तो पहा! तो पहा!! अमिताभ बच्चन! अमिताभ बच्चन!!

If you followed only Marathi e-media to keep tabs on "akhil bharatiya marathi sahitya sammelan" (अखिल भारतीय मराठी साहित्य संमेलन) held in Pune on March 26-28 2010, you would not be wrong to conclude that it was all about if Ashok Chavan and Amitabh Bachchan shared a dais or not or if very-busy-in-IPL Sachin Tendulkar attended the meet or not.

I can assure you it was surely more than that.

As I was coming out of Sammelan on Sunday morning, a young couple carrying a toddler, looking at my books, asked me anxiously where the book exhibition was. They didn't want to miss out on that! When I assured them that it was not going away for a while, they smiled ear-to-ear.

I once again remember William Leith's words:
"...India’s media is heading for ad-backed celebrity hell faster, and more comprehensively, than ours (British)..."

तो पहा! तो पहा!! अमिताभ बच्चन! अमिताभ बच्चन!!
(Look there! Look there!! Amitabh Bachchan! Amitabh Bachchan!!)

Artist: Vasant Sarwate(वसंत सरवटे), 1974