Smile Jam Buster

RIP - Michael Joseph Jackson (August 29, 1958 to June 25, 2009)

I knew his music when I was in my teens. Although the highlight of the Prom was the convent boys school St. Joseph, brother of our school would be there most of the time singularly important to the party that made it so memorable was not the skinny boys in their new culms and croaky vocal cords, not their managers, slim and posturing arrogant, not even the most sophisticated dresses that girls wore. The memories of this school year was Prom his distinctive voice that sang a single note, the sound that has fallen into its own kind and not like the others and all music that has swept me.

The second initiation came when I, fresh, got into a college and a friend who was a BBC Radio regularly boasted of being in tune with the latest musical fashion of the time, yes Beat It, Billie Jean and Thriller. The initial impetus was to me that I did not want to lag behind the mass hysteria that was quickly swallowed my generation. Once I had been indoctrinated by a gentle nudge from friends, I am quickly on my own will, was baptized in the Holy scintillating sect, never heard of his advance. Such was the attraction and the attraction of music and the magnetism of its creator that we just got sucked in. Western music loving people of my generation had found a new god and his name was Michael Jackson. It was more of an enigma or a phenomenon for us. For us it was our Messiah musical directing us to the blessed land that was beyond our trials and tribulations.

We grooved to his music at our dances which became so famous that they have been sought in the Doon Valley. No jam sessions have been complete without the MJ albums being played in high decibel. My dance partners and I chose songs of Michael Jackson for our piece de resistance of the dance competition that we eventually won. Today I pay tribute to the music more than my willingness and nimble agility on the dance floor.

Over the years, the music of Michael Jackson meant different things to me at different times. During the monsoon in Doon, I rocked on the melodious tunes of Ben, The Girl Is Mine and Man in the Mirror. In my dancercises I shook my body with blows his foot-tapping. Later, I marveled at the emotional temperament of an artist that I listen to "We Are the World," "Heal the World" and "Black or White".

Now, with this musical idol disappeared forever in the realm of the unknown, into the arms of his creator, I want to remember one of my biggest influences as well. Here is my tribute to one and only, to MJ, I loved, adored and revered.

1. Acceptance - We were part of this international community of younger people who have been converted MJ. We had been transformed by his music and we were his disciples who follow his every move or dance a new version. We found the acceptance of ourselves among our peers and a sense of oneness with the world.

2. Trust - is what he instilled in us the same across the Atlantic. We knew his songs, we tried his moves and shimmies and walks, we swung into line with his music. And because we have done all this, we have never been withdrawn or purple flowers that dotted the wall around the room. We were there having fun, bringing many back-slapping bonhomie of being at the heart of these meetings - the lot that has inspired.