Arrival of The Second Fiddle !

The unassuming 'Second Fiddle' has declared his arrival and it applies to the 'hers' as well. For matters of simplicity and being courteous towards women, I would hereafter make this piece gender biased. The argument for the same is based on the preferential treatment of women and hence the omission here. So much for scoring brownie points, lets get back to the proposition we were considering.’Second Fiddle', the guy who does not take the lead in any work but ends up completing it and did not aspire to achieve something very significant or serious in life, has never had it any better. Always being the one who improvised, has now chosen to be assertive. And voicing or lending an ear to this opinion are millions of Indians. Not only has he got social acceptance but his life is now being celebrated as well. Thus, its no surprise that the chief protagonists in India's most loved writer's (Chetan Bhagat) novels were individuals who lacked the drive to go the distance and were comfortable being the pillion rider. While the driver had the skills and took all the pains to steer in the crowded and narrow lanes of life, our pillion rider had the high position and that is not only because the seats are designed so. And when they arrive at the party, the pillion rider gets down first to make his presence felt, while our heartthrob rider makes a guest appearance of sorts as he had to take the pain of parking the bike. By now you must be thinking that this piece has also skid away on flattery road, hold that thought as I am about to make my point.

  It is more than coincidence that the movies which represented the same shift in social acceptance became trend setters and I mean more than the hair do. Be it RDB, Dil Chahta Hai or Zindagi Naa Milegi Doobara. The pattern continues into the breath n blood of the country where a SRK & Dhoni take up the captain-ship and the likes of Sachin & Aamir, steer the ship. A country which used to Hero-worship the heroes and leave the rest to the vagaries of nature and the mercy of Darwin's Theory, has learnt to give greater significance to otherwise boring lives of millions. And it makes a good sale as well when you are catering to the bottom of the pyramid. The ever increasing financial prowess of the country has only acted as a catalyst in paradigm shift. A changing socio-economic scenario has been the facilitator, where being greedy is no more gross and aspirations have moved past 'Roti-Kapda-Makaan'. This has given people the luxury to experiment and the aspirations of living life their own way or making your way the highway.

   There is a mysterious attractiveness in being simple; being everybody's admiration and nobody's dream, and this is what makes our second fiddle so desirable. The common man is tired of the living meaningless superfluous lives, chasing one dream, all of them, all at a time. Always running at a very fast pace and reaching nowhere, and thus he finds solace in the simplicity of these second fiddles who unfailingly succeed in the end and which is as far from reality as the hero-worshiping ones. But then these seem to be true for the most part and that draws our attention. This might explain the present era of too many superstars.

   It also makes for a good climax when the unassuming and deemed to fail , makes it. The second fiddle is also aware of its gaining prowess and the ability to topple the ruling elite and is probably planning a silent revolution. This might sound as socialist ,having been undermined for times immemorial ,the second fiddle now wants to break apart (as you might have felt, had this been written on paper !).

   I am a might have fiddled with an idea which should have been expressed better but then I thought it better to practice what I digress !.Nevertheless, being the second fiddle has become fashionable and he is here to stay for quite some time. :-)