Jade Goody

So Jade Goody died today….

I’d never heard of her until about a year ago, or so. She shot to fame in this part of the world because of this…

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SPew_SyG6As

For those who don’t know, Shilpa Shetty is an Indian actress, who’d never made it to the A-list, inspite of being in the industry for over 10 years. The fact that she’d chosen to participate in Big Brother, is itself an indication of how far down she was in the pecking order.

I’d vaguely heard that Shilpa Shetty had gone to the UK to take part in this, but that was about it. I didn’t know who the other contestants were, what the show was all about, and how she was faring. Until this happened. It kicked up a HUGE storm here. And that’s just putting it mildly. Every newspaper, every magazine, every news channel was flooded with this. Analysis, arguments, counter arguments, you name it, it was there. Claims of racism surfaced. These british women had ganged up on an Indian lady. And look how well she’d handled it. The spirit of the Indian woman was at its finest display. Blah Blah. God knows what all was said in the media here.

I remember that I still hadn’t paid too much attention to what was happening then. I did see the so-called controversial clip, and though I didn’t buy too much of that racism, British vs. Indian thing, I have to admit that I too had formed an opinion. So Shilpa did come out as the more dignified, classy lady of the two. And Jade? She came across as vile, crass, crude, classless, ugly, fat, and despicable. If I was in the same room as her, I wouldn’t wish to say even one sentence to here. That’s how much time I would be willing to spend on her. Zilch.

So in the days and months that went by, Shilpa went on to win Big Brother, Jade realized what had happened, and she tried to make amends for it by coming here to India and apologizing in public. For me, it was like water rolling off a duck’s back. Cut to a few month’s later, and Jade comes over to India to participate in the Indian equivalent of the Big Brother, which Shilpa Shetty is hosting. I think it was about 2 days into the show, when Jade heard from her doctor that she had been diagnosed with cancer, and she returned back to the UK to begin her treatment. Again, cut to about a month ago, where TV channels were again flooded with news about how she only had weeks to live, about how she was going to get married, and about how she was going to air her last breaths on TV. I remember thinking “there she goes again”, until I read that she had two small sons, and she wanted to do it to leave as much money behind for them as she could. That was the first time I felt a little sympathy her. Something touched me inside, and I started watching the news about her with a little more interest.

As I watched her on TV in the last few days of her life, I found my heart slowly, yet steadily thawing. She was completely bald, much thinner, and definitely looked quite sick. But yet, in my opinion, she’d never looked prettier. She seemed to be happy and she seemed to be at peace. She looked more dignified and graceful than ever. Was it all staged for the cameras? Probably. Was it another money making thing for her? Maybe. I don’t know. But I don’t think that anyone can fake the kind of calmness she exuded in the last few days. And the sight of her in her wedding dress, her IV drips covered in bandages, is something I wish I hadn’t seen.

So last Sunday, infact, exactly a week ago, I googled here. I read up about her, and saw quite a few clips of her on youtube. And this is what I concluded. At the end of the day, she was just like any of us. She was like you and me. A person trying to make it in this world. With hopes and fears and faults. Time and circumstances change you, and cause your bad side to come out, but at the end of the day, people are still good at heart. And so was she.

Will I be thinking about her a week from now? Probably not. Then why have I bothered writing this whole thing down? I really don’t know. But to me, she showed more character, more class, more beauty, and more dignity in her death than she did that one day in that TV episode, and that’s what I’d like to remember her by.

Sleep Well...