What the Hell?
I really don’t know whether our country, India, proudly known as Bharatvarsha after the great king Bharat, is going forwards and progressing or going backwards in the dark ages.Yes, it is year 2008 and we are about to touchdown on 2009, nine years since the millenium mania came. We have seen numerous advancementsin the fields of science, literature, economics, politics,entertainment,music and other forms of art.
Women are more liberal and men are not so egoistic anymore that they were two decades ago. The country can really be termed as free one in probably all aspects. But there are many things which still leave a lot to be desired and one of them is the quality of daily soaps which we, the millions of citizens of India are served in the name of entertainment.
Some people may find it silly, for me to be cribbing for such a thing, but come to think of it, I feel it is my duty to write this down and make you, the reader understnd the reality fo these soaps and what negative effect they are having or will have in the future.
There is a show which airs on ZeeTV called Maayka and if you are not aware of it, ask any lady in your household for a recap of the past 2 episodes. I am not sure what they might tell you, but let me give you an idea of what it is all ablout. One fo the main characters, Soni, a young widow, who’s husband lost his life due to her scheming sister-in-law (her brother-in-law’s wife aka, Deverani), is leading a simple life(she’s aslo carrying her late husband’s child), but about two weeks ago, a new entrant on the show, her late husbad’s aunt arrives at their house (she herself is an old widow), supposedly living life of a recluse in an Ashram.
The first thing, that BuaJi does is take away all the freedom she can from Soni, make her life as miserable as possible, taking away all the comforts that a pregnant woman deserves, in short making her life a living hell. She is made to sweep the floors of her room she’s confined to, can’t open her window or show her face to anyone, no one is to enter her room,and she is served her food which is not enough for a normal person let alone a pregnant woman(And the old b*tch herself has lassi’s and dryfruit all day.), the food is kept outside her door (like it is served to a prison inmate) and she is supposed to pick it up herself and she has to wash her own clothes and dry those inside the room itself. If any of these things didn’t tell you anything about the old BuaJi, read this, the last two episodes were dedicated to showing a sick, human torture called “Vidhwa Shudhdhikaran” or “Purification of a widow” and how???…By cutting off her hair and making her bald.
Hair??? Her hair???
A human being might not be beautiful/handsome but he/she treat their hair specially and for a woman her hair are no less that the ornaments she wears.To take away everything she likes or deserves is one thing, but to take away something which is a part of a human’s self-respect, is disgusting.And calling it purification or part of the religion is even more disgusting. All this sick drama in the name of entertainment and for TRP’s makes the blood boil even more.
Families who watch these soaps every night, some, with the kids, need to either stop watching such bulls**t or complain to the production house.Even if someone may argue that it is “just a story” such people need to be woken up.Soaps like these only do well when they have an emotional bonding with certain target audience i.e. women, which this particular show does have, but to blind them and keeping them glued to their television sets to show such c**p is ridiculous.
Another show, a new one called Ranbir-Rano, shows a young girl Rano, about 10 years old, asking her father to get her a new mother since she lost her mother just after her birth. The father, does re-marry thereby getting her darling daughter a new mother, who he hopes will take care of her and give her the love she’s been missing for all these years. The mother turns out to be cruel one, despising her, calling her names, making the little girl do the domestic chores and and the latest of all, when the girl askes her new mom to comb her hair she obliges the little girl, by pressing the teeth of the comb with full strength against her soft skin on the arm, making it all black and blue.
In today’s epidsode it was the little girl’s birthday and when the father leaves for Haridwar for her late mother’s Shraad, the new Mommy (soon after her hurband leaves) instead of obeying her husband’s command to celebrate Rano’s birthday, readily sends the little one to work as a hired help/waitress at a birthday party with some other lady.
We are still not past the dowry system phase in society, and femanl foeticide is on a rise and now such shows in the name of entertainment are showing nothing but violation of human rights, and being a concerned Indian it makes me think…Are we really going forward or backwards?
I still haven’t been able to answer it…Can you???
