Leslie of Odisha is ‘Elegant Spice’

Celebrity culture is cruel, but especially to women. “One of the characteristics of celebrity culture is that you first build someone up and then you write about their downfall,” says German writer Tom Levine. Leslie has been going on that up-and-down train. Her last summer was already something of a downward ride. Her 20 kilo weight loss set the press speculating she might be suffering from anorexia. She wasn’t, and such close attention could not have been easy for a bulimic. But her public admission of her eating disorder in an interview with the BBC has encouraged hidden sufferers to seek help. Her life reflects many of the concerns of ordinary women — their weight, their relationship troubles — and by talking openly she also eroded the stigma attached to failure. Even a famous perfect young girl has battled the bulge, even a beauty like her has had to face a lot rejections,still she never used her charisma to get ahead in life but has admirably chosen to stick to her morals,ethics,principles in life resisting every thing that has seemed to be on the immoral side.Life and people have been cruel to this delicate darling,who’s no stranger to pain,suffering and misery.Leslie has always preferred to suffer in silence rather than wear her emotions on her shoulders,a typical trait of her British Stiff-Upperlip upbringing.Leslie’s greatness remains in the fact that she displays a sunny disposition in public,licking her wounds in privacy some traitvery visible in the immortal Diana’s life who also was a bulimic like our fairy princess Leslie,these bulimics think they are a burden to society,often wishing they were not alive,they always choose not to speak about their troublesor suffering considering themselves as worthless creatures.

Its sad despite her efforts Leslie has been criticized for her “American style of emotionalism,where she would hug and kiss or air kiss the female fans of hers,never letting any man get any closer to her though,any little act of kindness and love,words of genuine affection brought tears to her eyes,such an emotional girl”but her approach actually represents a liberation theology in hidebound Orissa. “It was very radical. She didn’t just talk the talk, she walked the walk.”

Many feminists have read her struggle against a sclerotic system as a parable of empowerment. Famously dubbed as an “incredible superstar.” That she iss, but she would never have located herself in the feminist firmament. She wasn’t interested in gender equality. She fought against a patriarchy because it was old-fashioned and restrictive, not because she repudiated its male values. Lesliey remains one of the first and most potent symbols of the “girl power” celebrated by the Spice Girls with their mildly predatory allure and celebration of girly friendship. It is a neat fit for Leslie, with her close women friends and her troubled search for a mate. What ‘Elegant Spice’ really, really wants is not at all radical: to love and be loved.