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When Virushka had a baby girl, we forgot Phogat had a baby boy

Now all this childbirth gets a newer, dramatic dimension, the moment the newborn is that of people who fall into the categories of celebrities.

I  don’t stand guilty, but I do feel the need to clear the air or talk out loud if you can humour me here. I’ll run around the bush for a bit until I have warmed up to the idea of saying what I wish to, and offend as few people as possible, and also collect my thoughts. The birth of a child is a blessing GENDERS (in caps!) aside, year of birth aside (2020 or 2021), etc. — it is one of the biggest joys shared between the parents, friends, and other loved ones. As an aunt, I’ve been quick to flood others, with the pictures of my nieces and nephews, not only to prove that the image shared now are cuter than what shared last week, but also for I do find it hard to contain my joy, love. You get the drift, right? So far so good, the babies belong to us and we have ‘copyright’ over them, just as our friends have the right to tell us when we go overboard.

Now all this childbirth gets a newer, dramatic dimension, the moment the newborn is that of people who fall into the categories of celebrities. Private lives of celebrities do interest us and that is not the good news here. We savour on the bytes — from what they wear to who they date — we watch them wash dirty linen in public, just as we follow them set records and inspire us at times. Can we say no to such ‘news’? No. Do celebs want us to say no to such ‘news’? No. Many of them do feed on the intrusion as well.

So, what happens when power couple Virushka announces the birth of their first child, we celebrate the ‘news’ as ours — for, we’ve been following their journey from being in love to the mother’s maternity wear choices. The announcement on Instagram @virat.kohli, draws 6,360,498 + hearts (and counting), and we leave comments like ‘a big hug to the little one’. We get so absorbed with what’s trending that we somehow miss the announcement that Indian wrestler-turned-politician Babita Phogat and her husband Vivek Suhag have welcomed a baby boy. And this, even when the couple shared the first picture of the baby. But we are busy —playing the guessing game on whether the tiny feet that appear in Virat’s brother’s video post on Instagram belong to the little one?

When this conversation reaches living rooms, we’re quick to take sides, and quicker to dilute the happy, personal news with recent poor performances by the Indian cricket team, our review of the movie, Dangal… Does this speak about the difference in our likeness of cricket vs wrestling or World Cup vs Commonwealth Games? I can get into that debate as of now, and neither can you for we are short on time here. Before you know, we would have moved on to the news of Taimur’s sibling’s birth. By the way, as per Unicef, an estimated 140 million children will be born in 2021. Now that counts to boundless joy in the world.

purva@khaleejtimes.com