FAN FOLLOWING GETS A NEW MEANING
Staying in a small city, I had always heard or seen in the television what following a “star” is. Sometimes I used to think that the media portrays things in an exaggerated manner. I wondered how can people go crazy about any one, that to for a person who is quite unreachable, a “star”. But when the Amit Paul craze hit our quite city of
In Shillong, Amit Paul has broken the barriers of age among many other things. Old and young love him, adore him ad even fantasise him. Everyday I hear strange stories about what people did to meet him either from my mom, my friends, or else where. But in the last two days I have witnessed such a die hard fan. She is my classmate and a good friend. She just can’t stop talking about Amit. Yesterday, she went about telling everyone in our class, individually, how she had managed to touch him!
It was quite amazing to see and hear her. People were making fun of her, some others were being jealous at her luck. But when I came back home and thought about it I realised that she wasn’t just another fan of the singer. She signified (atleast for me) what fan –following really means. People really do get crazy and can go up to any extent to get a glimpse of their star.
Before this, Shillong had never had any one going to the national level in such a big way. Thus Amit has become an icon who symbolises similar dreams dreamt by many. He has made youngsters believe in them and in the fact that they too can do it. and as far as fan- following goes, for me, it also symbolises the need of the people to call someone their own. Today any Shillongite going outside proudly says that “I too live in Shillong, where Amit lives”.