BAAHAR JAANLEVA GARMI THI, AUR UNDER YAADON KA EK SUHAANA SAFAR CHAL RAHA THA. (Jab meri Javed Akhtar ke saath 25 saal ke baad do minute mei ek baar phir dosti ho gayi)... BY ALI PETER JOHN

There was a time not so long ago when I attended two or more press conferences and at least two cocktail party in a day, besides attending office at Express Towers in Nariman Point - Ali Peter John

But things have changed drastically after that good young man ran his water tanker over my left foot and crushed it forever. The spirit is still willing, but the flesh is weak.

And yet when there is a good reason to attend a public function, I defy my flesh and put my flesh into the fourth gear and somehow reach the venue of the event or the party, not so much to drink or savour the snacks and tea or relish the delicacies, but to renew friendships and relationships which I strongly feel are the life and love of life.

Last week, on a very hot and humid afternoon I made my way to a ‘high tea' organized to release the music album of the young Roshansh Pandit, the son of music composer Lalit Pandit of the team of Jatin-Lalit who had together swayed and soothed the soul of music lovers in Hindi films.

Roshansh was one of the last in the family of the Pandit who had dedicated their lives to Indian music. His new album ‘Say No To War' was inspired by the war between Russia and Ukraine and indeed all wars.

The lyrics of the song were written by Rahul Seth and Roshansh himself and sung by Javed Ali and Andrea Jeremiah. Padmabhushan, brilliant and mostly controversial Javed Akhtar was to unveil the album in the presence of known names like Nitin Mukesh, Alka Yagnik, Shaan, Samir Anjaan, Vivek Vaswaani, one of the first friends and producer of Shah Rukh Khan in Mumbai, Priya Dutt, the two times MP and now an active social worker, Vijeta Pandit, the heroine of Rajendra Kumar's “Love Story" and widow of the music composer Aadesh Shrivastava and many friends of the family of Roshansh.

The gathering of celebrities brought some soothing light into my eyes and my heart was beating with a strange rhythm which I had never heard my heart breathe in a long time.

The release function had all the elements that such functions have, but there was a certain kind of unity and tunefulness weaving it together. It could be a way of saying that they all believed in the theme of the song, ‘Say No To War'. The one thing that warmed up my heart was to see how a father like Lalit Pandit and a mother like Meena, his wife took all the pains to make their son's first big event to seek success.....

The official function was over and I was looking for reasons to make my visit memorable. I had not been on good terms with Javed Akhtar for than 25 years, all because of his ditching me at the last minute at the release of my autobiography in Marathi for which in the entire world of Marathi literature have gathered.

I was lucky, I called my friend Nana Patekar and he came to my function and made it a much bigger event than Javed Akhtar would have made it even if he had come. I was very upset with Javed whose admirer I was as a writer and a poet.

I realised how much anger could harm when I used to come face to face with Javed and how I kept relentlessly attacking him on every issue that he had his point of view or opinion about it.

I could never understand why I could dislike a man so much for doing the kind of harm he did to me on that evening when he played havoc with my mind and my heart. And the story became like a sore in my heart which showed no signs of healing.....

Till I saw him sitting in the front row at the music launch of ‘Say No To War'. I saw people having a great time, I saw them celebrating, but somewhere within me, I felt a strange burden growing heavier and like a stone in me.

I kept asking myself what it could be that was making me so uneasy and uncomfortable.

Till I suddenly got up from my chair and walked up to Javed Akhtar and asked him if I could tap him on his back and his answer surprised me when he said,“Arre, Ali sahab, pat kya, aap mujhe thapaad maar sakte hai" and looking at the small crowd of his admirers of the new generation, he said,“aap logo ko maloom nahi hoga shaayad, yeh Ali Peter John hai, inhone hum jaiso ko banaya hai".

I didn't feel embarrassed at all, I felt warm because even if he had said it just to please me, it sounded good and I felt better because my conscience told me that I had helped many in every field to take more confident steps to build a better future for themselves and for the film industry.

We sat together on that sofa for several minutes and there was more that we didn't say to each other than what we actually said. And as we talked and held hands and put our arms on the shoulders of each other, the photographers and especially one senior photographer called Suhel kept clicking pictures.

And as it has been happening to me and my life people wondered who I was and one of the elderly guests I heard was saying,“Javed Akhtar sahab toh theek hai, lekin unke bagal mein jo faltu aadmi baitha hai, woh kaun hai?" I was so delighted with the reunion with Javed Sahab as I always call him that I could have forgiven even Satan and his ugly wife that evening.

And to add to my happiness that evening I realised that some of my genuinely good friends of the good old days like Nitin Mukesh and the two wonderful young ladies Priya Dutt and Vijeta were the same little girls I knew when I too was not a very old man.

That evening I asked my body and my mind to give me some more strength and some more time to attend functions like this and other functions where I could meet many of my friends who I have lost touch with.

Where is the time to get angry, to hate and to lose friends? A 100 years is just like a whiff of air that blows across your face and then vanishes never to come back again.

LOVE YOU ZINDAGI.LOVE KARTE RAHO ZINDAGI. LOVE KE SIVA AUR KYA RAKHA HAI ZINDAGI MEIN, AE ZINDAGI!!!