In search of cool

Recent news stories about George Fernandes, once Defense Minister, confirms only one thing -- that he is a rock star

Recent news stories about George Fernandes, once Defense Minister, confirms only one thing -- that he is a rock star. For consideration, this is a man, who, sadly, in the dusk of his years, has Alzheimer's and is certifiably, as is the characteristic of this disease, losing his mind.u00a0u00a0 One would think that at this point in his life, friends and family would tend to care for such a person with a mix of respect, sympathy and duty. Not so here.

While our single men desperately try to understand what women find cool, rushing to gel hair, buyu00a0 Blackberries and look thoughtful at art galleries, Mr Fernandes lies in bed, in his mid-eighties, barely able to speak, but has not one, but two women, in a very public battle, just wanting to spend time with him. Ranbir Kapoor should take notes.

Mr Fernandes' appeal is from an India the modern generation finds hard to understand. I showed my cousin, very much a teenager of this Facebook generation, some black and white Illustrated Weekly photographs of politicians, including Mr. Fernandes, giving speeches in the late 70s. She looked at them and remarked, innocently, "It's lovely. I've always been into photos of our Independence Struggle".u00a0 And she immediately tweeted, "Chillin ufffdlkng at pics of freedom & stuff".u00a0

I suppose there are many things women found cool in powerful men of that era -- The Sanjay Gandhi thick black glasses, the Khadi, The posh British accent massaged to sound more mass, the rejection of capitalism, Nehru jackets, lots of marching in slippers with common people, lots of protesting against business owners. As Salman Rushdie put it, "Anyone of any importance had to get arrested at least once during the Emergency. Otherwise, you didn't matter".u00a0

In a new India, where money, business and media glitz rule, cool is much harder to come by.u00a0 Like everything else, it's open to perfect competition. And the rules keep changing with the advertising messages. First, they tell a man, you need to be almost obscenely wealthy. He achieves that. And with the sports car, he thinks he resembles the guy from the Chirag Din ad. Is he a bit of a joke? He tries to believe he isn't. Then they tell him, improve the look, lose the belly, spike the hair to resemble an overgrown 12 year-old. Does that too. Now, all financial achievements aside, he resembles a reject from a Channel V reality show. One more thing, they tell him. Be sensitive and have views.u00a0 So he starts watching Julia Roberts' movies and joins LGBT marches against Article 377. Surely, that's enough, he thinks. That's not enough- you have to be artistic and interesting and play down the wealth, comes the new advice. So he sells the business, moves to Goa, shaves only two days and starts reading Amitav Ghosh, apart from everything above. All going well till he meets a stunning over-achieving single woman who runs a media house and after some days of romance, she says she has to leave him --u00a0 he's too sensitive, thought-provoking, well-groomed and artistic. She's ready to settle down with someone slightly lacking polish, obscenely wealthy with a sports car and no opinions. I guess I need to start again, he ponders. By then he's 45. All the fashion magazines guide him with vague motivation: "Cool is just being yourself".u00a0 Well, he wonders, what if you're an idiot. You can't just be yourself.

The new Indian man, thus, trolls modern life, in search of cool.u00a0u00a0u00a0

George Fernandes clearly didn't have that problem. Nor did Pandit Ravi Shankar, whose list of rumoured dalliances are illustrious. And there was once an India when Ustad Zakir Hussein won "Sexiest Indian alive" three years in a row. Apart from being wonderfully gifted at their work, charming and able to mesmerize lots of people,u00a0 what made them cool was that in their India, now only in Raghu Rai photos and coffee table books, socialists and sitar players were Page 3, way before even a Page 3 knew its purpose.u00a0

Anuvab Pal is a Mumbai-based playwright and screenwriter.u00a0 He is currently working on a book on the Bollywood film Disco Dancer for Harper Collins, out later this year.u00a0 Reach him at www.anuvabpal.com

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