How "REAL" are reality shows?

Reality shows began as early as the 1940s-1950s in the western world. The Indian mass started to taste the reality genre in the late 1990s and by early 2000s it gained popularity. It was a most talked about subject and still is (I wonder) when people met each other, be it in the village or the town or the city. It became more of a fad among the crowd to talk about the shows. Gradually the shows crossed regional boundaries and every household in every state were witness to the most famous show on earth THE REALITY SHOW.

At present there are so many types of reality TV. Game shows, Cookery, Sports, Talk shows, Talent hunt, Treasure hunt and the list goes on. In India there is a home made version for almost every other reality TV shown in the west. Personally, to me the time is not far away where our privacy would be invaded and broadcasted world wide. It reminds me of the movie 'The Truman Show'. The point I'm trying to come at, is that we have a surplus of reality shows. There are so many of them that you switch channels, 9 out of 10 would be airing just the same type in a different language under a different name, the content would be no different.

There is no more reality spice left it these shows. Most of them are fabricated and scripted to suit the audiences solely with a profit motive. Their aim is to attract more viewership so as to sustain in the media industry and in order to achieve it, reality has to be TAILOR MADE. So isn't "reality" a misnomer???

I had watched a few of these shows and was religiously following them when it began a trend among the Indian market. But after a couple of months I lost interest and started to hate it. How many times would you be able to see the same material with only the faces changing? Anybody would get bored.

I was fortunate or should I say unfortunate (whaterver :-)) to witness a talent show elimination round where there were 3 contestants left and one of them had to go home. There's background music, camera focusing on the judges, the parents of the contestants, the praying friends and the comperes. This goes on for a few minutes and finally with great difficulty the judge is about to announce the name.
Cut!! commercial break.
The judge looks at the name and announces it. BANG!!!! the hapless artist breaks down on the stage, then drama follows.... the compere tries hard to console the artist, his friends cannot watch him. The judges have conflict of opinions and there is a long debate or should I say verbal rift among them.
Cut!! again commercial break.
Finally the verdict is out. The artist gets another chance to flirt his talent and nobody goes home. The contestants are hugging each other, the judges come over to the stage to show their affection. It is such a perfect world. Everyone is happy.

Now you judge for yourself "How real are the reality shows?"

Disturbing Truth

The inspiration to write this blog comes from the song 'Say' by John Mayer. I have heard it so many times and still haven’t got bored of it. Maybe its just me :-). The song tells about saying what you need to say with a smile even when you know you have only a few more days to live. This song is also featured as one of the soundtracks of the movie ‘The Bucket list’. The protagonists make a list of things to do before they kick the bucket.

A man is diagnosed with a terminal illness. He does not have many days to live. It is something none of us would like to be in. How would we cope with such a situation if the man was one of us? How would we feel? What would be our state of mind? I don’t have a definite answer
to these questions but I will take a cynical approach and try my best to give them.

There could be only two human emotions that could result from this uncertain news.

1. Depression
2 Complacency

Depression - 9 out of 10 people would fall in this category. This comes naturally to humans in the advent of such undesirable news. It is how our body and mind reacts to life’s uncertainty. The cause of depression could be numerous, primarily because of the fear of dying. The others could be the loss, his or her family would go through after he or she has gone away, the unpredictable future of his or her life and the sheer thought that his or her days are numbered literally does impact ones mind. The family bonds that a person cherishes, the many good friends that a person built through his or her life will have to be left behind and that is not easy to endure.

Complacency – It is hard to foresee the number of people that could fall in this category. There is a lot of dependency on other factors that could render a person complacent with the given situation. The primary factor could be ‘Age’. People above the age of 80 could be complacent than someone who is middle aged simply because the former has passed his or her prime time and the latter is just in the midst of one. Then again it is arguable because these are not carved in stone. There are different kinds of people with different attitudes or approach to life, come what may.

