Shortcut to shame: any takers?
You may have innumerable ways to be famous. A hundred more ways are there to be infamous too. Have you ever seen someone seeking a shortcut to shame? Has anyone tried to taste shame much faster than what it normally takes to be shameful? Is not shame something worth pursuing if it is achieved through some shortcut? Questions galore. Don’t forget it.
We are living in an environment where everything has some takers. Keep any service or product or dirt or dust, filth and waste for sale, you would be unpleasantly surprised if some doesn’t turn up bargaining for the same. Say, you are keeping a used toothbrush, used by Aiswarya Rai Bachan, for sale. You will be inundated by trade enquiries. On the contrary, a pen used by Rushdie, a pair of spectacles used by Einstein, a paintbrush used by Raja Ravi Varma, or something like that would normally invite some pleasant bids for purchase. We can understand the spirit behind such bids.
On the other hand, a bitten apple, a used towel, an over used bikini and even a tooth pick, if used by some erstwhile limelight personae, would grab the enthusiasm of some crazy ones and they would go to the extent of finding eternal peace by owning these filths. Here they are not going for fame by shelling out bales of hard currency, but they are desperately out trying to be shameful via shortcuts. Their means are shortcuts, their intentions are insidious, their happiness is despicable and finally the limelight they in turn come to hog is outright purchases.
What doesn’t go here? What doesn’t sell here? What is our place not a market for? Fame is out for sale, shame is out for sale, greatness is out for sale, successes and failures are out for sale. If lethal venom is served free, we WILL queue up and gobble up a little.
We are increasingly becoming immune to many of our innate qualities like decency, dignity and shame. Our ways are short. Our deeds do not last. Our thoughts do not transcend. Our life doesn’t trendset. We are marching past everything that is hard-earned. We look for shortcuts, even to shame. Pity.
