Okay, the imagery that it brings to me is a Saturday morning at IIM Shillong with me trying to block out this song rendered with all passion by my friend, with a misnomer of a name, from the bathroom, unaware of the efforts of mine to sleep longer! Fan of your singing, buddy! :)
Imagery apart, the spark for this piece came from the by now famous cancer patient about whom Sachin tweeted! Sachin, the little master, “God”, the Great – words that we use without a second thought. Such love, such passion and such emotions - that surge up much like a shaken up can of coke from most Indians at his sight! To me, a fan of his cricket, he is on his way to becoming a hero. Because in this country a hero is above mortals, a person infallible and for whom vices donot exist and the believers are going to give their blind devotion and love so unselfish.
I remember a couple of years ago, me and my roomie in Bangalore had a discussion about religions and stories. What stopped a king, who was a obedient son, to have his wife kidnapped and then fight a battle to get her back? (Am super excited by Raavan btw) And add to that he was a mortal who asked to prove her "purity" before taking her back? What stopped a shepherd who sees the people fighting to say its cool not to fight and live in harmony? I’m not talking against beliefs, but I’m talking about our love for heroes.
What’s the fun in telling a kid there is no Santa Clause? Or as Chandler does, telling a kid he is adopted? :P I can point out 100 politicians! But somehow there is this void wherein we are not ready to accept the people for what they are. If we love them for their actions, we tend to try to love them overlooking the shortcomings, thus raising them above the lot! I’m talking only about heroes here. But somehow that trend, though is inconsequential, is not fair I guess. Cos in some cases, the other ppl wake up to the reality and either go thru the phases of denial, anger etc or hate. All this no fault of the guy/girl we chose to judge. Take Dhoni’s case for instance!
Speaking of heroes, superheroes are getting more and more real! Ironman with his narcissist wit (awesome), Batman who is battling his own demons(amazing), Spiderman who is in his own web (yuck), superheroes are becoming more relatable atleast with their problems.I remember the scene from Pyar ke side effects where Ranvir shorey and co discuss why superheroes can’t be married! Rofl scene.
It is fine for people who have borne the burden of being an hero (to the masses) to bare their life and lead a life of irrational expectations. What makes it worth it is after your time, your faults would be totally forgotten and only the fame remains. Who knows, you can end up being a God! Two relevant quotes from Batman – “It is not who you are but what you do that defines you” and “You either die a hero or live long enough to see yourself become the villain”.
Oh on a corollary,if you hate a person, whatever they do, even if they are reaching out to help, people tend to take offense. (You there, you know who and what I’m talking about :P) – Sorry this was like a msg in the bottle (I want to do a public infomercial). I guess it is upto us to respect the actions and ideas separately from the person. So if Sachin is tweeting about a cancer patient, so are 1000s of people everyday! Lets be a bit more open minded and reduce the burden on our heroes. Tough to believe - but they are in fact human :)
