31-10-1997 Princess Diana died, accidentally murdered by frustrated paparazzi/ by an overworked sleepy driver: the juicer truth. 4 days later Sep 5, 1997 Sister Teresa from Ireland died of heart attack.Decade passed & the 2 women moved into oblivion. Not really now, just one did! Mother Teresa, 'the leprosy healer' from Cal is not so seriously recalled.
I know u remember her, but that's not the point: the point is --- my 12 year old friend doesn't! on the contrary she knows of Diana:" Di, princess, beautiful women, fairy tale wedding to king, king was in love with someone else, broke up, met poor kids, and one day died in a car- bike- chase with very rich boyfriend."
fairly correct, but when she asked 'who's mother Teressa?' my only way to remind her was 'remember a beauty queen resurrected this icon at Miss world?- Yup! gotcha. but she hasn't a clue this nun hailed from and what missionaries of charity was!?!
As I walked back, i thanked dad for donating all the unused, never going to be used stuff to the destitute home in Borivali, for taking us there on our birthdays. For scolding us if we cringed, for making us comfortable with uncomfortable existence of the diseased, destitute, ill and mentally challenged. They weren't pleasant, so wasn't the Cal trip n the missionaries of charity n sister nevedita.
The point is that i remember. - that history is alive for me. But then tweety was born a decade and a half later and her history is different. She never met Di but she's sad- more like a 'broken piece from a fairy tale' sad -- with much fear, i told her that 'ur Di was not a fairy and her prince wasn't a knight. Di and Charles are a projected dream reiterated by world media. She was rich, unconventionally beautiful, he was seasoned and apparently already in love with another lady, they had a very rocky marriage. The fact that Di was a bulimic was a sign of her unhappyness. Tweety refuted," But then she had a glorious death n she's freaking popular!"
That got me thinking- Does death by accident confirm that gore is glorious? U cant just die in sleep- that's boring! u have to die with drama, tragedy, controversy, burn marks, broken bones-- to leave ur mark in the society. Don't be Mata- be Mata Hari, be Gia Carangi, Frida, Protima, Plath, Woolf, be Marilyn Monroe.
Being good is passe, being troubled is marking ur territory. So here it is- Nothing better, bigger than a beautiful, rich, in-love or love-lorn, super lonely woman whose death questions the very definition of a free feminism bound by cliches of work, family and happiness.
Like they say in journalism: shock value is the only value!
PS. oddly i feel like an idiot writing this, hmm!
