Let the truth enlighten us...

Aryaman, a 30 year old actor gained the status of stardom right from his first movie, 6 years ago. Becoming a heartthrob of the nation overnight, his stardom just increased by leaps and bounds post that. There was no looking back for him. Being the face of numerous brands and movies, this young guy had the nation swooning over him. 

6 feet tall, dark, perfectly structured body and a head of curly hair, he had made his place in every girl's screensaver, walls of the room and last page of the notebooks. 

He had graced the city of Adharnagar by residing in a bungalow there that stood tall , overlooking the sea and had turned a witness to throng of people daily, waiting to get atleast a glimpse of their idol. Aryaman lived there all by himself. 

Stardom doesn't come alone. It brings with it an unnecessary devil - ego. Aryaman was upto eyeballs in it, without an iota of guilt. 

He had people following him for miles and waiting at the entrance of his house for hours, and in return he would treat them with a smile that wouldn't last even for a second. That was it. 

He was infamous for his ego but every time he smiled on screen and lip synced to all those lovely lyrics, people just forgot the egoistic person that he was and went back to worshipping him. 

"He is my star!!!" 

"Just look at him!!!" 

"He is just too good!!!" 

The girls were going all gaga over the superstar of the generation - Aryaman as he was posing away in the balcony of his bungalow for a photoshoot. 

The entrance of the bungalow was blocked by a huge crowd dominated by females of all age groups screaming and shouting his name. 

The photoshoot lasted for a good one hour and the crowd didn't move an inch until then unless they were pushed by a new entrant to the crowd. 

As soon as the photoshoot got over, the decibel values of the crowd skyrocketed and all they were reqesting was a wave, a selfie and his famous pleasant smile. And all that they got in return was - "Can you guys move away? I have to leave! There's absolutely no place for my car..." 

Faces dropped. The sound went down drastically listening to that but as soon as they saw the car come out, people out there went back to screaming and going crazy. 

Aryaman was rushing to one of the newspaper's office. 

Actor and controversies travel together. Aryaman had been a target to dozens of controversies - people never knew how much of it was true because he would never come out in the public and speak about it. He would let people talk about him as long as they were talking about him. He loved fame not bothering where it was stemming from. 

A few months ago, a leading newspaper had published an article titled - "Is Aryaman's Good Life foundation's income by people's donations going to his own pocket?" 

Aryaman was running a foundation - Good Life foundation for welfare of the underprivileged. Knowing the fanbase he had, he would keep posting about his foundation on his social media page asking his followers to donate and his blind followers would shell out money without thinking for a second. 

This article had taken the industry by shock and this was the first time ever in 6 years that Aryaman issued a statement, "Work done by the foundation will speak for itself. People who got benefitted would. I shall not. Will not." 

A volcano had erupted in his fanbase. And his haters pounced on this opportunity to put him down. Both the camps fought a war online with their weapons being hashtags, memes, polls and posts. 

#TraitorAryaman, #WeStandByAryaman 

This was all over the social media since the day the article came out. 

His fans stood by him like a pillar. 

Months passed but there was nothing that could prove him guilty or innocent. But the articles and the hashtags kept coming. 

For the first time ever, he was seeing a dip in his stardom. Industry and audience looked at him with a doubt lingering in their minds. This worried him to great extent and thus, talking it out with the newspaper, he felt was the best thing that he could do. 

13th March, 2019 

"Let the truth ENLIGHTEN us", the Mayor of the city posted on his Social Media account. 

All the people in the city were perplexed. The comments section of this post were flooded with questions. All of them were answered with just two words - 'Stay tuned!' 

15th March, 2021; 12 PM

The power at Adharnagar suddenly went out, leaving everyone in darkness. 

" Confession Day it is! Let's celebrate it! But with a twist! The city's lights have gone out. Bringing it back is going to be in your hands. Residents of the city would have to make confession to the members of their family, and upon acceptance of the confession, you will have to indicate it to us using any source of light and we would bring the electricity of your home back. Just your home. Are you ready people? " The people at the Mayor went around announcing in the city. 

The whole city got worried, excited, chuffed, nervous, sad, happy, angry all at once. 

Many people just detested it and didn't become a part of it. 

But seeing almost the entire city doing it, they joined in. After all, nobody likes to remain in darkness. 

