EK MAAHAA MAANAV KI MAUT AUR EK 'MANHOOS " INSAAN JO ...... BY ALI PETER JOHN

I do believe in nonsense like rebirth or karma, ( God bless those believe in them ), but there have been some men who have come into my life at different times and who have almost tempted me to believe that there are some power that are beyond my understanding or the understanding of some of the greatest minds I have known and feel I am very grateful for knowing and among the few such great men who I will always be grateful to are Khwaja Ahmed Abbas, Sahir Ludhiyanvi, Krishan Chander, Rajinder Singh Bedi, Mohammad Rafi and Balraj Sahni - Ali Peter John

I have been very fortunate and grateful to whoever are whatever that power is that brought me, a poor boy from a jhoppadpati to the notice of these men who I strongly feel are the men who made a man out of me.

I had just woken in my little house in Latif Abdul Cyclewaala Compound, when my neighbour who was an assistant to Ramanand Sagar and Rajinder Singh Bedi told me that Balraj Sahni had died of a heart attack. Balraj Sahni was not related to me, not did I know him in anyway, but I had seen some of his films like.

'Do bigha zameen', "Kaabuliwaala" and "Waqt" . I don't know how and why , but knew I wanted to attend his funeral . I had not attended a hindu funeral till then and knew that Balraj Sahni was a Communist. I was confused. I however borrowed a ruppee from my neighbour and went to the bungalow of Balraj Sahni called "Ikram" in Juhu facing the sea .

But the funeral procession had already left for the Pawan Hans cremetoriam , I was told. I knew nobody and so I kept running and walking towards the cremetoriam. There was a massive crowd of mourners, but I could somehow make my in and get lost in the crowd .

I stood in one corner and kept looking all around, sometimes at the body of the great man and sometimes at the faces of those who had come to pay their last respects to the man who had made a great difference to their lives and times.

I don't know why at that time I felt that most of the people who were at the crematorium had only come to do their "duty" and that they had no real feelings for a great man who had gone away there were some speeches made in Hindi, English and Marathi and they all talked about Balraj Sahni as a great actor and a writer and some spoke about his work for the Communist Party and for the poor and the workers ( mazdoors ) . Balraj Sahni who had lived a short life, but a life full of achievements died when he was sixty one , if I am right .

His only son , Ajay ( who was later to be called Parikshat ) who had just come back after studying cinema in Moscow , lit the pyre of his father amidst slogan of " Comrade Balraj Sahni amar rahe , mazdoor ekta zindabad and Shree Ramchandra ki jai. And his body went up in flames and smoke and I kept wondering at the futility of life and the power of death over life ....

As I kept walking out of the crematorium , I saw a tall young man standing under a tree silently and watching the whole scene and with his hands folded. There was no one who was looking at him . And the few who looked at him , looked away from him.

They called him a "manhoos" and a "panvati." They had their own reasons to call him these names. That tall man was Amitabh Bachchan who had given seven or eight big flops after "Saat Hindustani".

On that dark morning , I saw the defeated Amitabh Bachchan having one last look at the burning body of Balraj Sahni and then having one look at the sun in the sky and I could almost hear him tell the sky, " abhi se kya bataaye tumhe ae asmaan, waqt aane par bataa denge tumhe kya hamaare dil mein hai " ......

AUR AMITABH NE WAQT KO KYA KYA DIKHA DIYA .....

Amitabh was perhaps the greatest fan of Balraj Sahni . He has been following the Balraj Sahni school of acting all through his career . He has been a good friend of Parikshat Sahni , who I had inspired to write a book on his father which he wrote . I also requested Amitabh to write a preface to the book and he wrote it.

The publishers wanted a celebrity to release the book. I again asked Amitabh to find time. He not only came , he came with his wife Jaya and stayed on till the end of the function. I think Amitabh has still not forgotten anything that he has learnt from his elders ... like Balraj Sahni.

WAQT NA JAANE KAUSI KAISI KAHANIYAN APNE PARO MEIN CHHUPAAYI RAKTI HAI AUR INSAAN KO AISE WAQT PAR BATAATI HAI KI INSAAN HAIRAAN AUR PARESHAAN HO JATA HAI