Yet Another Point of View

Overheard in the ladies restroom this morning. From the far end of the mirror, I remained a mute eavesdropper to this conversation. Lady 1 - "Tch..Tch..I feel soooo sad for Michael Jackson, yaar." She heaved a huge sigh, plonked her handbag on the counter and turned to face her audience. Her face was a genuine mask of anguish. Lady 2 - "Oh yes, yaa..I too...he died, no." I guess, sometimes, grief is best expressed by stating the obvious. Lady 1 - (tone dipping) "When he died no, his body ...was only skeleton." Lady 2 - "Really?" Lady 1 - "Yeah..only bones..like, no food only in his stomach..." Lady 2 - "oh God!" Now, she is seriously shocked. From the corner of my eye, I can see her hairbrush paralyzed in midair. Lady 1 - "He was bald. And, his skin was whittte!" The 'white' had chilling emphasis. Lady 2 - "But he was Black, no?" She actually used the racially derogatory (and politically incorrect)

Michael Jackson was my introduction to western music. To say the truth, back then, I didnt understand a word of what he sang. But it was like a window to a whole different world than the one we lived in. So, while the parents raved and ranted about the polluting effects of western culture and the 'noise' that was called pop music, we sneaked in bits of Beat It and Black or White . A thin, hyper-energetic, amazing singer with that unbelievable crotch-hugging dance step - it was all too fascinating. The TV news channels have been running the news of Jackson's demise almost without a break since early morning today. Everyone is 'celebrating' the passing of an icon. Well, not everyone. There are some pretty scathing commentaries out there too. At lunch, watching the MJ news reports loop endlessly, a colleague commented that it wont be long before all the muck on Jackson would be raked up too. The star's unnerving obsession with plastic surgeries, the child abuse ch