Jesus of Suburbia

The concept of a 'Jesus of suburbia' refers mainly to our own psyche. Our own Demons and Angels. People have always looked for a Knight in shining armour; a lonely Torchbearer; a Hero; One Jesus of suburbia, to show the way. Why? That's because we are programmed to follow. There are very few who make their own roads. Those who do are separated into 2 categories - The Devil and The Jesus of suburbia. The Devil is the one with the long hair; the one with the Tattoo on his arm; the one who wishes to pierce her belly button. The Jesus of suburbia on the other hand, is Mr. Perfect. One who picks his ordinary suburban life and makes it big - the hard way. He is the choice of the elders and the voice of the youth. He is (as I have mentioned several times before and will, several times again!) the Jesus of suburbia.

Let's look at examples here: I am sure almost everyone would have watched at least a few episodes of the recent reality TV show - Indian Idol. The way people voted, wrote to and responded was phenomenal. In the end, we got Abhijit Sawant - a young singing star and yes, a Jesus of suburbia.

Sawant is today, what Sonu Nigam was when he hosted Sa Re Ga Ma (A competitive Television show where good singers showcase their talent). Sonu Nigam was the perfect representation of what I am talking about. People wanted their sons to be like him; daughters to have a husband like him. He wouldn't be seen in a Bollywood party, nor could he be caught in a sleazy music Video. Nigam was the epitome of the ideal Indian - drenched in devotion and sincerity. He was the perfect Jesus of suburbia.

Mihir Virani (Amar Upadhyay) from Ekta Kapoor's 'Kyunki Saas bhi kabhi Bahu thi' (albeit in his pre-adultery days) was another character people looked up to or at least meant to look up to. The dearth in his fans occurred when there appeared to be a downfall in his on-screen character. With desperate attempts to redeem Mihir's status or at least to find an alternative, more characters were introduced with diverse storylines attached, but nobody really impressed the way the earlier Mihir's character could (I can never forget my Mother crying when Mihir was believed 'dead'!).

Jesus was male, but mind you, the Jesus of suburbia can be both male and female. Have you heard of Rani Mukherjee? Yes you have! She is the gorgeous 'Indian' woman who is sweet, caring, funny, cute and an extremely talented actress. She never really had a 'wild-child' image like say, a Kareena Kapoor or a Salman Khan.

People look for and long for a modern day Hero, as not too many have the will or even the guts to do that themselves. The mantle; the onus of being the Jesus of suburbia is too heavy. To be honest, too scary as well, as the expectations one has to live up to are huge. Your behaviour has to be perfect; at no point in time can you publicly display anger or disrespectfulness; you must have a character-building message for the youth at all times and there is no way you can use foul language.

While we live our urban and suburban lives, looking for a hero, the Jesus of suburbia lives on as a representation of our high standards when it comes to perfection, which we ourselves do not want to match up to. The crown lies uneasily on his head, but the Jesus of suburbia will wear it. We give him no other choice.

Would like to end with a quote from a song by Chad Kroeger from the band 'Nickelback'. He wrote, "A Hero can saves us; but I'm not gonna stand here and wait." Let's think about it.
Written by: Varun Rajagopalan http://www.dogmatone.com