[Written in context of the various criticisms that Amitabh Bachchan has been facing ever since he became a fellow-blogger.]

OF A HAPPY LIFE

Facing personal vilification and condemnation is the exclusive privilege of men of eminence. They thrive on it, and it only makes their positions stronger.
 
Whether it is the timeless heroes like Socrates or Jesus Christ or Mahatma Gandhi, or iconic mortals of their time like the Beatles or the Rockefellers or the Manmohan Singhs or Sonia Gandhis or Amitabh Bachchans... all of them must pay a price for their monumental fame.
 
And the price is that the same masses who elevate you to the status of a living God, will condemn you to hell if they dislike anything that you may do even in your personal life. Either you are God, or you are Devil. The masses are too emotional to allow you to be what you are... a human being.
 
Ronald Reagan was famously known as the politician with a teflon-coating. Even the worst charges or slanders wouldn't stick to his skin for long. He made grand mistakes, but still the public loved him and forgave him everytime. Why? Because he was able to take life in his stride and could accept all criticism with a great sense of elan and humour.
 
The Time magazine in one of its commemorative issues on Reagan, wrote these words about his incredible sense of humour: "When Reagan was shot at by a would-be assassin, he was bleeding under his arm and from his mouth, had a lung punctured, and was rushed to the hospital in an armored vehicle. On the hospital bed, he put the nervous doctors immediately at ease with these unforgettable words: "I hope you guys are Republicans..."
 
But Amitabh Bachchan, like most of us on this earth, is not Ronald Reagan. To become Reagan is to master the art of politics and the art of charming the masses.
 
Amitabh Bachchan, if one tracks his past record, has never been a successful politician. He reveals his true emotions, which is the perfect recipe for disaster in public life. He likes to defend and explain himself, he has the urge to hit back at any criticism that he perceives as unfair, he gets angry and tired like most of us -- and worse still, he shows all of it. These are not the qualities of a good politician.
 
Recently, in a television interview, perhaps for the first time Amitabh Bachchan explained why he had decided to fight back the Bofors allegations that vilified him and his brother and family for years. Initially, like every sensible human being, Amitabh continued to ignore the mad, unsubstantiated Bofors charges, and maintained a dignified silence. He did not show any outrage, he did not defend or explain, he simply did not react at all.
 
But finally it was getting too much for him to digest this endless scandal as he started feeling that his father's name "Bachchan" was now sullied foever. One day he was flipping through a Times of India 150-year sesquicentenary celebration book, which carried the most historic front-page Times headlines of the past 150 years. One of the pages in the book had a screaming headline that said: "Amitabh Bachchan is a traitor."
 
That was the last straw. That very moment Amitabh, together with brother, decided to fight back the charges and clear their family name. They systematically filed suits in four countries, invested all their resources to fight that complex case to its logical conclusion. And won. And Amitabh says that he did it so that when after 150 years from today, the Times of India brings out its next sesquicentennial publication, it will have a headline that says: "Amitabh Bachchan is not a traitor."
 
The moral of the story is that all men are not politicians. Some are emotional human beings too.
 
Perhaps the best advice for Amitabh Bachchan would be from Seneca, the Roman philosopher and statesman who wrote 2000 years ago in his work "Of a Happy Life": "It is the practice of the multitude to bark at eminent men, as little dogs do at strangers."