Everyone and anyone has to have a say on the 'Big Bother' issue. From intellectuals to fools, from politicians to various factions of self proclaimed moral police. Everyone is having a field day extracting whatever mileage they can from this incident. In the process, one would be forgiven if he/she thinks that this is an international incidence of high precedence. While most have condemned the show and Ms Goody, some have endorsed the fact that, it is nothing more than mere modern day visual media wizardry, whereas some have criticized Shilpa for conspiring with the channel to increase the TRPs of the show. Its possible. Given the fact that she is an actor and she can make it look real, fairly easily. Besides she does not have much at stake in the whole incident. All she has to do is try and look hurt and then be gallant about the whole fracas. That improves her chances of staying in the run. And her limited acting skills should augur her efforts to make it all look real to the British audience who like underplay, anyway. The war of channels over TRPs has already escalated into a chaotic warfare devoid of any ethics. Making a guess as to what length the channels will go to improve TRPs is a task worthy only of NASA, what with their stupendously braggish foretelling prowess based on complicated and unfathomable scientific methods (and a few satellite pictures which look like someone sneezing on a paper after having chewed pan masala).
Though many have criticized Shilpa and almost everyone has criticized anyone who has stood up for her, there are a few things that need to be taken notice of here. Among the less important ones, is the fact that every pseudo intellectual is trying to calm the boisterous public opinion over the whole issue. Doing this vocally over a news channel, makes one look smart. Of course, the best way to declare that you are smart, is to call everyone else a fool. In a country of underdogs, and with a supremely prominent middle class mentality, most will meekly succumb to the notion that its better to opinionate with reflected knowledge than to construct a debate on intrinsic knowledge. And in all probability you will end up being hailed smart.
However there is another aspect to the issue. Now, with this farce, it’s proved that Indian-ness is being taken note of. It’s another matter that the incident igniting the furor is as trivial as a Bollywood starlet being allegedly targeted with racist remarks in a freak TV show. But the fact remains that when India speaks (whines, actually, in this case) the world listens. Given, that it’s blown out of proportion by the hype generated by media, but the media-machine is wise enough to know what makes news and what does not. (No, I got it wrong. Its not wise enough to know what makes news and what does not, but it is certainly wise enough to make news out of stray tangential incidents with the help of collective sentiments of fools called Indians). So the media makes junk food out of such incidents, feeds it’s audience and hopes that constipation does not set in early. But it does take notice and tries to cabaret by chimpanzee look like one by Helen, to entice the audience. If we forget for a moment that not many realize that it’s actually a chimpanzee, and do not subtract fools from the audience, it’s a huge viewer-ship we are talking about. And when the media flaunts an international issue involving an Indian and knows it’s going to be a big hit, it is certainly a reflection of the status of a person as an Indian in the international arena of citizenship. What with immense human-IT resources and a huge and hungry consumer market to boot, this is expected to an extent. Of course, there are other factors which look very lucrative to anyone having to do anything to earn a living from India as a nation, such as, a population mostly thinking in mob psychology, perennially dishonest politicians, a perpetually volatile communal situation which anyone can exploit, unemployment and directionless youth etc.
Now, there are reports stating that the US clients who commission the manufacture of 'Shh' perfume by Jade Goody, have asked the Indian manufacture to stop its production. This is ample proof that, a casual derogatory statement against an Indian can lead to serious repercussions spawning business relationships.
So , however idiotic be the triggering incident, the furor caused, brings out a certain brash edge to Indian mentality that was lacking earlier. India seems to have emerged from the shadow and legacy of the Raj. I cant but link this brashness with Sourav’s bare chested histrionics at the Mecca of cricket. While the first was a daring act born out of defiance with a touch of vengeance by an individual, this seems to be a similar but a collective act on a broader scale. This I think sends out a message: Next time you take your tongue for a lazy stroll and make ven a stray derogatory comment about an Indian, in however farcical and unreal context, there are people, who are going to retaliate. And they will be heard, too.
Has India finally shaken off the 'offer the other cheek' mentality of the meek and subdued?
