Bollywood star Amitabh Bachchan was in Gujarat yesterday with Aishwarya Rai and Jaya Bachchan to attend an Uttarkriya ceremony of his friend Amar Singh’s brother in law. Here is his blog post about the same:

Amar Singh ji’s wife, Pankaja ji has lost her brother. It is the ‘barahvi’, the 12th day, a prayer special on the departed soul. Pankaja ji comes from an erstwhile principality in Gujarat, Deerd. Her family being the fuedal lords of the region. The ancestors ruling over the space, until of course the cessation of all the principalities to the British during its time of colonialism. And then subsequently in 1971, came the abolition of Privy Purses from all the rulers over the country.

Dared ( pronunc ; da ree d ) , is a small little town tucked away in the dry and rustic region of Gujarat, that surrounds the small little city, a 20 minute helicopter ride from Bhavnagar where we have flown together this early morning by 7 am – Aishwarya and I. Jaya and the Singh family have flown in from Delhi, and our timing is such that we both land from different directions, at the same time.

I had been once before to Dared, when Pankaja ji’s Mother had passed away. And now again today on a not very happy note. Life’s coincidences are such a mystery and such a surprise.

Anxious and starry eyed simple village people surround the make shift helipad built to allow our helicopter to land from Bhavnagar, by the hundreds. They wave and scream and shout, unaware of the circumstances that we are here for. The ancestral home is simple yet has still been maintained in the old world fort like structure, which houses the family.

It is a fort like construction and the workmanship is such that even after years and years of its existence, the palace, if it can be called that, is still quite the same. No effort has been made to restore and repair. But it does not require anything. Its pristine architecture still a marvel and its surroundings still kept the way they were first constructed.

Castle like doors and large gates usher you in to the ‘angan’, the court yard, a favorite of mine. I simply love them, courtyards – the ‘angan’. So much character to it. The sun is bright and getting to be a bit harsh. I like it. We sit within the portals of the ‘angan’. There is an air of silence about. Friends relatives and elders keep pouring in to pay their respects. That typical royal fuedal reverence to the elder, so exclusive to us and their special manner in which they greet, just so respectful and full of grace.

The women get down on their haunches hands folded in the ‘namaskar’, seek their blessings and then go about their respective works, heads covered in the presence of public and the men. Widows wear a black sari with a bright red border running right through it on the edge and are all bunched up in one corner of the house, in one of his rooms. The mood is sombre and sad. After short intervals someone breaks down and the others rush to console her. Death steals one of all inhibition and control. The prayers are on as we hear them in some corner. We are not supposed to be at the ‘pooja’. Mourners keep coming in paying respects to the elders of the family and then after expressing grief, leave. I sit there immersed in the ambience and thoughts for the moment. A large ‘neem’ tree in the middle of the ‘angan’, its width and height symbolizing how long it had been there and how long during its stay there it may have been a mute witness to the many that passed away under it.

‘Neem’, that wonder leaf, that wonder tree, its new leaves medicinal in property and diet. Its branches forming the early tooth brushes, called the ‘datun’, since its branches too were of considerable hygenic assistance, today standing there majestically alone, providing the much needed shade to an ever warming afternoon.

Most of rural and interior India is still so steeped in old customs values and practices. It is a delight to see them being enacted in front of us, even as the generation next sneers at it. And then just as quickly as we reached there, we were on our way back.