Special Correspondent
Daijiworld Media Network
Mumbai, Nov 16: They are Hindi film industry's First Family, so when the Bachchan bahu delivered her first child, a girl, on Wednesday November 16, the entire country rose in celebration.
Baby B must be India's most awaited child yet. Ever since Amitabh Bachchan broke the news of Aishwarya's pregnancy way back in June this year, media has gone into an overdrive reporting even the most trivial of happenings. Initially it was the row relating to Ash's contract with Madhur Bhandarkar's film 'Heroine' which sent the latter into depression until finally he got a replacement in Kareena Kapoor. Then came Diwali, 'Karva Chauth' and her baby shower which became matter of much media gossip. And in between all this, whenever Ash made a public appearance, media plunged to another low with a lookout for the 'baby bump'.
As November dawned, there were reports of bets running into Rs 150 crore over the date of the arrival of Baby B - most put their money on 11-11-11, but had to be disappointed. There were also bets on the sex of the baby, so congrats to those who predicted a girl.
Over the last week, every day, Ash was rumoured to be admitted to the posh Seven Hills hospital, though she actually checked in only the day before. The hospital itself turned into a fortress with tens of policemen guarding the venue, and thankfully, at the right time the Broadcasting Editors' Association stepped in and forbade the electronic media from camping outside the hospital or reporting the birth as a 'breaking news'. It was definitely a great relief for the Bachchans. The breaking news did come though, not from the media, but from Abhishek who tweeted soon after the delivery, "IT'S A GIRL!!!!!! :-)))))" followed by Big B who was excited at becoming a 'Dadaji'.
As soon the news broke, social networking sites Facebook and Twitter flooded with congratulatory messages, not to mention the ones in Bachchans' pages. From the common man to Bollywood celebrities, everybody had a good word and a blessing for the new kid on the bloc.
Bollywood Badshah Shahrukh tweeted to Abhishek, "'@juniorbachchan how beautiful is this feeling. Allah bless u and Aish. Dying to come & see the three of u...YAY!!!! Now u really r PA lov u.'
To Big B, he said, 'yippeeee!!! All love & health & happiness...this is Masha Allah absolutely beautiful. Bless u Sir. This calls for a dance!!!'
"Bachchan parivaar ko bohot bohot badhaai. Unke ghar mein Lakshmi aayi. (Many congratulations to the Bachchan family. Lakshmi has come into their house)," wrote Lata Mangeshkar, while Karan Johar tweeted: "Congratulations!! Baby B had a baby girl!! @juniorbachchan!!! All the love and happiness...am sure she will be the prettiest girl ever!!!"
Arjun Rampal tweeted: "Congratulations daddy cool @juniorbachchan and the coolest Dadaji @SrBachchan and the most beautiful mommy Ash and the lovely dadi Jayaji."
The who's who of Bollywood and Amitabh's close friends visited the hospital, and one of the first ones was former Samajwadi Party chief Amar Singh, a close friend of the family. Dressed in a white kurta and pyjama and sporting a beard, he came to the hospital and stayed for a few minutes before being escorted back to his car by Big B himself.
Filmmaker Goldie Behl and his wife Sonali Bendre, as well as filmmakers Apoorva Lakhia and Bunty Walia, visited the hospital to meet Baby B. Both Abhishek and Amitabh thanked everyone for their wishes.
With all that fuss around Baby B, she surely is already a celebrity, perhaps the youngest ever. The nation now awaits the release of her pictures, which will grab headlines again and make for another juicy story.