"In many ways writing is the act of saying I, of imposing oneself upon other people, of saying listen to me, see it my way, change your mind. Its an aggressive, even a hostile act. You can disguise its aggressiveness all you want with veils of subordinate clauses and qualifiers and tentative subjunctives, with ellipses and evasions with the whole manner of intimating rather than claiming, of alluding rather than stating but theres no getting around the fact that setting words on paper is the tactic of a secret bully, an invasion, an imposition of the writers sensibility on the readers most private space."
Joan Didion, Why I Write.

Tuesday, April 6, 2010

Jis Din Tera Viyah Hovay Ga...!!

People get married all the time, right? So why is it suddenly such big news? Never in my lifetime has any wedding earned as much popularity and speculation as the Shoaib-Sania wedding has. Either the media has nothing better to offer these days, or indeed this wedding requires this much attention, worry and concern.
Since the day the news broke, so much has been said and shown that it becomes difficult to judge what actually the issue with the world is. I understand how the news can surprise us, but I don’t get how it can confuse us. Be it the Ayesha story, or the incompatibility of the couple the subject of debate, media has never been crunchier. The news certainly has high entertainment value.
Enough heard about Ayesha Siddiqui. Why on earth has she created so much fuss and hype? If a divorce is all she wants, she could have gotten it without letting the whole world know. For me, she does not exist.
Coming to the compatibility factor, Sania is the heart-throb of many. It is a fact. She’s popular, she’s successful, she’s pretty; she’s got ‘The Thing’. But does Shoaib Malik stand no where near her? Is he a total jerk who has won a lottery or a jackpot? Come on, he has played for Pakistan. He has brought pride to the nation many times. And who doesn’t have skeletons in their closets? Who doesn’t have weak moments in life, in faith or in career? We know about Shoaib, so we talk about it. We don’t know as much about Sania, so we don’t. If Sania is the Tennis Queen of India, then Shoaib is the Former Captain of Pakistan Cricket Team. Does it really not level even a bit?
Sania is risking her career, popularity and nationality. It’s a big thing! And marriage is not a decision that you take just like that. She must have calculated. She’s no child. Apart from that, just like so many people fall in love and decide to get married, why can’t she? Why is it so unbelievable? …Pinch your self, it’s real and it’s happening.
And then, this wedding won’t last, yeah, everyone has got a hunch disease in our part of the world. If it is so obvious for the people witnessing the scenario, then it must be more than obvious for the ones in the scene. So if they’re ready to take the plunge, why can’t we just wish them good luck?
The problem actually with us is that the couple broke the news all of a sudden. We weren’t ready. The two celebrities didn’t follow the pattern. No one had the slightest idea. No pictures, no scandal, no gossip, in other words, no prior warning. So the news was hard to swallow for a nation like ours.
Whether it is the heart, or the head, that has decided the things for both of them; the two stars are, after all, humans. They have a right to breathe like all other humans do. All the more reason this debate is pointless.


Have a heart people, and move on!