"You need many a crowded mainlands to be able to appreciate an island" - cb

Genius

We met last week

For the very first time

Genius and I

I had seen him in the crowd before

This time it was personal

A short, yet passionate affair

3 days to be precise!

I heard him talk

Pour out his heart

They documented it, his life.

I giggled with him, cried too.

He wrote a song to comfort me

Then I heard him sing…

That song. And the other one too.

He said he loved kids

And dogs. Quite in the same breath.

We connected instantly.

I believed him.

Pure and child-like,

He was the moon walker.

The genius – Michael Joseph Jackson.

Poro Ninda. Poro Chorcha

No…it’s not a sweet. In fact, it’s a not-so-sweet term in Bengali which when loosely translated means “idle gossip and discussions about people in general.”

In our country, this seems to be our favourite pass time. And I thought it was only a small people disease. But boy was I wrong! Or was I?The gossip sessions my housemaid indulges in does manage to retain some innocence. But when I see educated people from well-bred families rip people apart in the most unquotable manner, I stop to wonder. The cool breed, some even those you can put in the wild-child bracket, have such small minds when it comes to people other than themselves.

Celebrities, of course form a major part of these discussing. Being a part of the media world ourselves, and therefore apparently close to the ‘inside sources’, most of us have dirty stories to share. Some so atrocious, unbelievable and at times so inhuman, that it makes me cringe. The general character assassinations and speculations on people’s bedroom deeds are the biggest points of debate. Like they were to help change India’s economic condition. And mind you, these gossips are shared with utmost conviction (Oh! my friend’s friend’s friend’s grandfather saw her go into his vanity van). Right.

“Oh have you not seen, she is always holding her father-in-law’s hand!”...or “Such things happen in high society yaaar”, even something as low as “How else do you think so and so became successful?...must have flashed…hahaha”

I have never found myself questioning the scandals; all that upsets me is general negativity, the mistrust, the unnecessary curiosity and the complete shallowness. Sometimes I think we would have been better off as animals. At least we would not have the brains to be self proclaimed judges.