Mumbai: Megastar Amitabh Bachchan recently got nostalgic about his family’s roots in Uttar Pradesh’s Pratapgarh district after the name of his ancestral village, Babu Patti, came up in conversation with a contestant on the quiz reality show Kaun Banega Crorepati.
The actor not only recalled his family’s connection with the village but also apologised to its residents over the delay in opening a library for children and assured them that the facility would soon become operational.
The moment came during an episode of KBC when contestant Chandra Prakash Tiwari revealed his connection to the Pratapgarh region.
On hearing Babu Patti mentioned, Amitabh Bachchan became nostalgic and told him that the village was the birthplace of his ancestors and that his father, celebrated Hindi poet Harivansh Rai Bachchan, hailed from there.
Recalling his family’s ancestral connection, Amitabh said, “Babu Patti… humare purvojon ka janmasthan tha woh Babu Patti. Aur Babuji wahi se aaye the.” (BabuPatti is the villageof our ancestors. My father came from there) He then spoke about an initiative that has been close to the family’s heart, a library intended for children in the village.
According to Amitabh, the idea came from his wife, actor and politician Jaya Bachchan, after she visited Babu Patti and noticed that children in the village did not have a proper space where they could study.
The couple then planned to develop a library there. Amitabh explained that although the building has already been constructed, the facility has not yet been fully equipped and opened because of certain hurdles.
Addressing the villagers directly through the KBC platform, Amitabh apologised for the delay and assured them that the library would be opened.
“Babu Patti se jo log hain toh bhaiya hum maafi mangte hain. Khol denge hum, ghabraiye mat,” he said, requesting the residents not to worry.
He further explained that the building was ready but had been lying unused and that the next step would be to fill it with the necessary resources so that children could actually use it as a place to read and study.
For the uninitiated, Babu Patti is located in Raniganj tehsil of Pratapgarh district in Uttar Pradesh, and is closely associated with the Bachchan family’s ancestral roots.
Harivansh Rai Bachchan, Amitabh’s father and one of Hindi literature’s most celebrated poets, was born in Babupatti. The village is situated in the Pratapgarh region, (now Prayagraj).
For the uninitiated, in 2006, Jaya Bachchan visited the village and inaugurated the Dr Harivansh Rai Bachchan Memorial Library there. The library was established in memory of Amitabh’s father, but reports over the years have highlighted concerns about its condition and functioning.
