amitabh Bachchan’s blog last afternoon. Like me, he too is an avid Blogger…


I must’ve committed a 'crime' by saying – “Like me!!!”

It is like comparing a mouse with a Dinosaur… or, a molehill with the Mount Everest. So, before, I become a laughing stock, let me place myself where I belong: I too blog, the way the mighty Bachchan sir does!

And, if I say Amitabh Bachchan is a busy man, I would be an even bigger laughing stock!


Still, he blogs every day, for years on… He writes in the middle of the night… In the early hours of the day… in the middle of his busy afternoon schedule… whenever, wherever… But, he blogs, everyday, without fail. 

In one of his latest posts, he – may be for the billionth time in his life – recites a poem of his dad, Shri. Harivanshrai Bachchan. Yes, from the classic – ‘Madushala’. 

Amitabh Bachchan keeps saying – and over and over again – that he can not be even a shadow of his great father’s persona… To Amitabh, his late poet-father shall always be the Dinosaur, the Mount Everest. He keeps telling us that he has not achieved even a small fraction of what his father had… He won’t be able to ever reach where the great poet had!

Well, that’s Amitabh Bachchan… the Grace and humility at its vintage best!

So, I ask now: Could Shri Harivanshrai Bachchan, the great poet-father of Amitabh Bachchan, do what his great actor-son has?… Could he act the way his son has?… Could he host the KBC the way his son has?… Could he set ablaze the screen the way his son has?… Could he become this popular through the length and breadth of the globe?

Yes, in another school-book poem,

 when the mighty mountain 

mocks at the little squirrel saying,

 “Hey, you tiny one, 

can you carry a forest on you back 

the way I do?” 

the squirrel nails down the arrogant mountain 

with this one:

“And, you giant, 

can you break a nut the way I do?”

Last morning, I received from one of my dearest students, who now lives abroad, a touching compliment. I had taught her about thirty years ago… and, now, this student of mine was telling me that she knew me as a fine teacher… but, she had never imagined that I was a fine writer as well! “I wish I had half the abilities to write as you do!”… This was what she wrote yesterday.

I was, humanly, touched! I quickly wrote back:

“And, dear, I wish I could say what you are saying to me now with half the grace and humility with which you do!”

I meant every bit of that line!

To say someone such things, with all your heart – with reverence, humility and grace – you needed to be an Amitabh Bachchan!

The Dinosaurs have gone extinct… and, the Mount Everest won’t grow any taller, as they always say…

But, a humble, graceful soul can always grow... by just being so!

GERALD D’CUNHA

Pics.: Supriya Chavan