The road not taken

Aamir Khan is known to be a ‘thinking man’s hero while Shah Rukh and Salman are superstars liked by the masses. I have been a diehard fan of Aamir since his debut in ‘Qayamat Se Qayamat Tak’. I was a young teen when Aamir hit the spotlight and since then have followed him closely. I haven’t stalked him physically but digitally! The point here is that I consider myself an intellectual!

Being brainy and thinking you are smart are two entirely different things. I learnt that the hard way. Aamir went through a fitness journey for ‘Dangal’ and bragged about it as well. As a fan, I wasn’t going to take this lying down. So, out came the dumbbells and since the time the movie released, I have been at it. The thing is, even fat knows the difference between a superstar and a common fan. While he became lean, mean and tough, I became obtuse. The reflection in the mirror is not flattering.

I try my best to flex my muscles when I am around people, but no one notices them. I probably look like having age-related, joint problems. Couple this with a head full of no hair and you’ll know what I am talking about. My young son and his friends are big fans of the Khan trio and their six-pack abs. I am no less, I tell them. I have a family pack!

These stars and celebrities have it good. They come out with biopics and autobiographies and tell us that they were just like us before they became demi-Gods. Just as you are feeling smug that Sachin, Dhoni, Karan Johar and Rishi Kapoor were just like you and me, the penny drops. They are raking in the moolah even here! We pay them, to watch and read about them and to tell us that they made it and we didn’t.

I believe that these celebrities and stars are called ‘influencers’ in this new social media age. Well, they certainly have had an influence on me. They made me post stuff on Facebook, Twitter and what-not in the hope of garnering a few likes and retweets.

But when not even 3.5 people liked or followed me, I was back to reality. By the way, the three likes were from me, my wife and my daughter. The 0.5 like is from my son who doesn’t have a Twitter or Facebook account yet. My self-destruction from a thinking man and intellectual to a desperate failure, passing through midlife crises has brought me to a stage where I am reminded of Robert Frost’s “The Road Not Taken”. Well, I believe the roads don’t matter. They are filled with potholes anyway!