fan-dom

We were at a North Indian swanky airport the other day when my husband pointed out a lonesome tall man standing in the corner, gazing out into the horizon. "Isn't that such-n-such model?" I realised that it was him. While I was contemplating the fact that even though his head was now a fully salt-n-peppered crop, he still looked quite fit and attractive, I saw a young man walking up to him - mobile phone in hand. A polite request - Sir, may I click a picture with you - was politely declined - Sorry buddy, but no. The young man walked away, a bit embarrassed, and a bit disappointed. I smiled and thought, good for him. That sure seemed like a polite and efficient way of declining an invasion on one's privacy.

But later I wondered, would his reaction have been different if the young man had asked him for an autograph instead of a photograph? A normal reaction to spotting a celebrity in the days before the cell-phone-camera existed, was to rush to find a piece of paper to get their scribble on. A scrap from a notebook, paper napkin, for some extreme fans even a permanent marker on skin would do! And this scribble was then cherished by the fan for years, maybe even shown off to children & grand-children with pride. I assume the celebrities of yore would have signed hundreds, maybe thousands of such scraps of paper during their peak years. Why is it then that a simple photo with a fan - no forcing, no hustle, just a polite selfie - should be shunned as a severe invasion of privacy?

If we look around us, a lot of things are documented via the camera phone these days. Like a recipe in the newspaper? *Click* Need to scan an ID proof? *Click* Buying clothes and want the opinion of a partner who's across town (or the world)? *Click* Preserve the memory of tickets to a historic last tour of a band you've grown up listening to? *Click* An important business card? *Click*

Anything and everything that used to be noted down on a little notebook or cherished carefully in a scrapbook is now stored diligently on our hand-held photo repositories, aka the smartphones.

So a celebrity sighting should obviously follow suit. That's why it does come across as slightly in bad taste if you deny a single fan the pleasure of this keep-sake - an autograph of the modern world. Of course I'm sure there is a line there somewhere which is not so easy to draw. When does one photo turn into ten, which turns into a hundred, which turns into an unruly paprazzi-ish frenzy? I don't envy celebrities these choices they need to make sometimes.

But at that airport, on that day, I too felt just a little cheated like that young man must've felt. It was just one photo - one among the million you would've already gotten clicked in your lifetime - but one that would've been the most important one for that fan. And you denied it.