Check thy India!


An FM channel which plays great Hindi classics was living up to its track record by playing melancholic Mukesh. The cab driver, instantly, switched to the latest Om Shanti Om number and let it stay.

I tried to thinking about the last time I had heard a sad song in a new movie release, it was futile. Not that I am a Bollywood buff, but my First Day First Show friends struggled too. In fact, we struggled to name many recent tragedies, except ones like Himesh Reshammiya who are quite tragic, whether in movies or not.

The age of melancholy and self pity is out. Looks like the age of celebration, fanfare, and ostentation is here to stay, not just in the movies.

We seem to celebrate everything as if it were the last time we’d do it. T20 victory to kid’s birthday parties, Sensex booms to Shahrukh’s six pack. The event becomes irrelevant in the light of the celebration. Celebrity marriages are more about who’s attending, who’s performing, hardly about who’s wedding. The other day’s T20 match against Australia was more about what Deepika felt about Dhoni than what Gambhir thought about Clark.

Ostentation is on display. How TV sets have lost weight. From bulky picture tubes to flat screens to LCD to Plasma. With loss of weight, it’s also gained mobility, climbing onto color co-coordinated walls and sometimes onto the ceiling. Mobile phones have moved from being phones to identity cards “change the sets to match the phone please” says a line in an LG phone ad. The next time, when you gang with people at a coffee shop, notice how the ones with the coolest phones are usually first to place them on the table. How aesthetics of some other durables have changed. Godrej refrigerators were like plump Sharma aunties. Electrolux and LG ones are like svelte Svetlana. Do cool is not enough, look cool is in. Homes have moved from family units to display units. From Sunil Babu, to HarGhar kuch kehta hai to Shalini Chopra, the color of homes have changed as rapidly as the desires of those staying in them It’s not just the material stuff, but even so called talent. Pea sized kids, wear revealing dresses, sing raunchy songs, accompanied by equally raunchy actions. Sitting in TV studios, a hyper ambitious hopeful parent gazes at her kid and then at the judges. Tear jerker finals, crazy SMS voting, blood shed and rioting, all in the name of ‘displaying’ talent. At cricket matches, the buffoons outnumber the real fan. Face painted, skimpily clad, they’d hardly know their Googly from a Chinaman. Their 5 secs of display on the big screen is what makes the match worthwhile for them. At marriages, it sometimes becomes difficult to figure out the groom or the bride. There are enough men and women around trying to be centre of attention, sometimes the parents too.

A life of moderation, learning from rejection, poetry in melancholy, philosophy in the pursuit of the truth within. These were principles that led the paths of our ancestors. We’re running down a different path, unbridled, shallow. Lest we fall, sooner than later.

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