Girl boy were going through a break up. They promised they would never talk. This morning boy messaged girl, “MJ is no more.” She called him back and they shared the fond memories they had about MJ and his songs. How they danced to his tunes in school, how they bought blank cassettes and recorded MJ songs for their friends on their birthdays. MJ brought them together again.
Most people I know are calling their families to share their grief. On Twitter people are sharing their fond memories of the King of Pop. His death is like a global human tragedy.
I am shocked to say the least. The first thing I do every morning is switch on the radio. Today when I switched it on they were playing ‘Black or White’. They have been playing at least 4-5 MJ songs every day throughout this month as a part of a contest. At the end of the each day one caller who would be able to correctly identify all the MJ songs would be selected as a finalist and at the end of the month-long contest, one winner would be chosen among all the finalists to be flown to London for Michael Jackson’s last ever concert. But not any more.
Similar contests were being run on radio and TV stations all over the world. Until a few days back, the world had forgotten him, his aura and charisma were caught between criminal charges, legal hassles, financial crisis and health problems, like an ordinary man he was failing, life was getting old and purposeless.
But with the comeback tour round the corner he was back in the lime light, suddenly his name was everywhere, everybody was looking forward to see him and he left us. Can you beat that, the timing of his death? Right when the whole world was falling in love with his genius all over again he left us, left us in the lurch. After this day with all his oddities and imperfection, you’ll love him or hate him but you’ll never be able to forget him.
Michael Jackson is the kind of people urban legends are made of.
I would remember Michael Jackson as a living spooky mystery, something I could never understand and I think nobody could. As a child we used to whisper about his gender, is he girl or boy, is he black or white, is he homo or hetro, is he even for real or is he a figment of our imagination, a magical illusion, how come his voice is so different when he sings than from when he speaks and so many more mysteries about him. He was my first brush with western music, friends laughs at me when once in a while I still play his greatest hits on my laptop.
Call this a fan’s blind faith but I always believed that there was more to the child abuse charges that were brought against him. Truth is very contextual and then there is a good truth and a bad truth. We think we know but we have no idea.
The man is dead but try denying it, there’s a little bit of him in all of our souls. Like there’s a little bit of God in us.
Heath Ledger Rest in Peace
Another name comes to mind at the moment is Heath Ledger. I don’t think anything he would have done for the rest of his life, if he lived longer, would have matched up to the Joker. It was not merely a performance by an actor; it was almost like a transformation of souls, the journey from one body to another. Heath Ledger gave his life and soul to Joker, Joker lived, Heath died.
Dr Sanjukta Basu 
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