Sometime ago, my wife and I were on a plane from Bangalore, India to New Delhi. I opened up the Air India In-Flight magazine to find a picture of a man who I’d seen on a number of billboards and various advertisements. I wondered who this guy was, and now had the opportunity to find out, so I asked the Indian sitting next to me, “Who is this “? After looking at my incredulously, he responded, “You don’t know who Amitabh Bachchan is?!?! He’s a Bollywood Superstar!”
Indeed. One website lists him as the #1 Bollywood actor of all time. The funny thing is that until then if I had sat next to him at a coffee shop, I would have not had a second thought about him. Here’s a guy known by hundreds of millions of people around the world, and to me, he was just another human trying to make his way in the world. Fame is funny that way — no one is famous to everyone.
This applies to all famous people. The CEO may be revered within his own company, yet to those outside, he’s just another guy. He wakes up tired, has to get dressed, eat breakfast and worry about what things he needs to get done today. Famous people are just like us. Maybe that’s because all of us are famous.
While fame carries nearly universal appeal, it turns out we experience the best part of fame, being known and liked, everyday. We have friends who look forward to seeing us. They recognize us in the store and come say hello to us. Even the people we work with do the same. Sure, our group of fame is smaller than Amitabh Bachhan, but we enjoy similar affection and without the cost of strangers interrupting our lunch to ask for our autograph.
[Photo Credit: http://www.bollywoodhungama.com/]
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