BENGALURU : Good morning, ‘Riders on the storm’!
I would be disappointed if this week too was not a roller-coaster ride of emotions and strange events. The screaming banshees who were trying their best to be relevant, are now toning down their rhetoric and trying to play the victims instead! Both are in the ‘look at me business’ with one claiming to be an actor and the other trying to ham his way through life. It is deeply shameful the way they are settling personal and professional scores by throwing ‘big and small names’ under the bus.
But never underestimate the sheer grit and guts of the millenniums! Take the beleaguered partner of an actor who died under tragic circumstances for instance. Being a comparative small fry in the big bad world of films, she was bullied, threatened by investigators and even had the book thrown at her by the judiciary. But she never buckled.
She went in and out of incarceration with her head held high, firmly pushed the obtrusive media out of the way and I believe she even taught yoga to her fellow prisoners! Good for her, and many people are slowly crawling out of the wood-work to say something in support of a young girl who was tried and persecuted by thugs in the social and television media.
All cities, big and small have their coterie of ‘over-achievers’ (of course I am being kind!), who will do just about anything to be in the public eye. The new devil on the block is social media and every person who has a rudimentary grasp of the English language will write, rant and regurgitate till they are noticed. They refer to themselves with fancy names, usually trying to portray that they wield a lot of impact over public opinion. One finds them in every walk of life, but they tend to hover around places which will offer them something (either cash or kind) in return. But all this ‘power’ that these people hold over the normal junta’s psyche is truly astounding! Take the ‘screaming banshees’ for example.
It was almost dangerous how with the help of our ‘men in white’ (oh! We know who they are), changed the narrative of an unfortunate death, to that of a sinister conspiracy with inputs from gardeners, watchmen, domestic staff and even boatmen! With a firm eye on the upcoming elections, the entire narrative went from nailing the culprits, to conspiracy theories (that were so far-fetched they were almost ludicrous), to drug abuse and even to psychics who got into the act! It was as mind-numbing as banging steel plates to get rid of Cardi V.
Sane and logical people were completely hooked. The despots, the totalitarian governments, the rampant destruction of dreams, the collapse of economies, loss of human life and the collective lethargy of world leadership was forgotten, as everyone only speculated and concentrated on the misinformation and drivel!
I’m glad my city is laid back and relaxed. I would hate to be in a city like say…Mumbai or Delhi where everyone has an ‘inside’ track! My friend Puneet Dhawan, has returned from foreign shores as senior VP India and SE Asia of Accor Hotels. We met up for a fabulous chilled out afternoon ‘partaking’ of high tea and filter coffee, on the beautiful lawns of the Oberoi. We were joined by Sanaya Singh and Pinky Padmaraj and had a whale of a time reminiscing, getting inside gyaan (he’s from Delhi remember) and it was lovely to forget, even for some time, that we are in the midst of a pandemic.
My friend, Namu Kini, founder/curator of KYNKYNY (love the funky name!) had a fabulous online show of artists recently where nearly 70 per cent of artworks were sold out. The show must go on right? It gladdens my heart when good sense prevails.Till then, be safe and kind to one another.(Author’s views are
her own)