This is it.This really is it.

THE KING IS DEAD.LONG LIVE THE KING.

Last year after winning the T20 World Cup when the Indian team returned, I had a sense of deja-vu.The visuals of the grand reception they received were similar to what was witnessed a few years ago by the entire nation.India had "paused" when Michael Jackson had arrived here in 1996.And it has to be accepted that if one man can make a billion people stop doing everything else and he is not related to cricket he is bigger than everything else.
Back in the 90s whichever party one went to, one always had a a couple of kids trying to impersonate MJ's moonwalk or robot.One could always hear a 'Beta...wo Michael Jackson wala step karke dikhao uncle ko.' at shaadis and family functions.These and many other dancing steps made popular in a country which still does not have the majority of the population still speaking english does say what effect this one man had on the entire nation.From Johny Lever's 'Bidi de bidi de' to Javed Jaffrey's pelvis thump everyone would try and do whatever MJ did.Everyone was crazy about MJ.I remember MJ even as a 3 year old when my elder cousins used to dance on his numbers and I myself used to get ecstatic on watching his videos back then.MTV and CNN were the only two 'cable' channels back then and all day long one saw MJ on MTV.
An inspiration to every stage performer his musical journey spanned more than 4 decades.'billie jean', 'black or white', 'heal the world', 'bad', 'smooth criminal', 'give into me', 'dangerous', 'the way you make me feel', 'they don't care about us' ,'thriller', 'scream'- the list of all time hits and my favourites goes on and on. He was one person who even after not giving a hit in the last 20 years could have pulled the biggest crowd ever witnessed in the world.The entire world would always wonder what the O2 arena could've given them which they would'nt have witnessed in years.One of the biggets dissapointments as a music lover that I might have for my entire life would be that I did'nt get to see him perform live.Its a sad day.
And who would have known that Jackson's last words in public appearance were so apt :

"This is it.This really is it."