"....Gossip...Gossip..." Shhhhh....Don't tell anybody"

“Gossip is good for health.” says a study! But why do they need to conduct a study for it? I can say so just by looking at my Chachis, Mausis, buas etc. who spend lot of time gossiping around happily, leading a long, healthy life.

Gossip can always be healthy and enjoyable for all, except for the one who has to leave the gossip meeting in between as he/she then becomes the most vulnerable target of gossiping.

Otherwise also, gossips can upset the person being made the object of gossip, like  Hrithik Roshan got upset over the rumours of his wife Suzanne demanding an alimony of 400 crore. But, why was he so upset over this? Doesn’t he know how a gossip travels? I had been reading the news about the alleged enormous alimony demanded by Suzanne, but was never surprised as I know when a piece of gossip travels from one person to another; it is the moral duty of the receiving person to do some value addition and pass it on further with the remark, “Don’t tell anybody!” Gossipers are the most creative person on the earth, who can turn even a dull news piece into the most interesting story by putting “Mirch Masala” in it.

Give me a chance to elaborate how the gossip travels. My elder sister is too fond of Saris and a considerable part of her salary goes in adding to her collection. Though we keep on teasing her about her hobby, it set an example of efficiency of gossip mongers.

my cousin ‘A’ visited my sister once and after coming back, made a casual remark to his mother,” ‘R’ Didi must have at least a hundred saris!” When this news was passed on to another aunt by his mother, the number increased to one hundred and fifty. The piece of gossip performed a long journey entering through many ears and coming out of many mouths, (of course each time with a considerable increase in number of saris), and finally when it reached my sister again, it stated,” ‘R’ Didi has five hundred saris! When ‘A’ visited her, he spent one whole day counting them!”

Though my sister was aware of and laughing at the piece of gossip doing rounds, the scale of multiplication shocked her. She feared that if not stopped, the number of her saris might surpass those of Ms. J. Jayalalithaa as reported by the newspapers. She immediately phoned ‘A’ and threatened him,” if the number of my saris increases even from five hundred to five hundred and one now, I’m going to shoot you!”

The response of ‘A’ was as expected from any gossip monger,” I never said that! I just said that you have too many saris! Who said I counted your Saris? Why would I count your saris?”

So, when they say Suzanne Khan is demanding 400 crores as alimony from Hrithik Roshan, I know, the figure might have started from zero! After all, if the number of Saris of an aam lady can multiply five times during the journey of a gossip, the value addition by the gossip mongers has to be far greater for a star of stature like Hrithik Roshan!