Indians And Their Heroes

Have you ever been to a premier of a film? Or else to a live concert? Or anyhow have you ever seen a celebrity, whom you had always seen on your 21"? Recently I got an opportunity to be at the premier of the film Mission Istanbul. My excitement grew as I left my home for the newly inaugurated PVR Premier at Ambi Mall, Gurgaon. And the excitement reached its pinnacle at 7:30 PM, the scheduled time for the arrival of the cast of the film. I got the front row luckily. I was dumbstruck to see the number of people who had gathered to see their favorite stars; the number was more than a thousand. Some had come to see Viveik Obroi(dude is your spelling ok?), some had come to see Zayed Khan, Suniel Shetty, Shabbir. I must admit here that I had gone to see Shreya Saran. Girls were crying to get noticed by Viveik Obroi, screaming howling for Zayed Khan and hooters were on from the band of boys for Shreya Saran and the other lead female(sorry sweetie, I don't know your name). And when they started throwing audio CDs and Mission Istanbul T-shirts towards the maddening crowd (like a master throwing biscuit before a dog), craziness of fans defied all boundaries and lead to nearly stampede condition in a 1 km long mall!

Becoming an idol in India is not that tough. Take Sania Mirza for instance, may I know what has she achieved other than a Junior Wimbledon Title, nearly a decade ago; a WTA tier III event held in her own native, Hyderabad and Shahid Kapoor? I think that last one by far is her biggest achievement. I have never seen her playing beyond third round in any of the tournament and yet she is the Tennis Idol of India. Even athletes like PT Usha and Milkha Singh are worshiped, all because they came "fourth" in their respective events when they participated in Olympics. That well defines the Indian state of mentality. While the Americans are rejoicing Michel Phelps' unmatched feets, we aim for breaking national records that any of the Chinese or American Olympian can overcome in his practice sessions itself. I might sound like a rude critic but I feel the same for Abhinav Bindra too. Just one Olympic Gold and he has become an overnight hero. The day he got that glistering piece of gold, very next day he was all over the newspaper. Media had suddenly forgotten inflation and had Abhinav's biography all over. I fear for his life doesn't take the same road as that of Indian weight lifter Malleshwari or that of Rajyavardhan Rathore.

Its not only the Indian sports that we have overnight heroes, who shine one night and disappears the following night. Arundhati Roy caught people's attention with God of Small Things but since then she hasn't been able to write a book that has made the same noise. Even Jhumpa Lahri hasn't been able to interpret the success of Maldives as yet. Still we count them in the list of Greatest Authors of all time. If some group of foreigners comes to adore Aishwarya Rai's beauty, we believe that she is the most beautiful women of the world. Where is that Abhijeet Sawant who once became a regular name in every house? I wouldn’t be wrong in saying that if a newspaper publishes this piece of my writing in a big way, tomorrow I will be counted one amongst Shashi Tharoor or VL Sanghvi.

Firstly we come to conclusion very early; we like judging book by its cover. And once we make some one our idol, that we very easily do, we go to an extension of even making a temple in his name. Gosh!!! Raj Thakrey was right when he raised his finger and asked "What Amitabh Bachchan has done for the state that has given him fame?" But still there is a huge fan base in the state that does prateeksha outside his home every morning to catch a glimpse of their lord. We expect our sons to be like Mihir of Kyunki..... So what if he married Tulsi, spent a night with Mandira, but he did come back to Tulsi only(mmmuaah.... such a purified soul he is). Every Indian city has an MG Road, named after the father of nation(except for Delhi, where it means Mehrauli-Gurgaon Road), the same father who kept on saying that "I will die but never let India cut into two pieces." Finally he died after four and a half month of India's division. Airports, universities, schools, national schemes, buildings, community centers are all named after people with his hierarchical surname. God knows who is the one behind this "christening department"? We don't find it too difficult making someone our hero, irrespective what has he actually achieved. MS Dhoni was already a star, his Rs 6 crore contract with Chennai Super kings made him eligible for Khel Ratna as well. I wonder what will happen if Mohan Began invites David Bekham for a season?

Idolizing is not bad. Its good. Its gives you a mentor. It shows you a path followed by a successful man. But my submission is why do we have so many under qualified idols being worshiped for no reason replacing the true heroes of India? Nobody remembers Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose, who gave India its first army and fought like a hero against the English. This "Gandhi" idolism only barded him his due. Other than Punjab, no one remembers Bhagat Singh who gave India the idea of complete independence unlike Congress who was happy with half of it. Poor Rajguru and Sukhdev are not even remembered in Punjab also. They must be sulking seeing India from heaven that they hanged for no reason. Sir CV Raman was a hero. He put India research to the world's attention with his Raman Effect and groomed other greats like Homi Bhabha and Vikram Sarabhai. But does any one of us know when is his birth day? In contemporary India Sachin Tendulkar is a hero. Hero is one who does good work. He is consistent. He might have bad days. Hence Sachin is a perfect cricketing hero. Leander Peas is another example. Shah Rukh Khan for me is a hero. He comes from a humble background and worked hard to be there where he is. And he hasn't stopped; he is evolving himself with the changing time. Salman Rushdie, APJ Abdul Kalam, MS Swaminathan, Verghese Kurein, Lalu Prasad Yadav, Omar Abdullah(at least, I am their fan after listening to their speech they made in parliament recently), Barkha Dutt, Shekhar Kapoor, Naseeruddin Shah, Pt. Ravi Shankar, Amjad Ali Khan, Medha Padkar, AR Rahman, Shaban Azmi, Satyajeet Ray, Kumar Mangalm Birla, Ratan Tata, Vijay Mallya(he provides material for boozing, a swimsuit calendar and a low cost airlines, what else a youngster today needs). But still when it comes to giving away Bharat Ratna or naming the new Hyderabad airport or starting a new IIM, Indians doesn't even care to think of the above mentioned list.