A parrot is a beautiful bird, and it is a great pleasure to see it on a tree. Watching the happiness and freedom it enjoys is simply bliss. But what happens when the same bird is put in a golden cage and taught to speak?
A human enjoys and feels fulfilled with the freedom to do what one knows best. Given an opportunity to script his own plot, a man can enjoy freedom that is limited by the rules of nature. Hence freedom is relative. Most of us are conditioned by various restrictions, which results in frustration, ultimately leading to various physical and mental diseases.
Let us spare a thought for celebrities and their lives, as expectations from them, and by their own self, are indeed very high. The constant quest for perfection at a personal level and keeping up with others are indeed a task. Celebrities are not restricted to one particular field. Generally we understand that the people in showbiz, fields of literature and performing arts, and sportspersons are in that bracket. They have to satisfy many people, colleagues, viewers, audience, readers and so on. In the initial stages of their careers, it is a novelty, but as time passes, they are like the parrots in golden cages. They have little or no choice left, time is not theirs, self-expression has to be curbed, and emotions and personal aspirations, views, ideas all are on the back burner. They lose their identity. The initial happiness and attention become a cage.
A heavy price
Freedom comes with a very heavy price too, as not all can enjoy freedom in the true spirit. Celebrities know it the best; they are hunted, haunted and chased.
With name, fame and money minus freedom, they lead caged lives. They are given demigod status, worshipped and idolised, but also pushed to a corner, with no way out. They cannot walk freely on roads, they cannot have a cup of tea on the roadside, talk with friends out in the open, even travel freely. They cannot even pay homage in peace to their departed colleagues and friends and families. They cannot go to a movie theatre with their families, cannot dine in hotels. What is more appalling is that their children too are forced to lead caged lives.
Celebrities cannot even utter a single line or issue a statement for it becomes the headlines. No one would like to be monitored, scrutinized at all times, but celebrities have to bear the brunt, even when their private personal lives are being intervened.
We forget that they are human beings like all of us, who need their privacy protected. So do we give them the space they are entitled to?
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