MJ will live on

It was diwali night circa 89-90.The whole neighborhood was lit up. Crackers lit up the night sky and above them you could hear the whoops and squeals of joy from the kids.One glum kid sat on his doorstep waiting for his dad his eyes fixed on the road.His crackers hadnt arrived yet.It was getting late and all the kids would be gone in a while and as the minutes ticked by he got more nervous and craned his neck even further.Suddenly there was a tap on his head from the back "what are you doing sitting here? Shouldnt you be out there wit your friends?". Daddy shoved a huge bag of crackers in his face.He started rummaging to see if all was in order the rockets, the sutli bombs the red laaris when his hand felt something plastic and he pulled out a cassette.Daddy had remembered..hed told him that "Bad" was out and now he had a shiny new copy. Classic kids dilemma.Should he burst the crackers with his cronies or play Jackos latest.Well diwali note only comes once in a year.But he was hooked on the music.For years after that night..afternoons after school were spent dancing to "Wanna be starting something", "the way you make me feel"..then performing for his friends at school..then at neighborhood functions..not for the prizes but to be like mike..cos when he danced he felt free..accepted..appreciated. He graduated to hard rock,later to electronic to hip hop but somewhere the later failures of Mikes albums and the criticism for his antics riled him.Now it was not cool to be a jackson fan and yet a lot of artists who came after somewhere were inspired by him..the dance moves..the nuances of voice..style of music videos..twenty years later this morning i woke up and switched on the news and suddenly i was that kid again..."Smooth Criminal" was playing but the dance wont come..the time had passed..but the music will not die and i know in a macabre sort of way it will be cool again to say you were a MJ fan all along..cos he had to die for that to happen..king of POP..RIP