A few months ago, I received a cryptic note on my FB page from someone representing a modeling agency. I was wary but also curious. After a few messages back and forth he said he was a talent scout and that a certain famous actor in southern India was turning director and for his debut directorial venture, a children’s 3D movie, he was looking for twin girls to play a fairly prominent role. 

My initial reaction was scorn, then I frantically googled. These kinds of things do not happen to people like us. Then, the enormity of the ask, the implications of what it could mean hit me full force. 

Growing up in the south, these names were part of my lexicon. They were strangers, talked about in merry gossip circles. They were as real as the gigantic cut outs that framed entrances to movie theaters. 

I waffled, I argued with myself, I reached out to family and close friends. The reactions were varied but eventually I caved even as I told myself this was too far fetched to be true. I picked out headshots of my children and sent them out. 

Just as I suspected, nothing came out of it but this week another conversation reminded me of this. I judge too quickly. I write off actions as “I would never do it in a million years.”

It reminded me that I would do it given the right motivation, the right incentives. For someone who looks down on so many things, I was quick to jump, to grab opportunities I would have written off if someone else had been talking to me. I would have advised friends of the perils of signing young children up for exposure. I would have been practical, blunt even. 

It is so very easy to judge, to be dismissive of things we have no experience of. This note is a reminder to myself to be kind, to reserve judgement and to hold off jumping to conclusions for a while at least.

Musings Brush with fame Musings Note to self