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| Edited By: Sarita A Tanwar |Source: DNA |Updated: Jun 26, 2017, 05:09 PM IST
Sonu Nigam quit Twitter, Anil Kumble quit as the coach of the Indian team, Daniel Day-Lewis quit acting. Jolts from the music, sports, film world. Fans, aam aadmi, arm-chair philosophers and the media had plenty to say about all the three newsmakers. It’s easy to quit social media but quitting a job that you love, has to be one of the toughest things adults have to do.
The general belief is that a grave injustice has been done to Kumble. I find it a tad amusing that people, who don’t know the whole, or even the half-truth, discuss, debate about, and dispute over the controversy-of-the-moment. I expect it from the media. Being curious, opinionated, and part-time activist comes naturally to us. Also, most of the times, most of us know what we are talking about. Meanwhile, half the population forms opinions based on whatever little they have read or heard about the subject. The other half, borrows them from newspapers, TV channels, social media or that one know-it-all friend everyone has. And believe it to be the solemn truth.
We need a hero and a villain in every story and we decide who is who. The villain in Nigam’s case are the trolls. Kumble has been part of our cricket team for decades. When you ‘know’ someone for that long, whether or not you are a fan of the man or the game, it feels personal.
So, Kumble became the hero, and (relatively new) Virat Kohli became the bad man. At 60, Daniel Day-Lewis, the recipient of more best actor Oscars than anyone in Academy Awards history, declared he was done with acting. There is no one else to blame here, so we trained the guns on him. Comments on the news of his retirement article online, were full of disdain (“He will be back. Actors can’t stay away”), indifference (“No big deal, he did so few films anyway”) and hatred (“He thinks Hollywood needs him?”). I had a tee that said — ‘Opinions are like assh**es, everyone has one’. And most entertaining ones are found in the comment sections.
When Barack Obama was President, the White House got a call saying ‘The Prez was a shape-shifting alien, hellbent on destroying the earth.’ There are enough people who believe this theory. I spent an entertaining evening with a fruitarian, who between bites of musk melon, informed me that Saif Ali Khan has sold his soul to the devil. While I spat out my dinner, he showed me a video of Saif online. The caption read: “Saif Ali Khan’s performance at the Apsara Awards 2010 are (sic) an indication that he has sold his soul to the devil.” The video starts off with Saif unwrapping himself on top of a 13-step masonic red pyramid. This symbolises that Saif is unveiling himself to the world that he is a mason. There also appears to be some sort of ‘gate’ or ‘stargate’ behind him. The song playing in the background is Qurban Hua, which mean sacrificed.” The adage — seeing is believing — was formed before YouTube. It needs to be retired. You can’t believe everything you see. I tried telling Mr Fruit Cake that I have known the actor for two decades and can vouch that he is a good fella, but this guy, who has never been in the same zip code as the Chote Nawab believes he is in fact, Chota Satan.
Life goes on... Sooner than later, Kumble will return to cricket in some form, Sonu might embrace another social media platform, DDL could be lured back with a great role, Saif shall buy his soul back from the devil and the fruitarian may succumb to temptation of some farsan. I live in hope.
