The Big B

Amitabh Bachchan is one of, if not the most, living famous person in India. He is their most renowned film star (over 164 movie credits on the IMDB alone), he promotes so many commercial products that I can’t keep track, and everyone adores him. He’s like the Princess Diana of India, if you know what I mean. He hosts “Crore Pati” (the Indian “Who Wants to be a Millionaire”), and people flock to any event they think he might be attending. At the client site a few Fridays ago, everyone was released from work early because there was a special event being held on the corporate campus – turns out the President of my client is friends with Amitab and he was going to be there that day attending the party – basically, they wanted all the commoners out of the way, so we got to leave work at 4pm. : )

Well, the Big B (one of his nicknames) has had a turn of health and required some sort of intestinal surgery. He’s been based at Lilivati Hospital here in the Bandra section of Mumbai, one of the best hospitals in the area. Unfortunately for us, this has added an average of about 15 minutes to our commute every day. There are news vans 24-7 surrounding the hospital, and people flock from all over India, surrounding the hospital gates, hoping to catch a glimpse of him, or someone else famous who might be visiting him. I heard some quotes from bystanders on the news – it was really pretty funny (“when he’s in pain, India is in pain; I’ve traveled all the way from Delhi to show my support for him”).

I’m not belittling his role in the Indian public, but c’mon, he’s a film star. I guess I just don’t get it, but it’s at least interesting to have all the action in my backyard here in Bandra.