Finding Fan(ny)

Every one of us are fans of something or someone or the other. Admiring artistry and enjoying entertainment are few of the aspects which distinguishes us as human beings. That being said, all of us can’t be like Mr. Sudhir Kumar Chaudary whose only occupation is to be a fan or a  Mr. Gaurav Chandna who is a kind of person ( albeit fictional ) that most people call a ‘fanatic’.

Very rarely do fans get to meet their icons. Most of the times , they meet their Rajinikanth only in their dreams and even those darned dreams don’t end successfully ( dreams are actually very richly symbolic. Always try googling your disturbing dreams. Trust me , there exist other interpretations apart from your garden variety id and sexual drive) . I once had a dream which involved me having a looong conversation with Mr.Rajinikanth and it was so realistic that it leaves me in unconditional joy to just think of them even today. Un/fortunately most people don’t have such awesome and vivid imagination and dream retention , so they have only a slim chance of meeting their icons. And even when they do , they most often blow it. Not everyone is lucky like my dad to win a contest and meet Sachin Tendulkar in person and have a conversation with him in person. ( No I didn’t create this post merely to insert this fact :P ) 

So what is the point of this post?

Well , let me start from the moment when the seed of this thought got implanted in my head. Facebook is a drab place nowadays until the next fad comes around.  Ice bucket challenge , book gifting schemes , lock screen challenge , the secretive statuses for woman empowerment day?! … the list keeps going. And joining this not so prestigious but certainly fun list is a ‘what am I obsessed with?’ challenge. If a person shares a status asking that question , you have to simply comment what you think they are obsessed with. A simple enough challenge. It really helps you know what type of crazed fanatic the world thinks you to be.

In my case , people thought I was primarily obsessed with :-

a)      Chennai super kings

b)      Grey’s anatomy

c)       Books

d)      Coca cola

This set me thinking. Almost all the things I’m currently obsessed with are either defunct , bad for my health , have overstayed their welcome. And the one thing I should be doing – reading books is getting kicked to a corner. So I’m going to dig into each of these obsessions to get a better understanding of fangirling . Or fan boying – don’t wanna be called a ‘feminazi’.

The csk fan or

The type of fan who still loves something or somebody who no longer exists. We refuse to believe that the thing we love/worship/ look up to doesn’t actually exist anymore. We look back in time constantly thinking about the glory filled days of the past with pride and tear filled eyes. Books get over , Tv shows end and teams get destroyed or suspended for their stupid owner’s fault. And we the fans bear the brunt and have to live with memories of ancient words and scenes and recycle old material on facebook to get likes :P The harry potter fandom is a thriving one which discusses dramione and chickron theories like they happened yesterday. Friends last aired last 12 years ago. This is to say that loyal fandoms always survive. That’s why a reboot of a full house or arrested development has managed to happen. CSK fans will always believe that their team will come back in 2 years and all their players will somehow magically reassemble to re live in the golden era of IPL cricket. Till then IPL is dead to us.

The grey’s anatomy fan is a fan who has stuck by their show for 12 seasons and still crave for more in this short attention span era. A grey’s fan has endured the show’s leads go through  bombing , plane , ferry boat , car crashes , irretrievable break down of marriages and regular exit of primary characters. A grey’s fan is one who cherishes their long history. We know our obsession is not the currently ‘trending’ one and that our creator has herself greener stories to write about. Yet , we still have a beating heart , we win people choice awards and cry every time O’malley is mentioned or when characters leave. We are secretly happy they didn’t get killed off. We are the loyal , patient ones.

The bookworm is an increasingly hard to find species in today’s digital era. Kids of this generation are exposed to so much visual stimuli that books feel like they belong to the dinosaur era. As much as I love technology , I also despise it. I used to be able to read like a monster now I keep getting disturbed by the darned whatsapp. I am sad to say that I am not a bookworm anymore. Only a few books transport me completely to their world – like Jefferey Archer or Salman Rushdie. The excitement has waned. I am now a fake fan impostor-ing by buying tonnes of book and then going through periods of guilt. Sometimes , I get my groove back and devour them though. I’m pretty sure there are others like me.

Coca Cola fan. More like someone who befriended a sexy enemy and don’t know how to ditch them anymore. I very nearly had kidney damage due to it recently , so trying my best to avoid it. It is a very alluring obsession albeit a very dangerous one.

So from this personal analysis I have learnt that :-

1)      Fans are basically Gryffindors. Loyal to a fault

2)      They can get caught in toxic obsessions

3)      And let go of fruitful ones when more junky ones come along.

S

                So what do you readers Fan girl/boy about? Do you have any incurable obsessions? Or waning ones? Do you get addicted or maintain your sanity? Please leave a comment :)