Conversations on Michael Jackson

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) term, but I will desist from putting it here. I am sure she meant no harm, just plain ignorant.

Lady 1 - "Yes, yes, but he had skin cancer."

Lady 2 - "oh, poor man!"

Good Lord, someone tell them about Vitiligo. Besides, where did this new rumour of skin cancer come? Emanated from a restroom like this one.

Lady 1 - "And, you know, he had had some 20-30 surgeries. When they saw his body, no, there were marks all over. Lots of holes and cuts."

I think she meant the latest reports on injection puncture marks all over his arms. And 20-30 surgeries! Wow!

Lady 2 - "Aiyoo!!"

She looked in pain.

Lady 1 - "And some one had cut his heart too."

OK, now, I dropped my own lipstick in shock. Disturbing scenes from gory vampire flicks swamped my mental landscape. It took me a few seconds to realize the reference was to some report of paramedic efforts to revive his heart.

Lady 2 - "WHAT?!! How is that possible? Did he have some heart disease?"

Yeah, I thought. He probably died of a broken heart. Deepak Chopra says he was the most misunderstood man.

Lady 1 - "No, da! But so many medicines you'll eat means, your heart will definitely attack, no."

For folks who havent yet caught on to the lingo here, she meant 'you'll have a heart attack'.

Lady 2 - "What and all medicines he was eating?"

Lady 1 - "Who knows! It seems his maid saw him vomiting only pills."

Correction. Nanny not maid. And the nanny is reported to have said something about 'pumped his stomach'. Lady 3 had joined the conversation by now.

Lady 3 - "The poor children, aiyo paawam. You know, they are not his own."

Lady 2 - "Where is their mother?"

Lady 3 - "You didnt know? They have two mothers. And nobody knows one of them."

OK. Every sentence-construction nerve in my body was twitching by this time. A part of me wanted to continue to listen to this fascinating story and another part wanted to just bolt and run. The former won and I prolonged powdering my nose till it was almost bruised.

Lady 1 - "But I know one of them. She is that daughter of Elvis Presley."

Lady 3 - "No, no, she is not a mother."

Woman, she has 4 children ..thats probably more than all of us put together. Anyway, lets not digress to Lisa Marie Presley and her child-bearing prowess.

Lady 2 - "Then? Who is that second mother?"

Lady 3 - "Just now I told you no. Nobody knows."

For a moment, I was afraid this would go on in circles like this.

Lady 1 - "And you know what?" She obviously wanted to regain her position as chief information officer here. "He was such a big star but he had no money at all."

Lady 2 - "Did he file for bankruptcy?"

I guess, 'bankruptcy' is an oft-used term these days. What with the economy and all, just about everyone files. Sigh.

Lady 3 - "Yeah, yeah, I saw that also."

You did?!! Seems the rest of the world media missed that one.

Lady 3 (continued) - "Like, he was real poor and all. It seems once he wanted to buy balloons for his daughter's birthday and had to borrow money from his maid."

Lady 2 - "Tch...tch..imagine!"

Again, nanny not maid. And, honestly, my mind was reeling by then. I had to get out before they had scripted a whole new MJ biography. Besides, my lipstick was almost worn out.

As the restroom room closed, I caught a snatch of the next segment.

"Blood? Aiyoo, rama! They showed on TV, aa?"