In time (whatever is left) complacency sets in because the person does not have a choice but to face the truth of his or her life. This once again is human tendency, the mind and body adapts to the present state. It could be a wonder how our mind reacts sometimes. If this wasn’t possible humans would have become insane.

There could be a totally different section of people who doesn't really care and take life one day at a time. They readily accept the truth and abide by the rules set forth to them. But at the same time they don't allow their mind to take over their body. They try to live as normally as they possibly can. Psychologically this sort of behaviour could only assist the body to become better if not the opposite. After all its the mind that rules the body.

We are mortals and each and everyone of us will have to succumb to it one day or the other. The ONLY choice we have forth is - How do we want to deal with the matter?

Note: The annotation given above is not based on any proof but purely my personal standpoint.

Gene Power

Illustration 1

Ashwin: "Aditya....Do you want to go out to play?"
Aditya: "Yes I do."
Ashwin: "Good...Then you ask dad...go, go."
Aditya: "Why? You also want to go?"
Ashwin: "Yes!"
Aditya: "Why should I ask? You can't ask?"
Ashwin: "No"
Aditya: "Oooooh (clearly showing annoyance) ok I will."

Ashwin smiles and breaths a sigh of relief.

Illustration 2

Aditya persuades his elder brother to help him with the jigsaw puzzle.

Ashwin: "No I'm busy with my books."
Aditya: "Please....please"
Ashwin: "NO.....I SAID NO."
Aditya: "No you have to, pleeaaaaase." (pulls Ashwins arm)
Ashwin gets angry and pushes Aditya. He falls back and hurts himself, yells in pain.
Ashwin stops what he is doing and rushes to his brother. "Don't cry, please don't cry, don't make noise please please"
Aditya not giving up, and yells even louder.
Ashwin tries to close his mouth and tells him..."ok ok I'll help you. Don't cryyy..., hit me if that makes you happy."

Illustration 3

Guests arrive at home who are strangers to the kids.
Guest: Looking at Ashwin. "What is your name?"
Smiles and utters his name, barely audible.
Guest: Looks at Aditya.
Aditya: "My name is Aditya" :-)
Guest & Aditya are in conversation while Ashwin just looks on the proceedings.

I thought I'd start with these illustrations before I went on to boast about the ultimate power of 'the Gene'. It is not an excerpt from a bollywood movie but are just some of the real life conversations between my kids and their distinct characters.

We all know that the gene pass genetic traits to our offspring. There cannot be any better way to illustrate this than the examples I've given above. The character my elder son Ashwin exhibits, is just a carbon copy of mine, when I was his age. What is more interesting is that the gestures and the speech are spot on. Watching them grow up reminds me of my childhood and my relationship with my brother. History repeats itself, if I can call it that.

Flashback: Ashwin becomes Biju & Aditya becomes Prasad. If I can bring these timezones into one frame it would be difficult to differentiate them.

Its just amazing how genetics are so meticulously defined that there are no scope for any errors.

Precious Moments......

Tic toc Tic Toc Tic Toc.....time ticks on and on......, moments slip away.

We do not know what the future holds for us or what would happen the very next second but we hold on to the moments that had happened in the past, some good that’s etched deep in our hearts, some bad that haunts us when we least expect it.

Sometimes we do not want the time to pass by but sometimes you just hope it would run a little faster. There are moments that you wished never happened and of course there are moments you wished never ended.

How does one feel a moment is precious? Well.....I guess that depends from person to person. The kids for instance will cherish a trip to the park. Lovers would love the moments they are together. The list is endless.

In my life, like any other, there has been a lot of moments, precious momentssss..........

Innumerable moments during my schooling and college days. (Wish I could turn back the clock)
Moment I met her.
Moment I tied the nuptial knot with my love.
Moment when Ashwin & Aditya came into our lives.
Moment I got my very first offer letter.
and above all else, the innumerable moments with my entire family will always have a very special place in my heart.

