We all have heard the demise of a star yesterday, Mr. Irrfan Khan. When I first heard the news I wished it to be fake. But it wasn’t. We lost the gem. I wasn’t his die-heart fan. I admired his work though as I did of any other actor who gave great performance on-screen. But I don’t know why I took his death personally. I got irritated when I saw people posting his pictures on Instagram and other social networking sites mourning on his death. It seemed so unreal to me. They are those people who follow the quarantine trend of posting pictures of their workout or food prepared by them. So, for them, it was just another post. I assumed I was the only person who was so affected by his demise. I felt I knew him personally and have lost someone who was close to my heart. But I was wrong!

I read a post where someone had written that his death is personal to everyone. I realized I was not the only person who felt the same way. There were millions who felt it. This feeling made me think about what was in him that left so much impact on our lives. I mean, he was not the only great actor in the industry; there are many who made a mark and many more will come. I wondered what made him different that his demise had such an effect. I sat down and started to connect the dots. I wanted an answer for myself. I wanted to know what brought me or anybody so close to Irrfan all of a sudden.

I started with his features. He was an average looking man with no filmy background. He came from a middle-class family. He started his career with no big projects in hand. He struggled for many years rather almost a decade to make space for himself in the industry. When his actual career took off he not only reached out to the audience within the country but managed to have an audience world-wide who not only knew his name but also admired his work. I realized it was not his success that impacted us but his struggle did. He had those features which could easily develop insecurities in one and to such an extent that could lower one’s confidence. I know there might be a time where he must have lost confidence or thought of giving up. But he kept going, taking up what came his way.

There are millions of us who share the same features and I think that’s what united us in this dark hour. His struggle has brought us together not success. It is said you can easily relate to someone if you find something in common. We all did. We related our self to him because we found our features, struggle, and the act of not giving up in common.

When I started this blog, my intent was to share my struggle, experiences, and knowledge. I knew, somewhere, that not all but few could relate to it. But to my surprise most of them did. It didn’t take much time to realize that it’s not the success that matters but the struggle to achieve one matter and it is the struggle that connects us and inspires us to keep moving. I concluded that Irrfan was one of the people who depicted the real struggle and yes, we all are connected to him, not by blood but the struggle behind his success. His demise will inspire many as his life did. The mantra is don’t think how long you can live but think how long you can go. Just keep going. Who knows one day you too will be the inspiration for millions.