ZAMEEN , AASMAAN , SURAJ , BAADAL LOG AUR KHUDAH SUN RAHE THE, AUR DILIP KUMAR BOL RAHE THE .....

The country was celebrating Independence Day all over, from New Delhi to every city , suburb village and even the slums- Ali Peter John

All the leaders and teachers and other great and not so great men and women had finished making their tall and empty speeches, the political leaders and even principles of schools and colleges had finished making their speeches and had their delicious lunch and were busy planning their parties that night to celebrate Independence Day.

And somewhere in South Bombay in ahall of a Five star hotel, a crowd of five hundred men and women were waiting was waiting to have high tea with Dilip Kumar who was to speak to them about the future of India as he saw it ...

The actor was to come from his house in Bandra and it took him sometime to reach the hotel and the crowd was growing restless.

Some of them said he would be drunk when he arrive . Some said that he would not come at all.

And Some said that flim stars should not be invited to functions and events organise by prestigious institutions and organizations as the stars were not disciplined and were not competent and educated enough to speak on important subjects.

As the crowd kept gossiping, the maroon colored Mercedes of Dilip Kumar drove into the gate of the hotel and the organizers ran to receive him and he was all humility and all smiles as he shook hands with them and apologized for his delay.

The crowd which was restless and making all kinds of nasty remarks stood up and welcomed Dilip Kumar with thunderous clapping till he reached the stage.

There was silence in the hall as he rose to speak after being introduced in the most laudatory way ( there was no other way they could have welcomed a legend like him) .

He started his speech on a low key and his voice kept growing louder according to the subject he was talking about and the applause kept growing more and more Tull there was a hushed silence all over .

And there were times in his speech when it seemed like the sea outside the hotel , the trees and the birds on them , the sky , the sun and the clouds together with the audience were all standing in silence and listening to the greatest to the greatest actor of India.

Dilip Kumar spoke about the need for all Indians irrespective of caste, creed and community to come together and work together if India had to make progress.

He said that education was the only way to lead India on the way to success and to compete with the world.

The audience was lost in the world and in the magical words of Dilip Kumar. He had held the audience spellbound with his language and his quotes , lines from some of the best quotes in urdu , hindi and English . The entire audience applauded like one man when he said, " jahan auroto ki izaazat nahi ki jaayegi woh koi jagah nahi ho sakti , woh jaahnum hogi " .

He said money was essential, and asked people not to turn money into God . And his final words were , " Desh insaano se banta hai aur agar insaano mein insaaniyat nahi toh desh ka kabhi accha nahi ho sakta aur desh mein rehne waale logon ka bhi kuch accha nahi ho sakta " .

And when he finished his speech with his favourite towards, " socho, socho ", the audience burst into the kind of applause I have not heard in a very long time... and now I can only have memories of his voice, I will never hear him live again.

JAB WOH BOLTE THE TOH UNKE ZUBAAN SE PHOOL GIRTE THE, JAB WOH BOL THE TOH AAG LAGTI THI SEENE MEIN, JAB WOH BOL THE TAB MOHABBAT ZINDA HOTI THI , JAB WOH BOLTE THE TOH KAAENAAT KUDRAT AUR KHUDAH BHET KAR SUNTE THE. WOH SAB DEEWANE THE. EK INSAAN KE JO INSAANO SE BAHUT PARE THE. AUR UNKA NAAM THA DILIP KUMAR, EK NAAM JO HAZARO ,LAKHO SAALO TAK KAANON MEIN AIR SAANSON MEIN RAHENGE .