For all the moments that we cherish, it’s always important to note that it is YOU that makes the passing MOMENTS, wherever or whenever or with whomsoever PRECIOUS.

Let’s make our lives PRECIOUS!

How many of you?????

There are a lot of common things we humans exhibit during our day to day activities, be it from doing our daily chores to going to a party or a movie, being with friends or having fun at the amusement part. Be warned it is not restricted to any region or community but the global race. It sounds a bit ironic but you will know why.......

How many of you scribble on a notepad or fiddle with an object while on the phone with someone (especially the land phone)?

How many of you are curious to gaze towards the same direction where others unknown to you are looking while you are walking down the street and finally end up looking right there?

How many of you get frustrated when there is a road block on the shortest route you chose thinking the regular route would be worse?

How many of you make hand gestures unintentionally during a conversation?

How many of you drive slowly when you see a police car?

How many of you have bought things in a supermarket under sale when you wouldn't have if there wasn't one?

How many of you have felt that always the queue next to you moves quicker than yours?

How many of you choose to sit on an empty seat rather than next to a stranger in a bus or a train?

How many of you start reading the newspaper from the back?

How many of you have felt lost or disconnected (so they say) when you had forgotten to take your mobile? This is a modern human behavior :-)

I'm pretty sure many would agree with my observations. Look around you and there will be more such interesting facts about human behavior irrespective of where we come from or the culture we follow.

Now you know why..... :-)

Life on the SUPER fast lane

DISCLAIMER

The characters mentioned below holds no resemblance to any person living or dead. If there is any then its purely coincidental.

The life on the SUPER fast lane is not so fast in the long run or is it???

Beep Beep Beep.....the alarm rings. He is still sleeping oblivious of the sound resonating in the air. Beep beep beep......this time it caught his attention. Half asleep he slowly looks for his clock, runs his arm around his pillow and under it, finally gets hold of the clock and sets it to snooze. He goes back to his slumber, 5 minutes later the alarm goes on again. Cursing the daylight he gets up at 6. With sleepy eyes he begins his morning chores.

In a distant not too far away she is almost finishing her last bit of work. She hurries through the last email and shuts down her PC. Dawn is just breaking through the night sky. Her chauffeur drives her home. Her eyes are tired and so is her mind and body. The only thing she needs now is a good sleep. She relaxes at the back of the car thinking about the events at work.

He is ready to start his day by 7 am. Looks for some left overs in the refrigerator for some breakfast and gets some of it. He quickly has some morsels and gulps some milk down his throat as he is already getting pretty late for work. He then realizes that his laptop is still at his work desk after his late night meeting with the clients the previous night. He gathers all the stuff and is ready to leave finally.

Ding Dong!!!

She gets home pretty quick due to the early morning hours. He opens the door.

"Good Morning darling, How was your day?"

"Oh the usual honey, I'm very tired and need to hit the bed"

"Ok then you get some rest, I'm off to work, Byeeeee"

"Byeee"

If you haven't noticed, the above conversation happens in span of a few seconds because either of them are eager to get to their routines. Its not their fault, it is how their life style has made them to be. Knowingly or unknowingly they have accepted it. There is no time to think of anything else than their careers and their bank balances by the end of the month. The so called CORPORATE life has invaded into them. What they don't realize is the flip side of it. By the time they do, it would've been too late.

If they are lucky they might get a chance to meet over a weekend. The chances are also very remote because there is just too much work, that both of them have to sacrifice these little sweet moments in life. After all money is more important, remember!!!! The very purpose of life is redefined. There is NO life, so to speak. The bitter part of it is that the realization wave creeps in too late and there is no rolling back(as he/she could do it with a simple statement in a database, to speak in the technical language).

