Jade Goody is dying. Who is Jade Goody? The introduction is perhaps little required now. The little-known British TV actress whose racial spat with B-grade Bollywood actress Shilpa Shetty in Big Brother made it to the headlines in India, is now truly famous as she televises her last dying days on camera. And the world is watching.

I do feel for Goody. At 27, the prime of her life, she is waiting for death to happen anytime and will leave behind two young sons and a newly married husband. It's no age to die for anyone, for that matter. But there is no telling when cancer can eat into your life and before you realise, you are waiting at the doorsteps of death. If life, death and sickness were predictable, all our mysteries would no more be mysteries and scientists would be jobless.

But Jade Goody comes to mind today for another reason. There is a controversy surrounding her death plan. And it is worrying the world. Goody made a living out of being in front of the camera and chooses to do die before the camera. Activists say reality TV has brought the horror to our bedrooms and kids have to watch someone die live. That her children will live with the scars of this image. That there has to be a line drawn between what should be shown and what should not be.

I find the arguments absurd. Today reality TV is a hit because there is an audience for it. People love to see such things or follow such news. That is why a battery of world press is at the gate of Jade Goody's house following the developments. So famous has her death trail become that the British Prime Minister even made a mention of it in Parliament. So, all the interest stems from the fact that we humans, from time immemorial, were always a sucker for what is gory, what is unusual and what is rare. How can we forget the stories of galleries where people turned up in droves to witness someone hanging or being beheaded? So, whats new?

And can we forget Goody's personal desire? It's her wish that she wants her last days being filmed. So who are we to object what she wants and it is the want of someone dying? Not to forget, she is raking in the moolah, earning million pounds for a reason - to secure the future of her children. Besides, awareness of cervical cancer which is afflicting Goody, we are told, has gone up so much that a recent poll showed more and more women are now turning up for check-ups. Is that bad or good? Wagging tongues should put to rest the question of how much is too much. Because you gotta move with the times.

1 comment:

Shanti Thokchom said...

hey gal,that was a very brilliant write up! I enjoyed reading it!!seems like you were damn busy....!!

Video Interviews