Where's my old dose?

Women are liberated every where in the world except on the Indian idiot box!!! The serial makers seem to revel in the teary saga of the oh-so-weak-dependent-on-her-husband Bharatiya Naari. What strikes me is that these serials are so far away from the reality that it sucks. Especially from a woman’s point of view. (i don’t know if men derive a vicarious pleasure watching their species dominate women at least on TV, cz that’s where you can find them so often) i am not an avid watcher of the soap sagas. One doesn't have to be. Just run into the promos and that's the high point of the day's episode! Most of them are in the same vein.

It’s good to expose the existence of child marriage and female infanticide even today but the focus seems to get lost through the episodes and it is back to woman-bashing. Milk any situation to get the TRPs going and what’s better to tug at the hearts people (apparently women watch them more than men do) than a bechari woman being put through exploitation.

Without exception, none of these women seem to have a mind of their own. Most serials are endless epics of putting up with gross injustices perpetrated on them. All of them, no matter what time of the day or night, are found dressed in their costumes and jewellery (does that get any farther from real life!) The women are made to put up with the most igniominious situations just to add to the melodrama!!! And all these characters don’t seem to know that her counterpart in real life has transformed her fate. She has left behind men in most professions (I think I can safely say all professions!)

The second most common theme in our daily dose of entertainment is conspiracy, bitterness and politics. Once again, without exception. Even a seemingly innocuous and appealing story of Meera has intrigue and envy surfacing right in its first week. And that was the last time i watched it. It’s as if people have no better business but to concoct schemes and machinations against whoever they can target. None of those characters lead normal lives. There’s always a storm rocking the boat of their lives.

i agree that there are a lot of sections in our society where the women are still at the receiving end. Domestic violence, female infanticide are very much a reality. But i am talking about daily 'entertainment' that craetes recreation and diversion after the end of a tired day. We expect some clean and positive entertainment. Gone are the days of comedies like Yeh jo hai Zindagi, Dekh bhai dekh and classic programs like Buniyaad, Hum Log that depicted family values and were the favourites of the masses.

People responsible for television should realise that these uninspiring stories have so much of potential to become instruments of social change. Today, when we are talking about television as a mode of entertainment and information in every Indian village, it is important that it reflects the positive changes of society. Rather than condone presentation of women in poor light, television should ensure that the less exposed in the society are inspired with stories of man-woman equality and what a woman is capable of achieving.