As an English teacher, I asked my students what they desire most in life. While most cited happiness as their ultimate goal, there was one student who said, “Ma’am, I want to be rich and famous.”

This set me thinking rather deeply and philosophically on this whole perception of fame from my vast reading of celebrities' lives. Princess Diana, who died in a car accident in 1997, is the person who is a personification of the flip side of fame, as her brother Earl Spencer gave an emotional outburst of how his sister was “hounded” by the paparazzi resulting in her untimely death. Even less famous people like singer Whitney Houston reiterated that she preferred being a “nobody” to fame, as fame just results in a lack of privacy and space.

A famous person’s life is made so public that the person tends to get wary and suspicious and can no longer lead a normal life of complacence and trust. This is more so when initially the person is put on a pedestal of achievement but the moment incompetence is displayed, the person in question is dropped unceremoniously like a hot potato.

Page 3 journalists and tabloid writers, who have to make their publications sell, have a field day in sensationalising news, without having any qualms whether that would have an adverse effect on the lives and reputations of famous people. But I guess nothing can be more disconcerting for a famous person when he/she is leading a perfectly acceptable life, but gets exposed critically due to the fame label attached to him/her.

I recall the time a few years ago when former Miss Universe, Sushmita Sen, decided to adopt a baby girl, Renee, which was categorised by several sections of the press as a publicity stunt!

Indeed, though being famous seems desirable, it is usually not so because one’s life loses its sacredness and ability to trust and believe in others.