Annie, are you OK?

The first MJ song i remember listening to was Remember The Time in 1991. The album Dangerous had just been released in India and my sisters would listen to it all the time. Just to set the mise en scene, I also recall their bad hairdos, denim jackets and a poster of Stallone on the wall. Somewhere in the corner a bright red boombox would blare MJ while they pretended to cram for their board exams. I think we actually owned a videotape of Grammy nominated music that included MJ, Kenny Rogers and Samantha Fox! So anyway, this was also the time that cable TV was introduced in India - the advent of MTV - which is why i remember this song so vividly. The Egypt-Eddie Murphy video had me entranced. Then came the Black or White video with Macaulay Culkin - I loved Home Alone so of course i loved this one as well. At the time i knew nothing of Billie Jean, Don't Stop Till You Get Enough, The Jackson Five. For godsake, i didn't even know he was black!

In 1995 I went to boarding school. Between then and now the sexual abuse allegations had happened, and the marriage to Lisa Marie. I had no clue, of course. There was this kid at school who was obsessed with MJ and he introduced me to the wonderful world of Dirty Diana. I remember the rumour mills abuzz with talk of people dropping dead of fright during screenings of Thriller. I remember singing Heal the World for some school function. And, ohmigod, trying to do The Moonwalk!!! Sometime in 1997, I think, he performed in Bombay and the news would show reruns over reruns of interviews with a girl who refused to take a shower because MJ had danced with her on stage. 

And then came HIStory. All i wanna say is that they dont really care about us - what an anthem. The music was so good, that as a teenager i failed to notice that the man was getting paler by the day. Divorce, Children, Second Marriage, Below Par albums. They all came and went. One day in 2001 I was flipping through Time magazine at the library and was horrified to see the picture of a man that the magazine claimed was MJ. White as a ghost, weird twisty nose and whatnot. This man used to be a Colossus (quite literally, in that music video). 

From then on it was all downhill. His life was a joke. The trial. The child-dangling. Neverland. The Bashir interview. The exile. Blood on the dancefloor. 

He faded into the past. Once an icon, now a miserable old Peter Pan.

Today, he died. Yes, we make jokes - at least I do (Eg: Today MJ died. Jolie-Pitt and Madonna in custody battle for the kids).  But its a reminder of times gone by and a time to take stock of life - because when The King of Pop dies we take a moment to stop and mourn, and think of the past. MJ was someone who has always been there and someone who I thought would live forever. Apparently not. He died at the age of 50. Last week I turned 25. Huh.