THOSE WERE THE DAYS, MY DEAR ABBAS SAHAB !

( FOR ROMI ,WHO  INSPIRED ME TO WRITE THIS PIECE)

My dear Abbas Sahab (I know men and women like Amitabh Bachchan, Shabana Azmi,Tinnu Anand and many others called you Maamujan, but I will not because I have always believed that my relationship with you is greater and more meaningful than any relationship).

My life is and would be nothing if it was not for a strange chain of my creation (thanks to my father and my very dear mother),circumstances ,coincidences and unexpected and unusual encounters with some of the greatest names which I could not even dreams of having encounters with. And I can without any hesitation or any bias   towards any human being dead or alive say that you were the greatest among the many great human beings I have come across in my life and I know that there will never be another man as great as you were in my life.

You were a distant dream for me when I  was living in that slum and going to school. I Knew a man called Felix Fernandes, who was a driver working for the Indian Express who used to bring two papers with him every Friday, one was "Blitz "and the other was "Screen".Both were then available for twenty five naiya paise, which I just couldn't afford. It was thanks to Felix that I got a chance to read "Blitz "and see "Screen"for the pictures of the stars. Little did I know that these two weeklies were  to play a very prominent part in the grooming of my life....

I found "Blitz "uninteresting because of all the political news and editorials, but I  got thoroughly attracted by a column called "The Last Page"which was written by  a man called Khawaja Ahmad Abbas. It grew into a habit to read this column and I felt that I could even beg, borrow or steal just to ready this one column.

I was sitting in my favourite hotel, Rajanish Refreshments(my favourite because the manager, Shantaram never asked me for money and told me to pay him whenever I started earning).It was  a Wednesday and there was a man reading "Blitz ".I literally grabbed the paper from him and started reading "The Last Page".I was on fire when I finished reading it and rushed to Shantaram, asked him to lend me ten naiya paise and bought a post card on which I wrote a  letter to Mr. Abbas telling him how much I loved his column and especially the angry columns he wrote which set me on fire.I wrote the name K.A.Abbas, Bombay and posted it.

I was down with flu and had no money to go to any doctor. On the third day the flu was not willing to come down .I  heard some one calling my name and he told me that there was a letter for me.No one had written any letter to me till then. I saw the name K.A.Abbas on the cover of the envelope and opened it with both excitement and fear. It was a  letter from Mr.K.A.Abbas to  an unknown boy and he had thanked me for  appreciating his column and asked me to see him whenever I had the time. I felt like showing that  letter to everyone in my slum and college and the excitement was so high that my fever vanished.

I had to go to meet this strange Mr.Abbas,I didn't know where Juhu was and I didn't have any money. It was Shantaram who came to my help again and lent me one rupee.I walked all day till I reached Juhu at 4.pm and reached the address where Mr.Abbas had asked me to meet him. I was hungry, but I  climbed up five floors only to see a man dressed in khakhi trousers and and a vest (banyaan)working at a large steel table. I told the man that I was called by one Mr.Abbas. He screamed,"I am Abbas "and I sank into the floor. He asked me to sit in the steel chair opposite him. I still couldn't believe that the man sitting before me was "the K.A.Abbas".

 You, Abbas Sahab had made me comfortable with a cup of tea. You asked me only three questions, about my name, what I had written and who I knew in the film industry. And before I could answer the third question, you asked me if I  would like to work with you and in the same breath, you told me that you would pay me hundred rupees a month and with two cups of tea and two bananas every day .How could I ,a jobless and directionless young man say no to the man who he had only dreamed of once ?

A new life started for me two days later. I had to attend office sharp at ten or I would not get my first cup of tea and a banana. The first thing you surprised me with was when you opened the door of your library and I gasped for breath because I  had not seen so many books in  one place. And  what was more surprising was that you told me that I could use the library, read any book and spend as much time as I wanted in the library. I experienced the first sign of animosity when a man called Jaffar objected to my using the library, but  you showed ho much you cared when you made Jaffar understand and let me use your library without any further problems. It was my first entry into the world of literature ,poetry, politics and films.

You  looked for every opportunity from which I could learn something. You were making a film called "Faasla "in which you had introduced two newcomers, Raman Khanna and Shabana Azmi .You  made me do everything that could help in the making of the film. I remember how you had asked me to carry the saaris of the heroine to the shooting and your other assistants told me it was not my job, but I did it because you had asked me to do it. You even gave me a bit role to play and I did it because you had asked me to do it. I was thrilled when I saw my name in the credits of the film and being known as your "literary assistant ".

It was a time when Amitabh Bachchan had become a superstar and hundreds of young man from all over India came looking for you as the man who had made Amitabh Bachchan. I saw you tolerating these men and sometimes asking them a funny question like "tumhare kaan kidhar hai ?" and when you lost your cool, you screamed, "arre baba ,maine Amitabh Bachchan ko nahi banaya usne apne aap ko banaya ".

