WHERE ARE THE BRAINS????

Indian television surprises me everytime.....not with high quality programs but with their sheer lack of common sense or absolute disrespect to details....


I sometimes really recall the words “ Indians love to compromise” they have the “chalta hai” attitude ,it is the land of “padhe likhe fir bhi anpadh” people. No other industry I think has cashed upon better on this unpolished, gullible and compromising nature of its customers than the Entertainment Industry.

I wonder sometimes; is the audience foolish or the TV industry foolish or they think of each other as foolish ,or what??? I will illustrate a few examples that really make me say “Where are the brains in these people?” when I watch these TV programs or commercials. I would like to start with the my most hated part... You all must have seen that these days the female cast in soap operas are all so well dressed in heavily embroidered and embellished sarees , laden with all the gold that used to be locked up in the Gold reserves during mercantilism...even as they are cooking or drying chillies on the terrace...now insipte of being so tip top all the time there will always be a scene ,when their husbands come and tell them .. "Arey tum abhi tak tayyar nahi hui? Chachaji k ghar nahi jana kya?” Now somebody tell me if a 50kg gold zari saree and 20kg gold jewellery is not Tayyar hona then what is???????? Next, everytime someone in a serial is conniving against someone else they will speak of their evil plan so loudly that someone standing behind them will surely hear it and instead of sneaking away with that secret and saving the soul being plotted against he will declare- “ main tumhare plan ko kabhi kamiyaab nahi hone dunga ...main abhi police ko phone lagata hu” I mean why would someone declare that aloud right in front of the culprit? Why? Even better....the heroine is being chucked out of the house and the vamp is making all sorts of evil expressions on her face....Nobody and I mean not a single soul ever notices the look on the vamp’s face??

Then we have our ever so entertaining news channel.....with such wonderful special programmes – 1.“Kya Shani Maharaj Aapse Gussa Hain?” 1 HOUR SPECIAL..... 2. “Rahul Dulhaniya le jayenge but Dhoni to leja chuke” .... 3. “ 2012 Dharti ka ant” 4.”Jyotish Octopus batayenge FIFA ka Bhagya” 5."Aishwarya ka badha vajan..kya hai koi kush khabri?" etc etc etc.................. I don’t understand...News channels have everything except news.

Oh then there are some very nonsensical TV commercials....The fisrt is of some soap....where a dad is playing with a baby and throwing him into the air..the baby refuses to come down as the dad has body odour...ok now the baby remains hanging in the air ..while the dad rushes to take a bath...wen he returns the baby comes down...now1. Why did he go for a bath couldn’t he use a deo? 2.How can the baby be suspended in air for so long if he is neither Chris Angel nor David Blaine. Ok ,next I will discuss another dumb add ...the MDH ad..Why is “Mr. Old Man MDH” always there in the ad? Why?

Then there are so many other things one can point to....you all must have got so many other such examples ...there are countless...but everytime I come across such specimen shows or ads I just ask myself ...."Where are the brains of these people who thought of them...who produced them...who directed them and most of all who like them and love watching them."

Are you a good pencil?????

Dr.Fr. Augustine ,Chancellor of ,Christ University gave a wonderful message on the occasion of the 40th Annual Alumni Meet (January 2010) that I would like to share......I don’t know whether this is his original thought or not but he drew an analogy between a pencil and a human being. He beautifully highlighted similarities between humans and a pencil to bring out some points that we all should keep in mind.

                     

He said...We all are like pencils...because....

In order to get the best of our skills we need to undergo pain. People around us will test us and try us in every way but that is the process of our sharpening, just a like pencil needs to be sharpened in order to get a pointed tip.

How we look from the outside carries no value if our core (the values that we are built on ) is not strong... just like no matter how beautiful the pencil maybe ,it will be of no use if the graphite lead in its core is weak .

He said as we use and share our skills with others our physical and mental ability may diminish but we would have increased someone else’s knowledge just as a pencil keeps on becoming shorter with use but the person who uses it gains knowledge

Whatever a we do is not the end all and we should not think that we are the best and always correct. Someone better than us can always exist and make everything we did seem meaningless in comparison to his work, just like whatever is written by a pencil can be erased and be rewritten on.

And last but not the least we cannot say that we are almighty and self sufficient...we would always need a guide, a friend and a mentor to help us get the best out of us, just like how and what a pencil writes depends upon the person who holds it.

This comparison is so simple but so deep in meaning...I can never forget this story ...and it would be unfair if I don’t share it with you all....Please do remember it always.

