Recently, during a freewheeling conversation, a lady with established academic credentials stated the obvious: “Fame can be addictive and intoxicating, and the repercussions are adverse when the wrong people become famous.”
She was referring to an infamous phenomenon of our contemporary society. Given the plethora of easily accessible tools and platforms at one’s disposal, wannabes, starlets and even imposters succeed in grabbing eyeballs and public attention. Worse, some among them get labelled as influencers, role models and even celebrities. I can write volumes about why and how this breed of upstart celebs who often employ unscrupulous shortcuts to fame are soiling young impressionable minds and also creating a slew of unwarranted (and often unpronounced) hurdles for people who genuinely deserve success and recognition for their work and worth.
However, I realise that in a parallel vein, there is another very disconcerting truth that we need to face and address individually and collectively. Have some of us, many of us, and in some unfortunate cases, all of us lost our sense of analysis and judgement? After all, sound analysis and judgement are not just the purview of the 40-somethings and over. It is the purview of young adults and youngsters too and it is distressing to see the majority of youngsters raving over blatant inanities.
As I write this I am reminded of the usual interjections: Good and bad are subjective and everyone has a right to decide what interests them and choose their role models. Yes, indeed we are masters of our free will but are we always consciously or even subconsciously exercising this will with prudence? When we are careless about small things, bigger issues do emerge.
While sometimes it may seem harmless to soak in and rave over inanities it is important to realise that by doing so many of us are susceptible to making bigger and more drastic errors of judgement.
Recently Indrani Mukerjea, the prime accused in her daughter’s spine-chilling murder (a sensational case that had triggered shock waves across the country in 2015) audaciously stated on a national media platform that she merits our much lofty and coveted Padma Shri! Indrani, who is out on bail, has been mighty busy crafting and executing PR and publicity strategies with unabashed conviction.
Needless to say, her interviews and conversations (online and offline) are thoroughly soaked with hallucinations. The irony here is that while on the one hand, there is ample evidence of her crime, on the other hand a substantial number of people in our country are letting her pronounce her claims of innocence (and even greatness) and redeem her public image by securing her with platforms.
A leading publishing house has published her memoir without batting an eyelid and a LitFest too has secured her a platform as a speaker. Incidentally, Indrani Mukerjea hails from Guwahati and has studied at St Mary’s English High School. It pains me to state these facts as St Mary’s is my Alma Matter too.
I just have no answers or explanations as to why a section of people have been aiding this woman to orchestrate her cringe-worthy effort at public redemption. But I do have some questions.
Can we not as people of this beautiful city and state stand up and collectively protest/demand that at least till the final verdict of this sensational and hugely infamous case is out, Indrani Mukerjea should refrain from stating her connection with Guwahati? Can not the entire alumni of St Mary’s English High School vociferously protest Indrani’s alluding to her Alma Mater? Or have we all become so immune and indifferent that we have started accepting whatever is being peddled to us through social media, mainstream media and the plethora of public platforms?
Interestingly, while the very infamous Indrani Mukerjea has been making news, one of the doyens of contemporary Assamese music Zubeen Garg has been vilified by a local news channel which accused him of taking a hefty bribe from the ruling government. According to the news report, which in my opinion and understanding is totally callous and falsely grounded, Zubeen Garg has accepted the bribe as a trade-off – he has agreed to steer off the protests around the CAA Citizenship (Amendment) Act.
This allegation was made a couple of weeks after Garg purchased his Range Rover. Needless to say, this news report had envisaged denting the legendary singer’s colossal popularity and it did manage a ripple effect temporarily. While even in this case I do not have any answers as to ‘why such a news’ I have some questions or at best some thoughts – Zubeen Garg has amassed his wealth through sheer hard work in the last three decades and this is no secret to anyone in Assam.
The ones who know him know that he had come to Guwahati three decades back with just a humble bicycle and worked his way up to where he is today. Should the media not have done a story instead on his long journey to success fraught with angst and challenges?
Or is it not TRP-worthy or profitable (followers and likes-wise) to do an inspirational story? And here is the catch- sadly a substantial number of public platforms in our country thrive on sensation for visibility or vested interests. Moreover, the disturbing trend here too is that barring a few, most people who are privy to the details of the singer’s life and personal convictions choose to be indifferent instead of standing up for Garg.
As a common and conscious citizen of the country and state it’s not my prerogative to actively influence public opinion and therefore I shall consciously refrain. But yes it is my and every right-thinking individual’s prerogative to express thoughts and opinions with a significant degree of responsibility.
We have the right to think but we also have the responsibility to think with fairness and a sense of consciousness about right and wrong. If this consciousness is practised, slowly but eventually we as a society will automatically identify our filters in terms of internalising what matters and what does not. And perhaps once we have a better understanding of what matters we shall become less tolerant or simply intolerant of news, views, events, things and people that mislead.
Views expressed are personal. The writer is a novelist, columnist the Founder Director of Assam LitArt Fest and the President of The LitArt Foundation
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