He’ll get the best treatment, you won't even get a bed…
The Ugly Side of the Covid Reality that Celeb pictures don’t show
When a Disha Patani is first loved and then trolled for her sun-kissed pictures in the Maldives (has she bought an island or something, how is she affording it??) …. You nonetheless ogle at her, thinking and dreaming that soon you will roam the beaches too… Maldives Nahi toh Goa hi Sahi!!
When Ranbir and Alia walk out hand-in-hand out of airports, pubs, restaurants, each other’s homes, friends’ homes, parties, buildings, gallis, koochas (We wonder sometimes -don’t they get bored?)… you go all aww and plan that this evening you too will saunter around with your beau … airport nahi toh Nana-Nani Park hi sahi!!
What you forget.. or let's just put it like this.. what they don’t tell you is.. because of this so-called glamourous show-sha — if and when they contract Covid.. (considering most actors by now have), they will not only get a bed even if they've barely sneezed, but they will also get the best of medical care and a team of doctors fawning over them.
Meanwhile, you will be waiting in a long queue outside the same hospital with a serious mother in the ambulance van waiting for the security guard to even consider your existence.
That brings to the question:
Are the Brand Ambassadors of Covid a.k.a. Bollywood telling you this reality with their Insta pics?? No. They won't. Never have. Never will.
Covid made a dramatic comeback in the past months. This double-mutated virus is deadlier than ever before. For the ‘strongest’ of us who withstood the first wave, the second wave has taken a lot of that confidence to the cleaners.
There are two things about this Covid surge that makes it definitely different from what we saw in the first wave — it is more contagious and now it is not sparing even kids and young adults. We have entire families infected with Covid now and this time, the Government is helpless even more visibly than the last — it is not just a shortage of medicines and hospital beds, even oxygen is off-the-charts for the average Indian.
But still, the lack of concern is alarming….
To be fair, the Novel Coronavirus is an unbiased creature. It takes down the common man and the celebrities alike. With many prominent celebrities having tested positive within the past few days, the virus has shown it doesn’t care if you crossed 10 million followers on Instagram.
Even the Chyawanprash-eating and healthy-oil using celebrities who advocated immunity if you used their advertised products, were taken down. Brutal, you Covid .. ufff!!
But that didn’t stop our glamazons from uploading bikini pictures from exotic destinations or teasing the paparazzi while unabashedly walking out of pubs. All this, despite knowing fully well they are idolized and emulated by the normal junta in so many ways. They continue to misguide their followers with a blatant show of brazenness and an I’m-too-hot-and popular-to-care attitude!
And what's worse?? Something that irritates us to the very core —
Celebrities who were infected with Covid-19, tweeting their recovery within a week! Phooof!! It comes and goes in a week? Huh??
Even worse was celebrity President Donald Trump — he stepped out on the third day of being diagnosed with the virus waving at his supporters as if he had just won a morning-evening war.
Of course, that makes us feel probably coronavirus isn’t as bad as it is being portrayed. It's like a common cold that takes you down for a day, maybe 2 days and then what? You’re back!! Just like your favourite superstar, hugging his girlfriend and speaking to the paps like nothing ever happened.
B-towners have shown two faces to their fans this pandemic — the carefree moneyed holidayer or the armchair Tweeter. There was never a deeper sense of understanding of their role to influence their fans and followers to genuinely care for themselves and their country.
Their ‘Stay Home, Stay Safe’ and their ‘peace-out’ hand gestures were for the camera and nothing more. They didn’t care about their fans really, they didn’t care about the impact they had on millions of lives.. they didn’t care about the demi-God statuses their followers bestow upon them.
They only cared about themselves.
So much so, that some of us even understood their “Covid-positive” declarations to be PR stunts around the release of their movies or series.
Ohh, don’t we love a Kangana in these cases — at least she is honest about it. Or even a Rakhi Sawant for that matter — she screams for publicity in a brutally honest way — not in a Sati-Savitri manner. They don’t insult our intelligence at least.
At least they don’t post a “The next time you step out, or wear your mask under your chin, or flout the rules, spare a thought for our doctors and medical staff” (Ahem, yes.. that’s Mrs KKK for you) while her brother is strutting around the airport just back from a holiday — days after both he and his girlfriend were down with Covid.
Can we expect some change?
The past few days have seen a bit of a transformation in their attitudes — not all, but some for sure.
You see some of your celebs now educating people on social media, donating oxygen cylinders, helping organize hospital beds and even donating plasma. Ms Chopra even took our celeb appeal international with her request for funding support to India in these times.
Even if it is for PR — at least they did something fruitful in the bargain we think. This is what their role was, to begin with. This is why they are called role models. This is why people buy the brands they endorse. This public worship is what keeps their home fires and Lamborghini fuels burning.
So here we go with a simple request — Dear Stars!
You know the power of a single tweet or a random Insta post — you make money out of it, of course, you know its value. Use it for the right purpose, in the right mind and with the right intent — for once, for your country, for your fans.
While each one of you keeps craving meaty roles and superhero portrayals in reel life, this is your chance to be a real-life hero in the eyes of millions of fans.
Help the government spread the message of safety, help the medical fraternity by easing their burden, help the children by keeping their parents alive — you have every idea how you can do so. Use it!
And who knows, by speaking sense which is the need of the hour, you may just add a million more followers to your Instagram.
Hai na Fayde ka Sauda?
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