Remembering Jackson

chillibreeze writer — Arjun Rajendran

A week before Michael Jackson died, I was watching a video of Signature on YouTube, a two-member dance troupe comprising Suleman Mirza and Madhu Singh. Mirza by far, is the best Michael Jackson imitator alive today; his moon walking brought down the roof in "Britain's Got Talent". Judges were thrilled to see a fusion of Americana and Punjabi dance forms seamlessly executed.

In 1996, Bombay was a different city. It had only been three years since Black Friday. There weren't many flyovers or skyscrapers, no cool coffee houses, just one McDonald's, and numerous Iranian restaurants. Globalization was yet to hit. Bombay was a city without multiplexes or malls or Internet cafes.

Into this madness moon walked Michael Jackson. At first, the news that the king of pop would perform in Bombay seemed incredible. Everyone seemed to know about the eccentric performer who had hypnotized generations of youngsters with his natural flamboyance and all-American charisma. Wherever he went, he conquered with his awesome moves and beautiful music. To think this messiah of music would consecrate the suburb of Andheri was in itself miraculous.

As the Jackson hysteria gripped the city, economic realities dampened the fanfare; thousands of youngsters, being students, couldn't afford tickets that ranged from Rs. 2,000 ($50) to Rs. 10,000 ($200). When parents put their foot down and refused to shell out good money for a pop concert, desperate fans blackmailed them with suicide; some actually went on to slash their wrists. Fortunately, no fatalities were reported.

As Bal Thackeray, the leader of the right-wing party Shiv Sena practically controlled major events in the city, Jackson had to pay him homage to be able to perform. When Jackson agreed to meet Thackeray, fears that entertainment tax and political arm wrenching would dissuade the cultural icon from choosing Bombay were quelled.

Finally, in November 1996, amidst much brouhaha, Jackson landed in Bombay with 40 tons of equipment. Jackson had chosen to stay at the Oberoi on Marine Drive, causing a crowd of frenzied fans to convene outside the hotel's premises to catch a glimpse of the icon.

Being a Jackson fan myself, it was difficult to accept that my parents would not be persuaded into buying me a ticket for the concert. To rub salt into my wounds, some of my friends were attending the event with their families. In an act that smacked of brilliant subterfuge, my father actually convinced me that there was nothing special about Michael Jackson; I had something rarer than a concert ticket, the Internet. Considering none of my acquaintances had even heard of it, the net did appear rather special at that time. I failed to realize that I was falling prey to another of my father's hoaxes.

The night of the concert, levels of desperation had reached staggering proportions; when children realized that slashing wrists wouldn't work, they resorted to pilfering. The phrase, "beg, borrow or steal", was particularly relevant. But it didn't matter anymore whether you had money or not as there were no tickets to be had, at least not unless you were someone or you knew someone who was someone, "contacts" being the keyword here. The event would go down in the city's history as one of its most significant; the magic wouldn't dissipate for months.

A certain girl, whom Jackson hugged on stage, would stay mesmerized forever. Rumors had it that she even stopped bathing for fear of washing away Jackson's touch! For generations of music lovers, the fact that Michael Jackson was no more was impossible to digest; there was a sense of collective mourning throughout the world. Even those of us, who had moved on from pop to rock or classical music felt the loss of the icon we'd grown up with, because we were not of the Britney Spears generation, or the era of the Beatles; we were moonwalkers.

 

Chillibreeze's disclaimer: This is a contributed article and was published on Chillibreeze in March, 2010. The views and opinions expressed in this article are those of the author(s) and do not reflect the views of Chillibreeze as a company. Chillibreeze has a strict anti-plagiarism policy. Please contact us to report any copyright issues related to this article. The relevance of the facts and figures cited (if any) could change after a period of time.

 

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