Seconds become minutes, minutes become hours, hours become days, days become weeks, weeks become months and months become years. One day they are HIT by the great wave. They look back at their life, what did they achieve???? A whole lot of money. They have all the luxuries in the world you could imagine, they could afford the costliest car, they could travel at will.
BUT.......
-Did they have a life outside the four walls of their offices and their homes. No...
-Do they have any offspring. No.....Why?? Too busy to even think about it.
-Can they have any NOW? No.....Why?? Too late to bear one.
-Can they enjoy their life? No......Why?? The lifestyle has its ill effects on them.

This is not true to everybody living in the fast lane but it is something to ponder about. We have to find ways to balance work and life otherwise we won't have any real good one later in life.

small but BIG

Vacation time for my son and its time to go to Kerala. This is the time my parents look forward to and its all the more special because of our new born and why not!!! These are moments every parents/grand parents will cherish. Its just US that need to realise it for which most of us don't. We simply get occupied and busy with our lives so much so we forget to look back. Quite natural really but this gesture is only the least we can do for our loved ones compared to what they've gone through to bring us to where we are now. I did not feel this way until I became a father and possibly others will only feel it then. What is important here is that, all this is a circle of life. We also will be in their shoes one day and no matter how many times we deny to accept the fact that 'WE DON'T EXPECT ANYTHING FROM OUR CHILDREN', somewhere deep down our hearts we think otherwise.

This is common in every culture but varies in its own ways. Indian families are very closed knit unlike other societies. I'm very fortunate, doubly fortunate to be born to a family such as mine. There are no secrets but we value the importance of each one in the family more than any other thing in the world. I guess thats the success of any family for that matter. Having said that there are broken families due to many reasons, some so petty that its not even worth talking about. Its sad but true.

"We send money to them and they should be happy" well think again. Money cannot fill a moment like having a meal together or talking face to face or cuddling their grand children or....I could go on and on and on.....Money is absolutely necessary but there are many things it can't buy and never will.

The smallest way we can extend our gratitude is the BIGGEST and the HAPPIEST moments they will remember through out their lives.

We will be next in line.

small but BIG

Santa a myth or.....!!!

HO HO HO Santa is here to fill you with joy and distribute lovely presents that you've been wishing for!!!! Now which kid wouldn't love to hear this?? The kids would love to hear & see Santa Claus visit their homes especially if they are Christians. All kids have their own beliefs about Santa and during that tiny age we dare to think otherwise. This is about a cousin of mine who thought Santa was for real until recently.

The story dates back when my cousin was about 8-12 years old. Cousin's neighbor was a Christian family and she(C-cousin) was very close with their D-daughter of the same age. D used to tell C stories about Santa coming home to give her gifts every year. Santa was hi-tech too coz he had his own email address where kids could write to about the gifts they wanted. Sometimes D used to show C the emails she wrote and the things she asked, to C's surprise D got the exact gifts D had ordered. Now C had no choice but to come to believe that Santa was no fairy tale. C comes home and talks to her dad.

"It is true that Santa lives, and according to my friend D anyone can write to him."

"Write what dear"

"About the things that you need for Christmas"

"And how are you going to do that"

"Write him an email"

"Do you know his address?"

"Yes D told me". (dad didn't want to disappoint her daughter so goes with C's story)

"Ok go ahead and write to him" We'll see if Santa will come home.

C is all smiles, finally she makes her mind and writes to Santa. Dad sees what she's asked for. On Dec 26, Voila!!! the gift is in the balcony. C just cannot control her excitement, if only I had not slept I could've seen Santa come by. This went on for 2 years. Later one day once C was home, her dad sits with her daughter and explains to her.

"Santa did not bring the gift but I put them there"

C looks at her dad, don't know what to say. She didn't want to believe him. How could that be true?

C refuses to come to terms with the truth. She gave in after a while, though back of her mind she still thought there was something about Santa. The jingle bells ringing while he rode down from the sky in his deer sledge. Once C was old enough to know right from wrong she knew her dad was absolutely spot on. But even now C tells me she still wonders if Santa is a myth or not???

All of us must have had such thoughts when we were young and still think if it was only true.