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After Amitabh Bachchan acknowledges ancestral link on KBC, hopes of UP village rekindle
After Amitabh Bachchan acknowledges ancestral link on KBC, hopes of UP village rekindle
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Pratapgarh , Residents of Amitabh Bachchan's ancestral village, Babu Patti, in Uttar Pradesh are joyous after a contestant from Patti tehsil participated in the quiz show Kaun Banega Crorepati and are now hoping that a promise made two decades ago will now be fulfilled.
In 2006, the actor's wife, Jaya Bachchan, visited the village - birthplace of Amitabh's father and famous poet Harivansh Rai Bachchan - and inaugurated a library built in his memory.
During the visit, she had publicly promised to provide books for the library and said she would establish a girls' college in the village.
Now, 20 years later, on an episode of the quiz show, aired in the last week of September, the veteran Bollywood actor acknowledged his family's connection to the place after learning that a contestant, Chandraprakash Tiwari, belonged to the Patti tehsil.
Amitabh, who turned 84 on Sunday, spoke about his father's birthplace, expressed regret over the family's long absence from the village and promised to provide books for the library.
The remarks have since drawn the attention of the local administration.
District Magistrate Abhishek Pandey visited Babu Patti on Wednesday evening and assured villagers that the library would be stocked with books before Diwali.
"By Diwali, the library will be fully stocked with books. It will light up with both books and earthen lamps during the festival," the district magistrate said, according to village pradhan Vikas Yadav.
Babu Patti is the birthplace of Harivansh Rai Bachchan, one of Hindi literature's most celebrated poets, and the village has long cherished its association with the Bachchan family.
The house of Amitabh Bachchan's grandfather, Pratap Narayan Srivastava, once stood at the site where the library building now stands. Harivansh Rai Bachchan later moved to Prayagraj for his education, but, according to villagers, retained a close connection with his ancestral home.
Though the library building has been completed, it has remained largely unused in the absence of books and other reading material. The lack of books has meant that a facility built in memory of one of Hindi literature's most celebrated poets has yet to serve its intended purpose, leaving villagers waiting for it to become a functional space for readers and students.
In his autobiography, "Kya Bhooloon Kya Yaad Karoon", the poet recalled the warmth of his ties with the village. During the month of Magh, when people travelled to Prayagraj for a holy dip in the Ganga River, villagers would stay at his home.
They would also bring homemade delicacies from their village, which he accepted with affection. His home, the autobiography recounts, remained open to people from his ancestral village.
That history is one reason why the unfinished promise of a library has lingered in local memory.
The latest assurance from Amitabh Bachchan has therefore brought renewed optimism among members of the extended family and the village community.
Amitabh Srivastava, grandson of the late Sharda Prasad Srivastava, a family member who remained in contact with the poet, and his wife Meenakshi Srivastava said the actor's words had revived their hope that he might one day visit the village and pay his respects at the ancestral home.
Amitabh Srivastava's relative, Amitendra, said Bachchan's acknowledgement of the village had enhanced its sense of pride.
This article was generated from an automated news agency feed without modifications to text.