Hesitation followed by confessions was what the city saw. Confessions of love, betrayal and regret, truth, lies, deceit and so on were made. Some confessions made people happy, some - sad. 

Slowly and steadily, sources of light could be seen in households one after other. Some lit a matchstick, some used torches, some flashlights of their phones and some released the light latterns. The emotions of the city were on an all time high. Some households took their own sweet time to digest the confessions made and some did so immediately. For some it was the most difficult thing to do, for some, one of the easiest things. After all, it takes guts to confess - acceptance has to follow even though it might be very difficult. Many lives changed that day ; some for the good and some not but eventually the truth was out. As it comes, some day or the other. No matter how bitter or sweet. 

Hours later, the electricity of the entire city was back. One house after the other. 

People came out on the streets to celebrate. A huge burden was off them. Few of them thanked the Mayor, a few cursed. Smiles and hugs were exchanged. Mayor clapped and congratulated everyone for the confession and the acceptance. Both require courage. Immense courage. 

While all this was happening, one of them told, "Look there, Aryaman's house is still in darkness." 

"Is he not home?" 

"Must be!" 

"See, his car his parked in his garage. He is home!" 

"But who will he confess to? He is all alone" 

"To the city!", said the Mayor. 

"He has to confess to the whole city and only when all of you accept it, light in his life will be back!", continued the Mayor, firmly. 

People of the city were taken over by surprise yet again. A confession to the whole city? How is that possible? And Aryaman? Will he confess and what? 

Post few minutes of silence, the crowd started screaming," ARYAMAN! ARYAMAN!! ARYAMAN!!!" 

Aryaman privy to all that was happening in the city came out with a deadpan expression on his face and steps taken were as small as possible. 

There was a small stage built right next to his house. The Mayor brought him to the stage and on the mike he said, "Aryaman, it is your turn." 

There was silence all over. People were seeing a different Aryaman. The egoistic smirk on his face was replaced by a frown. He was grappling for words. His shoulders had dropped. He was not making eye contact with anyone. Knowing he could not escape anymore, he held the mic in his hands, in his shivering hands, he used both his hands to get the grip, cleared his throat, looked at the crowd and after a long pause said, "It was me. They were right." 

The audience there did not know how to react. They were waiting for him to elaborate. 

Knowing this would pretty much be the response, he continued in a very faint voice, "Good Life Foundation's income by people's donations did go to my own pocket" 

Taken aback by utmost shock, people started screaming, stamping their feet, yelling and crying. 

"Wait a moment... Wait a moment...", screamed the Mayor taking the mic from Aryaman. 

The audience which were on streets and in balconies and terraces became quiet, but there were murmurs. 

"Let me come out with the truth on my side.", said the Mayor. 

The audience let him speak. 

"Mr. Aryaman is a resident of our city and we take utmost pride in it. This is not to show him in a bad light or put him down. But, this is for the truth to come out. And I expect you all to behave with utmost dignity.", he continued

"We all know of the articles about Mr. Aryaman that's been doing rounds since many months now. The police department had received a complaint against him by another foundation. They started their investigation. It was not easy for them to find out the truth. They met people who had received help from Mr. Aryaman's foundation and also met people who spoke ill of it. They couldn't come to a conclusion for the longest time. Until one day, they received a call from one of the journalists of the newspaper that had published his articles. They had finally gotten the evidence. His bank statements and transactions. Sadly, the underprivileged got only a drop of the ocean. The rest of it remained with Mr. Aryaman. The journalist called the police over. Even Mr. Aryaman was supposed to come there as he had gotten to know about it. Mr. Aryaman tried bribing the journalist to not publish anything about it. But later to his shock, he saw police there and upon confrontation, he came out with the truth."

"The crowd went berserk. Feeling cheated they started scolding Aryaman for his deeds. He was no longer an idol. 

The Mayor controlling the crowd with a lot of difficulty continued speaking, 

" The police knowing the repercussions of a case on a celebrity came to me and asked me to handle it my way.  

Mr. Aryaman has now confessed to his people, you and also promised us that he would donate all the money that got collected to those who deserve it rightfully and post that, shut his foundation down. He is totally guilty of his behaviour. 

There were many confessions made today and most importantly, they got accepted. Are you all ready to accept this one last confession? "

The actor made it back to the spotlight...