SIZE ZERO

Size Zero- Isn’t that the latest trend? Then why does the world keep mocking me for being one. I’m really skinny I know , but when I am comfortable in my skin why do other people have to bother.I never go around telling them about their bulging tummies, their “mature for their age” looks, their wrinkles and their increasing waist sizes ,then why I don’t understand are they so concerned about me? I think they are jealous!!! :) Well I hear comments like.-“Hold on to something the wind will blow you off” or “you are so thin I think you’ll fall if I blow at you” or “why don’t you eat ,you really need to” or “I’m sure you shop at the kids section at the garments store” or “you look terminally ill” “You are really 23?????” or “ I think that bag (about a kg or two) “is too heavy for you etc etc. Although I take everything with a pinch of salt and maybe mock myself at times but I do all that because I can’t control their tongues so I’d rather control my reactions to what they say. I have become used to such derogatory remarks but yes sometimes it does hurt. I don’t know why thin people are stereotyped as weak. I just don’t know. Once I walked into an interview and the first question that the panellist asked me was- “So Swati did you have lunch?” I said that I did. Then they said- “but you look weak”. To which my instant reply was “I am thin not weak”. While they appreciated my reply I thought to myself –“how can people like them with such major stereotypes make unbiased and fair selection.


I have been skinny all my life but I eat as much as other girls of my age (actually I can eat all I want without worrying about becoming fat), I wear clothes from normal adult section,maybe a small size , I am more energetic than them ,and most of all I look younger than my actual age. I don’t see anything wrong in that. If people think being thin is equivalent to being weak then I would like to put some facts before them. I have 100% attendance in almost all my trimesters .I have attended various nature camps without falling ill, I have won prizes for marching in the hot North India sun when other girls (healthy ones)of my group were fainting from the heat. I was among the first few to reach the top of the hill when the college went for outbound training and I am very capable of picking heavy loads when the healthy people start panting at a small load and need porters. I think the people who mock me for being thin are those who want to be like me but have failed at their attempts( grapes are sour) or they are those insensitive sadistic people who derive pleasure from mocking other .Either one. But no matter how their tongue works I would like to remain in my supermodel figure and not change it just because some people don’t like it. I would tell all the people who mock thin people that mocking always hurts not only the one who is being mocked but also you as it reveals your insecurity of being out of shape. Learn to appreciate people for who they are and don’t judge a book by its cover.

MY NAME IS SWATI AND I’M NOT A WEAK PERSON :)

(I’m sorry to the readers if the post sounds harsh in anyway. Kindly acknowledge the feelings behind it and the my pain of being mocked for something beyond my control-The way I look)

CROSSING ROADS

One of my biggest fears is the fear of crossing roads. The mere thought of crossing the road gives me a bad feeling in my stomach and for a dromophobic like me, Bangalore traffic is the worst to encounter. I live in the Campus of Christ University Bangalore. The campus is vast, green and peaceful. Till you are within the limits of the campus you will feel as though you are in a quiet town but the moment you step out of the main gate the dairy circle traffic is zooming past with deafening noises of honking horns and speeding bikes with and without their silencers. Monster like buses which stop anywhere they want and park so close to the pavement (the little that there is of it) that the pedestrians can be run over any time if they are not careful or if god is not with them. Amidst all this, since there is no U turn for a kilometre every time I need to go the opposite direction I need to cross the road, when I want to go to my favourite-The Forum Mall ,I need to cross the road, when I have to get food packed from a nearby restaurant, I need to cross the road. In order for me to cross the road I need it literally empty. As that is nearly impossible, I wait for 10-15 minutes when I find a few seconds when there’s no traffic for 10-15 meters or so and I attempt a sprint only to reach the divider and then wait there another fifteen minutes to cross finally to the other side with a pounding heart and high BP .To top up the misery some “lafangas “somehow come and stand on both sides while I’m on the divider. I guess they find me as a weak target observing my struggle to cross the roads.


Some of my friends have been very helpful -holding my hand and making me cross the road just as they would help a blind man. Somehow it makes me feels that God is on purpose trying to mock me by locating every nice place on the other side of the road. Not being able to cross the road infuriates me even more when all others attempting to do so, do it so quickly and I see all of them on the other side with a blink of an eyelid when I still remain frozen on one side waiting for the forever busy Bangalore traffic to make way for me. I feel like walking with a stop sign so that I can hold it in front of the drivers who are totally inconsiderate about pedestrians like me. Just because they are on wheels doesn’t make them own the roads. Another thing that complicates the road crossing exercise for me is the slow moving vehicles. I’ll find a slow moving vehicle and attempt to cross the road when suddenly the driver will have a burst of energy and as soon as I step on the road the vehicle will speed up forcing me to step back and save my life. Then there are those wretched auto wala’s and truck drivers who have no sense of parking and park right in front of my face when I am trying to watch the road to find an escape. Since they block my view I lose a golden opportunity and then wait another 15 minutes for a turn. Oh crossing roads is dreadful for me.I hope some people will be able to understand my plight. I just wish there was a subway or over bridge (fear of heights is another fear) but it would still make my life better but for as now I’m trying to enjoy this life-threatening adventure everyday