A Great Missing

Being an artist is a tough job
And the toughest part of it isn't that you create art
Or that you earn well from it
Or get fame and be photographed
Gossiped about in the magazines
Called for the seminars, invited to the finest dines.
No, this ain't the tough part.
The tough part is to remain true to your heart
To remain genuine, honest, humble, dignified
To value the integrity of your art, even before your own esteem
To know that there is no other life
Worth living.
The life devoid of embracing the journey, good and bad, tough and easy, valued and not valued
The whole of it—
Isn't worth living as long as
You are not doing your best
Not the best in the relative terms of the other artists
But the best of your self, where every cell of your body is working towards
Your very purpose of life.

And today we have lost one such artist
The finest actor, the greatest gift to the Indian cinema
A man of honour, a man of perseverance, a man of humility
A man who had stayed true to his art
A man whose good humour and humbleness extends out to even those who had never met him
A man who has touched the heart of each one of his audience like a perfect gentleman
Always reflecting the truth of whichever character he played in his gentle eyes
Imitating only his inner reflections
A man who came to us in many forms
Each one of which will be missed, cherished and remembered forever.

Leaving us heart-wrenched, what we feel remains scarce of enough words
Even the sky was once jealous of the star we had on our earth
Difficult as it is, but now maybe it's time to say
"Wo jo tha khwaab sa, kya kahein jaane de... "

RIP.