The nit-picking generation

An inerasable childhood memory of most children who grew up in the 90’s - watching The Jungle book, Mahabharata, Ramayana and Jai Hanuman on Sundays. This was the time when the entire family enjoyed a Sunday morning breakfast together.  As the trend moved towards the boring saas-bahu sagas; Sunday morning slots got occupied by the re-runs of these soaps marking an end to the fun Sunday family mornings.  Cut to 2012; almost a decade after the dull Sunday mornings, Satyameva Jayate made a brave attempt to revive Indian Sunday mornings.

However the responses to the show have left me a bit surprised. Judging Aamir’s hosting skills, him getting too preachy, dissatisfaction on crying in every episode, marketing gimmick, Aamir’s ploy to use social issues to garner TRPs, him charging exorbitant fee for every episode, the show lacking a cool factor and the list is endless. Audience today adjudge every show how critics review a movie.  They review the set-up, the concept, predict the outcome and some go a bit too far to analyse the intention of the show. I surely seen signs of a cynical societal syndrome. We as a society have become very cynical and nit-picking.

When celebrities don’t contribute to real change – they are accused of making money. When Aamir tries to do an Anna Hazare – he is just doing it for TRP’s. Had he not shed tears hearing the horrendous stories – he is an insensitive host. If he cries – he is overdoing it. Good Lord!!!!! Why such fault-finding??

When doctors world over are encouraging mothers not to rapidly reduce weight post pregnancy as it affects baby feeding; the prejudiced Indian media has criticized Ash for not losing post partum weight. Mindless teenagers lacking perspective participating in reality (read - staged) shows is cool and vibrant, a KJO discussing celebrity gossip is hot stuff and 2 sisters showcasing their everyday lives is totally The Thing.

Dunno if India’s heading towards economic bankruptcy but it surely seems to be heading towards intellectual bankruptcy!!!  

Whose opinion is it anyway????

My favourite past time – observing people, often leads me to some thought provoking observations. Every individual is different and possesses a different mixture of personality traits that make him/her unique. The most commonly sought after personality traits are charisma, good sense of humour, dependability, humility, intelligence and so on. In pursuit of these, the most striking trait – that of forming rational views, opinions and judgements of one’s own, is frequently lost. I do not know how much of our learning through formal education imparts knowledge or if I may add wisdom in us. However I firmly believe that a nation’s true progress can only be assessed by the thoughtful opinions its masses produce.  

It is widely accepted that the news reporting agencies in any country are responsible for setting views of people in the right direction. Freedom of press has been traditionally glorified because it is the sacrosanct liberalist views of the press that help us wade through muddy waters. However, the actual contribution of the press now-a-days towards their true cause is highly debatable. The focus is more on sensationalizing news and concocting views to influence and manipulate opinions. The consequences of such reporting - people cheating with others opinions as their own, using explanations that have been drilled into their cranium by dull and limited thinking.  

It would be unfair to rest blame only on one agency for such a subject of significant importance. An equal fault lies in our in-built attitude of pursuing conventional wisdom and learning in precise terms that limits of our understanding of the world. Next time you watch a famous correspondent giving opinions on worldly issues, just pause and think “Whose opinion is this anyway???” You may discover your own hidden rich opinions.

Mind your own English

I hear voices. Voices in English to be precise – that’s cheesy.. am pissed off.. screwed up totally.. catching up old blokes.. Oh my ghosh.. its rocking yaa.. awesome mahnn..blah blah blah WOAAAHH. I turn left or I turn right each day I hear people conversing in English. Undoubtedly, English is fast emerging as the lingua franca and over the years Indians have surely developed a strong liking or if I may say love for this global language. English has always conferred many advantages to the influential people who can speak it right from the time India secured independence. Well this is certainly not about bestowing English its impending glory but its unrivalled importance to Indians and the associated tasteless pride on their own spoken English. 

Each one feels that the way they pronounce words is the ideal and correct one and leave no stone unturned to prove it. They are so obsessed with the correct pronunciations and intonations that they completely jettison the situation and surrounding and jump at the opportunity to correct the other person. “Oh its not Photographer its (fo-tow-grapher)- with the British/American accent”. Absurd reasoning, justification and unapologetic ostentation go to the extent of their affluent schooling backgrounds – Convent, Military, CBSE board, State board and hence their enunciations are the right ones. Immature as it may sound this is absolutely true.

The fact of the matter is that in India how well one approximates British English often determines how well educated he/she is. From times when it was considered a matter of immense superiority if a person in the family could manage to write and speak English to times when a family was equated to being extraordinarily well educated if they conversed with each other in English to now where parents take pride that their wards don’t speak their mother tongue but only English, the transition has been painfully remarkable. I dread to predict what the future could be.

Not many of us know that what we speak in India is very less of British English and we have developed it in our own way influenced by our linguistic, regional and socio-cultural contexts. They are all mutually distinct varieties and I just hope that this uniqueness is valued and appreciated.