There were young writers who met you and the first question you asked the budding writers was "tumne padaa kya hai ?"and when they said,"Gulshan Nanda, James Hadley Chase and Harold Robbins," you said "aur kya karna hai, tum toh lekhak ban gaye."When you were tired of meeting such young men, you opened a new department for struggling actors and writers and put me In- charge. It was one of the most learning experiences for me to know human beings better.

You were aware of my not being able to manage with hundred rupees and you got me writing assignments from newspapers and magazines whose editors you knew very well. You  one day told me that you wanted to see my house. I was reluctant, but you were determined. You came, you saw and you conquered my heart when you gave me an increment of twenty five rupees. I was earning hundred and twenty five rupees a month now, what more could a boy who lived with no fixed income asked for ?

You  one day asked me to wear a new shirt and I had to borrow a  clean shirt from Krishna who was my  friend who worked as a waiter in Rajanish Refreshments. All day, I kept wondering why you asked me to wear that clean shirt  It was 5.pm and you said, "chalo ".I didn't know where we were going and I  didn't ask you. We walked to the closest bus stop and I was wondering why K.A.Abbas would be standing at a bus  stop, to catch a Best bus .But, He did and I followed.

We travelled to Flora Fountain in a bus and there were many times when I felt like standing up and shouting, "all you people,don't you know who is travelling in this bus with you, he is the one and only K.A.Abbas ".We reached Churchgate Station and got off. We walked towards the Eros Cinema and you said,"there is a small Irani hotel in that corner where we can get some very good tea for only twenty five naiya paise a cup "I still couldn't believe that I was with K.A.Abbas.

As we were having tea, I heard your name being called out on a microphone and the voice said, "we are waiting for our chief guest, K.A.Abbas who will be here anytime "it was only when we walked towards a maidaan that I knew that you were going to inaugurate a large exhibition of books. It was a moment when I knew how great and yet how simple you were.

You told me you had to go to Chembur, a suburb in North Bombay. We again travelled by bus.You led me to a slum and kept asking people, "arre bhai, ye Prabhakar Sahab kahaa rehte hai ?"There was a man sleeping on a charpai dressed only in a lungi. He saw you and started shaking . You said, "nahi nahi Prabhakar tum sote raho, main toh sirf tumhara pagar dene aya hoon ". I wondered if any other boss would go to his employee to pay him his salary which he himself was not bothered about  ....

I had more than graduated from the "K.A.Abbas University" which opened windows to several worlds for me.You once called me early to office and said, "how long will you keep working like this ? life is not so easy as you think. Leave me and go out into the world and know what life is all about, I will give you a  letter to my friend, Mr.S.S.Pillai who is the editor of"Screen".Go and meet him. I met Mr.Pillai and made him wait for three months before I agreed to join"Screen "because I just couldn't think of working for any one else, but you my dear Abbas Sahab. But as you said I had to learn more about life, I joined "Screen "but there was not a day  in all my forty eight years that I didn't miss you and working with you....

I had heard about your leg being crushed under the luggage trolley of a lady passenger at the Rome Airport,I met you at one of the many hospitals you were being treated for your leg and you were smiling when you said, "the lady didn't like my face ,thats why she did this to me "and when talking about the small hospital you were lying in ,you said ,"this is a hospital for poor Arabs ". I had also heard about how you kept fighting against odds and kept writing books and scripts and your "Last Page "which you never missed writing even once in forty five years.

You had last written a letter to me in which you had called me "a big big journalist "and called yourself "a small small filmmaker "you wanted to discus an idea with me. I was  fighting with time and kept postponing meeting you till it was a little too late.

You had suffered two heart attacks during the dubbing of your last film,"Ek Aadmi " and collapsed only after you had completed the dubbing. You never could overcome the attacks and you did what I couldn't believe or imagine .

You had left this world and I  felt lost and orphaned for the first time even though I had lost both my parents more than fifty years ago ....

The day  it was to be your funeral I walked to the Juhu Beach with two bottles of the strongest beer and got myself drunk because I couldn't gather the courage to face a man so full of life as a dead man.

I tried to touch your feet for the last time, but I remembered how you had screamed and said, "why do people touch the feet of other people ? it is an insult man does to himself"  I stepped back and walked out of the room where you were sleeping for the last time. And I kept  hopping that you would wake up from your sleep, but you didn't. It was the first time I saw your courage and your determination to win fail.You stopped at the Gandhi statue and were then buried in a grave which was for the poorest of the poor. So much like you, my dear Abbas Sahab.

Will I ever be able to forget those glorious days with you ? Life would be nothing for me if it was not for that day ,when  I  first joined you and all the days with you. Salaam, Abbas Sahab,Salaam

Your disciple till the end of time

Ali Peter John