Many of my family and friends of my generation, those born in 60s and 70s will surely recall Robin Williams from the sensitive but madcap Mork (Nano Nano) and Mindy with his co-host Pam Dawber.
During our formative years of the early 80s, the satirical comedy Happy Days and later Mork and Mindy were really our weekly entertainment for many of us young adults. Robin's madcap and hundred miles a minute humour were sidesplittingly funny and his trademark handshake, or the one with the fingers outstretched and with the 3rd and 4th fingers apart was the 'cool' handshake of the era. We, the young adults of the early 80s had only TV, radio to entertain us. No internet, smart phones, cheap budget airlines to distract us from the humdrum of daily life.
I read so many tributes of his wacky zaniness in many magazines, tabloids and top news magazines like Time and Newsweek, as well as his great gift of making people laugh. He was a comic genius who was so troubled by his mortality and falling off into obscurity that he took his own life. He fell into drug and alcohol abuse and was in and out of rehab a number of times. The very lure of the entertainment world with its monetary rewards and fame ultimately leads to many a diva, entertainer, movie, TV star to lose their sense of reality when their star fades in obscurity. Fitting back into society to be a 'nobody' is very scary and traumatic when earlier, every tweet, comment, and utterance is carried along by millions of 'followers', you dine in private jets, go to exclusive parties and live like oil rich princes. Money, the lavish life, the fans, the sense of being removed from reality. Many people just 'lose it'. The list of people who have had nervous breakdowns, taken drugs, taken their own lives in the entertainment world far outstrips those of us lesser mortals working 9 to 5 day jobs and struggling with our mortgage and kids education.
We the nameless faceless people who form 99% of the society are the lucky ones. We have no massive expectations by ourselves, our managers, our fans and our family and friends to top the last selling CD or film which raked in mega millions. Success in itself is a double edged sword, it sits uncomfortably with the ordinary. So the 64 million dollar question is this, can we deal with failure for multiple times, until we find success ? If we attain success too quickly and too huge, can we live with it ? Dare we ?
The tragedy of life is that it is too serious to be taken too seriously. Robin knew that only too well that he created all his alter personas to entertain all those around him. Many who knew him said he was actually ultra-shy and needed the zaniness as an outlet of his creativity which was nothing short of genius.
Goodbye my Captain. Nano Nano. The world is a sadder place without you.
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