The emotions Amitabh Bachchan's illness has generated across India is beyond anything I've seen in recent years.

The last time I saw a celebrity's illness being treated as a national catastrophe was in 1982 when AB's abdomen was hit by the edge of a table. In college and not quite an AB devotee, I failed to see what the fuss was all about.

Today I know better. Now I know him better. You cannot be an Indian - or for that matter an Asian - and not be affected by the Bachchan factor in the populist culture of the sub-continent.

When he was felled by a stinging blow during "Coolie", the nation gasped in pain. Now when he's relatively far less incapacitated he is like a very important family member. Everyone from my mother to daughter is concerned.

"Will Amit uncle be okay before my next exam?" my daughter asks anxiously.

She doesn't want the normal tenor of our household to be so shredded by fate. And why should she expect fate to deal a blow on the icon when she has seen him fight it out so wondrously in real and reel life?

Amitji is a fighter. He has been battling his demoniacal schedules ever since I have known him. When I first met him there was an interlude in his career. This was just before "Mohabbatein" and "Kaun Banega Crorepati" when things looked pretty bleak for him.

I came into his picture. I've never stopped admiring him since then.

Amitji has been a part of my life for a good seven years now. The trust and the confidence he has placed in me are too precious to be frittered away in journalistic jargon. I cannot bring myself to write about him when he's in pain.

But then that wonderful film person Shyam Shroff showed me how I was being naïve by keeping quiet about the man when everyone is busy trying to ferret out the most trivial of information on his health and well-being.

I agree. But for me, to draw a line between personal allegiance and professionalism, between being a journalist and a friend to this amazing man, is impossible.

On one hand I can see why media people jostled and pushed their way into the Bachchans' purview when the mega star's loved ones wanted to be on their own. The paparazzi wanted to cater to the insatiable need and imperative desire for information on AB.

On the other hand I could understand why Jaya (wife) and Abhishek (son) were so upset by the clamorous attentions of an overzealous media who surrounded the ailing giant's ambulance and wouldn't let it move.

At that point during this traumatic week Jaya Bachchan was so upset she let her emotions show. So did Abhishek.

"He's my dad, and I reacted as a son," Abhishek told me from Leelavati hospital. "There's a need for a bit of privacy in our lives right now, and I wish that space would be respected."

It's strange and bizarre.

But on Monday morning, when Amitji was hospitalized, we had a long conversation. He called me at around 8.30 a.m. And we chatted for almost an hour. Except for a hint of edginess in that legendary baritone, there was no outward sign of the pain.

"In fact I was sitting next to Pa when he was talking to you on Monday morning. He was in great pain," Abhishek later revealed.

It is pain that has now stopped him for a few weeks. The warning signals were being served up once too often. The pressure on his time was unbearable. AB was stretching his days into 36 hours.

On the morning when he was hospitalised in New Delhi, with an acute pain in his abdomen, AB was still discussing his plans for the few days. He was going to attend a relative's wedding in Dehradun, then shoot for "Kaun Banega Crorepati" television game show, then attend the International Film Festival of India in Goa...

"I get exhausted just listening to your schedules," I said, not for the first time.

"Bhai, jab tak kaam mil raha hai, karte rehna hai (Till I continue to get work, I'll keep working)," he says each time I bring up his impossible schedules.

Now he has been forced to take a long-needed but short lay off. I am sure he'll be back shooting, dubbing and attending events in a couple of weeks.

But until then, could we please allow him to regain his strength in peace?

Let Amitabh Bachchan have the next two weeks all to himself. If we love him as much as we seem to, that's the greatest gift we can give him.