It was a saturday night!
An old man (strong enough to carry himself after a couple of tequila shots and beers) with white/wise beard was sitting alone in the corner of a poorly lighted bar sipping his second beer and staring at the LCD Television which emitted the images from Michael Jackson's funeral service live from Los Angeles’ Staples Center.A sudden burst of laughter disturbed him, he lowered his head to see a group of well dressed, ill bred young group stting around the table opposite to his.
As the Funeral ceremony was boring and this group's chatter was too loud, the Old man started to listen to their conversation, left with no choice.
The girl in the opposite table facing him said,"Wow i love this man" turning her head from the LCD and continued "can you believe he is dead, his moonwalk, his patented moves, his songs they are immortal.He is my role model yo know"
"Wat???? hey Neha, come on yaar how can you call him your role model? he is such a loser.yo know those cases against him right?" said the guy sitting opposite to her with a prisoner's haircut.
"what the heck.... how do yo know he is so and so danny, yo know how much he has helped others he even holds a guiness world record for supporting the most number of charities. 39 i guess" repied neha holding her half completed beer pint.
"those are just desperate ways of searchin for peace, after doing such sins" came a loud voice from the guy beside her with studded ears and Man U jerseys.
"ya exactly karan,cheers!!!" supported danny holding up his pint.
Neha was quite flabbergasted and was desperately looking for points, munching the chips she said "k watever, i like him and i need not prove anything to you guys"
"ok ok we'll stop that, tell me who is your role model karan?" asked the so long silent girl with curly hair sitting next to Danny.
"Namakellam Kamal thaan,i mean KamalHassan-the great Tamil no no Indian Actor.According to me he is the perfect man, oops sorry!, the man striving for excellence.He is my role model if we follow his footsteps thats more than enough.wat about you sandhya?"
"Me,My role model is Dominique Francon she is the archetype of womanhood.Its difficult to be like her yet i have started tryin" pridely replied the curly haired girl, sipping her red wine.
"Machi peter akkaku konjam quarter oothu" danny said to karan and they both burst out into laughter
"wat wat?? hey guys dont we hav the deal that you guys should not talk in Tamil when we are around. we wont come out with you if you continue this way." blasted Neha.
"ok ok, its just a joke nothing offensive don worry"said karan signalling the bartender for a refill .
"wat about you danny?" enquired sandhya
"Mmmmm...Sourav Ganguly -the prince of Kolkata" said danny gulping down his chilli vodka.
The old man shifted his focus again to the Show.Now he could see MJ's daugher in tears, informing the crowd that her father was the best.The old man could see neha getting emotional.The young group continued its discussion in the same lines for another hour at times fighting for their favourites(role models).Karan noticed the old man watchin them but dint mind.
The old man finished his part and started to move out.As he crossed that table he heard "sir one second" it was Karan,"sir,i have been seeing you watchin us from the beginning why dont you tell us who is ur role model?", continued Karan.
"i dont have one" replied the old man curtly.
"atheppadi, i mean how is it possible? Does that mean, no one has inspired yo all these years?" asked a curious Karan.
The old man smiled and said "i said i dont have one, i dint say i dont have any"
The group started to listen(steadily) as the old man continued "i dont believe in the concept of role models but let me make one thing clear.No man/woman is a paragon of all the virtues.Even one cant follow Jesus blindly in all aspects because he never married atleast according to the bible so yo wont find marriage or family related virtues in Jesus.Similar is the case of Ram,Krishna,Nabi they all lack one thing or the other.Thats the reason y we have the life stories of many saints and people in every Holy Book.I personally feel you hav to follow good qualitites from different people"
"naayae summa ponavara yaen da koopita? mokka podran da intha aalu" karan could hear danny's inner voice.
The old man continued, ignoring the guys' reactions .Neha and sandhya started to observe as keenly as they could in that state."I accept whomever yo have mentioned has certain good qualities or personality traits which yo can follow but yo cant and should never try
to impersonate them.See,Souvrav Ganguly's nature to rise rom shckles, his way of indentifying talents,his confidence yo can follow.But definitely not his commitment towards his job and his egotistic nature.Instead, Commitment towards work can be learnt from KamalHassan.You can learn the way to tackle questions,public speaking etiquettes,the strive for excellence,the faith in formal education from him. But again, if yo follow Kamal Haasan's idea about marriage and love you cant survive in our culture atleast with proper image."
Danny murmured something and lied down on the table.
The old man looked at sandhya and said,"And Madam yo can follow dominique francon's nature of "if i cant get it, no one should" in business but not in family and if u try to be ike her let me remind yo there is no one like Howard roark, atleast on Earth. If yo wanna dance follow MJ's steps but not his steps in life there are plenty of other people for you to follw.My advice would be to take good qualities from your friends and parents cos yo know them fully and yo feel and see them from a closer distance.why do you need to tag some celebrity as your role model?"
the old man was relentless.
But for karan the whole room suddenly turned silent, he could hear his heart beat.
He felt as if the flying birds, the waterfall, the swaying trees, the traffic on a metro road, the racing horses,the drop of wine from wine glass to sandhya's lips and every moving object just freezed in time and space.He Felt as if he was watching a movie in which the camera was rotating round the old man 360 degrees.
Then,he heard danny whispering "machi nee yaen da thalaya suthitu irukka???
seri, thatha ku mabbu overaagiduchu nu nenaikiraen kelambha sollu"
