Rehabilitation

Rehabilitation....

Never before have I become as conscious as I am right now even as I am struggling to put words to the myriad thoughts which have been doing an indulging juggernaut for close to a week now since THE NEWS broke. I confess that I have longed to valiantly do justice to my sense of restlessness all this while before I could eventually manage control over some outrageous thoughts to put here.

At the outset, I run the risk of being stoned to pieces by all of my readers for daring to do what I finally believe remotely justifies my randomness (my apologies for this verbal diarrhoea already).

Many of us have faced at least some form of addiction to one or more of some (in)famous drugs, even if it was for a short time, active or passive. Marijuana, Cocaine & Heroin fervently fight among themselves to claim the tiara befitting the queen bee of the world's illicit drugs not many know that it is the (comparatively) humble and perfectly legal Nicotine which is hardest to let go once it clutches its addict in its vice like tentacles.

Drawing parallel in real life one could name a battery of icons (which are adored the world over) in one breath but if an Indian were to be asked to name a personality that has become a part of their nervous system it has to be unequivocally The Great "T". You give them a choice to name few more and they would have a hard time recalling who should come even remotely close in this one man "league" of extraordinary gentlemen. Sorry Mr. Big B, for all the adulation you might have received since the time you broke the popularity Zanjeer it is the dainty maestro (who was just born then) who has transcended beyond individual frustrations to have not only emerged as the SOLE & UNANIMOUS Superhero in the last quarter of a century but has also ensured that his legacy is not transferable to anyone who dares to wear this smiling assassin’s shoes. Do I add any incremental value to the debate by stating the cliché that "He has reined over the collective conscience of the entire nation all these years".

Am I ready for the D-day when HE would do his famous little squat one last time in full public glare? How could you even ask an addict who probably got a high on HIS bespoke straight drive before she learnt her alphabets two & half decades ago to suddenly be pushed into rehabilitation centre? So what if the centre warden promises her to provide for no less intoxicating (& ostensibly addictive) cannabis cultivated in the farmhouses of Nazafgarh, Ranchi & Delhi? Could a heady concoction of all of them be even one tenth as hallucinating as THE ORIGINAL? I don't even feel like laughing over this puerile curiosity.

HE gave us the sense of belief in being able to do a Superhero all the time while still being a shy, coy boy next door. Who among us have not bunked countless lectures and/or shut our lives of everything else just to be able to focus on HIS exhibits? Go, find me a soul who has not shadow practiced the famous "Upper Cut" in the Pindi express all these years! I won't be surprised if you even end up sharing the romantic euphoria like feeling your granny had while expectantly sitting cross legged on that corner couch of your living room. Who is now going to bring that captivating, childlike exuberance back to our ecosystem that had the charisma to cast a spell on generations? Where is the father of "Dolly - The Sheep"? Can't he clone HIM in the next five weeks? I don't have the time left for me to LIVE the way I so very fondly cherish.

"Main to loonga wohi khilona, machal utha Dina ka Lal!"

(C) Rits Original