EK MASEEHA NE KAISE MANAAYA 15 AUGUST KA JASHAN ... DUTT SAHAAB KE LIYE HAR 15 AUGUST SEVA KARNEKA EK AUR MAUKAA THAA 

I have seen every kind of lndian , good lndian , bad Indian , brave Indian , cowered lndian , selfless Indian , selfish  Indian , sinful lndian, sinless lndian, honest lndian  and most of all, l have seen corrupt lndians who have no principles , values and give all the reasons to show that a true lndian cannot be an lndian like them - and unfortunately, it is the last category of un-lndian and non- lndian , lndians Who are dominating life in lndia today - Ali Peter John 

It is when l think about the various  kinds of lndians that l think about one lndian the most , and his name is Sunil Dutt .

If l say that l knew him well , l will be saying nothing about him . If l say that he was more  than an Indian, l will be doing wrong to him .

If l say that he was an ideal lndian, l would  still be saying nothing about him . Sunil Dutt was for me an lndian who loved and cared for his country and its people more than he loved and cared for his family ...

Like Mr Dutt ( as his wife Nargis used to  call him was an actor , a director , a producer, a well-wisher of the people , a sympathizer of the common man , a fighter for every cause, a man who could do anything for the armed forces and even the handicapped , the cancer patients, he was a politician like no other politicians l have seen or know and above all , he was an almost perfect human being . It would not be wrong if l called him the " kaliyug ka mahapurush "..

He was a man who looked for ways of being useful to society, the country and even the world...

Every day was a day to go out and help as many people as possible for him , but Independence Day was one day when he was more energetic and enthusiastic about working among the people and for the people ...

His day on August 15 started with a small prayer (he was religious , but he didnt make a show of his religiosity at any time ) .

He then went to his office at Sunrise Building off Linking Road where he had asked his friends , associates and assistant .

He went through his diary with his personal secretary, Parvez , who was his brother-in-law , the youngerbrother  of his wife Nargis and his office secretary, Joshi and marked out the functions he had to attend and the slums and other places he had to visit on that one day .

He had his breakfast in office which was cooked and served to him by widows of soldiers who had died in different wars and mostly from women of the lower communities , and he then set off for the first of his padyatras around the suburbs of North West Bombay ( now called Mumbai) .

He addressed the firstof his meetings at around 10.30 and in this meeting and every other meeting he spoke at , he talked about the need for peace which he said could come only if there was an atmosphere of communal harmony , he talked about Hindus and Muslims and all other communities to walk hand in hand and work togather to build a better future for the country .

He was not a very great speaker but whatever  he said came very straight  from his heart. And he was one who never minced his words when it came to facing the truth about life around .

By 11.30 am , he addressed at least 3 meetings and the crowd at his meetings only kept growing with every meeting and the slogans praising him kept reaching new highs , but all the praise  and even the flattering did not affect him , because he seemed to know the truth about himself and about what he was talking about and who he was talking to...

At around 2 pm , he had a short break for a simple lunch ( otherwise , he loved good food, a love which he shared with his idol and neighbour, Dilip Kumar) .

And after lunch  , it was a different kind of padyatraa . He was followed by hundreds of people as he walked to the centre for the handicapped which was built with the support of Mrs Nargis Dutt

He then rushed in his white Ambassador car to the Tata Cancer Memorial Hospital where he made it a point to spend a few minutes with every patient in every word, especially in the ward dedicated to Nargis Dutt, who had worked to fight cancer and who died of Cancer .

The doctors , nurses and ward boys were very happy when he visited the hospital and the way he walked from one ward to another and from one bed to another had given him the name Panther in the hospital .

He made it a point  to find time to visit the red light area called Kamathipura in Central Bombay and the way the sex workers reacted to his arrival and his spending time with them , trying to know their problems is a scene l can never forget , even if l lose my memory .

When he returned to "Sunrise " at sunset , he was visibly tired , but the vermilion splash on his forehead and his white kurta together with the garlands of love around his neck and his benevolent smile made him look as fresh as he looked in the morning when he had left Sunrise to share the joy of independence day with my people who are my strength " .

His activities on Independence Day grew more hectic , frenetic , exciting and even scary after he entered politics and won every election he contested from the North Bombay West Parliamentary constituency, but he never gave up on his meeting the lower class and middle class people , the centre for the handicapped, the cancer hospital for which he had raised several crores of rupees and the red light area .

He was most active visiting his constituency not only during his election campaigns but all through the time when he was a MP .

He was active working among the people even when he had met with an accident and had broken several bones in his body .

He worked with a stick , but he kept walking till the end . Who can forget his long walk from Mumbai to Amritsar in the midst of all the violence during the riots in Punjab in 1984 ?

And who van forget his long walk from Herosima to Nagasaki to make a plea for peace in the world ?

He kept working till the last evening of his life and his long walk came to a certain end when he died of a massive heart attack on the first night he slept in his own bed room at Imperial Heights which had come in placeof his beautiful bungalow .

AISE KARAMVEER AUR AISA MASEEHA KABHI KABHI AATE HAIN . AUR MAI KITNAA KHUSH NASEEB HU KI MAI UNKE KITNE KAREEB THA. JAB TAK SURAJ CHAAND RAHEGAA , DUTT SAHAAB AAPKAA NAAM RAHEGA.