Amitabh Bachchan has hit back at online trolls who wished him death from Covid-19, saying they will have to “weather the swipe storm” from his more than 90 million followers.
The Bollywood star and his actor son, Abhishek, have been fighting the coronavirus in a Mumbai hospital for more than two weeks. Bachchan's daughter-in-law Aishwarya Rai and granddaughter Aaradhya left the hospital on Monday after recovering from the virus.
The family members are among the most high-profile people in India to have tested positive for Covid-19. The state of Maharashtra, of which Mumbai is the capital, has more than 366,000 confirmed cases, with more than 1,200 new patients being reported each day.
Nationally, the country of 1.3 billion people has reported more than 32,000 deaths.
Bachchan, 77, and his son, 44, are currently staying in the hospital’s isolation ward. The star frequently gives updates to his condition on his social media platforms and posted the latest open letter on Tumblr.
“There are only two things that can happen,” Bachchan wrote: “Either I shall die or I shall live. If I die you won’t get to write your diatribe anymore […] If I live and survive you shall have to be weathering the swipe storm, not just from me, but on a very conservative level, from 90+ million followers.”
Bachchan – who has appeared in more than 200 Bollywood films and is affectionately known as "Big B" – went on to describe his fans as his "extended family", who he said will come after the trolls and become an "extermination family".
He concluded the letter with: “May you burn in your own stew!”
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In 2013, The National's History Project went beyond the walls to see what life was like living in Abu Dhabi's fabled fort:
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Coffee: black death or elixir of life?
It is among the greatest health debates of our time; splashed across newspapers with contradicting headlines - is coffee good for you or not?
Depending on what you read, it is either a cancer-causing, sleep-depriving, stomach ulcer-inducing black death or the secret to long life, cutting the chance of stroke, diabetes and cancer.
The latest research - a study of 8,412 people across the UK who each underwent an MRI heart scan - is intended to put to bed (caffeine allowing) conflicting reports of the pros and cons of consumption.
The study, funded by the British Heart Foundation, contradicted previous findings that it stiffens arteries, putting pressure on the heart and increasing the likelihood of a heart attack or stroke, leading to warnings to cut down.
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Excessive amounts of coffee also unsettle the stomach causing or contributing to stomach ulcers. It also stains the teeth over time, hampers absorption of minerals and vitamins like zinc and iron.
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Quick%20facts
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Born: Mukalla, Yemen, 1979
Education: UAE University, Al Ain
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