I thought that a good way to start this blog would be put in my two pence worth on something that has achieved almost mythical proportions in the hearts of the people of my home town Shillong. To call this an 'event' would be to trivialize it, but to call it a sort of 'social churning' (as some have suggested) would be attributing too much importance to what is or was merely an articulation of relevance by the people of Shillong.
What is being referred to is of course Indian Idol 3 and the boy who almost won it- Amit Paul. To try and document the kind of support he enjoyed in Shillong, swinging from adulation to worship and bordering on hysteria, would be a redundant exercise on my part. The stories are too many and the space here is too small. Then to try and comprehend the sense of grief at his loss would again be impossible. How does one begin to understand why so many cried that night or how does one even begin to explain how grown adults of reason and logic felt a lump in their throats and a heaviness in their hearts? I will attempt none of this. My point is a little more obtuse.
The reason I think that Amit deserved the adulation he received was not just because he was a good singer. There have and will be better ones. It is simply because he made Shillong smile for a while. He made a small town feel happy, the sort of happiness that comes from sharing a common bond, a common thread.
There could be other familiar points of interface for this town, like cricket to name the most obvious example, but none which is so immediate or none which is so close to home. It was almost like the success of Amit had the opportunity of being a physical presence in the lives of people, something that could be grasped, touched, stroked, tasted and smelt. When a drama is enacted, the proximity of the actors to the audience often determines the connection that is set up between the two. In this case, as often happens in small towns, everyone seemed to ‘know’ Amit and therefore everyone rejoiced when he succeeded.
His success lies not in reaching the last stage of the contest. His true success lies in making people forget the constants that define their largely uneventful lives and offering them a chance to feel part of something bigger, something happier. No one knows what is to become of him in the future. What we do know is what he did to our present for a while. For that, Thank You Amit!!
What is being referred to is of course Indian Idol 3 and the boy who almost won it- Amit Paul. To try and document the kind of support he enjoyed in Shillong, swinging from adulation to worship and bordering on hysteria, would be a redundant exercise on my part. The stories are too many and the space here is too small. Then to try and comprehend the sense of grief at his loss would again be impossible. How does one begin to understand why so many cried that night or how does one even begin to explain how grown adults of reason and logic felt a lump in their throats and a heaviness in their hearts? I will attempt none of this. My point is a little more obtuse.
The reason I think that Amit deserved the adulation he received was not just because he was a good singer. There have and will be better ones. It is simply because he made Shillong smile for a while. He made a small town feel happy, the sort of happiness that comes from sharing a common bond, a common thread.
There could be other familiar points of interface for this town, like cricket to name the most obvious example, but none which is so immediate or none which is so close to home. It was almost like the success of Amit had the opportunity of being a physical presence in the lives of people, something that could be grasped, touched, stroked, tasted and smelt. When a drama is enacted, the proximity of the actors to the audience often determines the connection that is set up between the two. In this case, as often happens in small towns, everyone seemed to ‘know’ Amit and therefore everyone rejoiced when he succeeded.
His success lies not in reaching the last stage of the contest. His true success lies in making people forget the constants that define their largely uneventful lives and offering them a chance to feel part of something bigger, something happier. No one knows what is to become of him in the future. What we do know is what he did to our present for a while. For that, Thank You Amit!!
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