Channels like MTV, VTV, ZOOM etc make you believe that it's a beautiful world out there and nobody in this world is ugly! Or at least if you are not dazzlingly beautiful you can't be on the tube.
The other day I was surfing through channels and I saw a group of "drop-dead-gorgeous" girls, scantily but stylishly dressed and doing some idiotic "task". It was the (in)famous reality show Splitsvilla. Just after it got over, another show started The Fast and the Gorgeous. I have no clue what these shows are about but they both (and a lot many shows on these channels) have one thing in common.. "drop-dead-gorgeous" girls, scantily but stylishly dressed. On an ordinary day, it was a great time pass to see gorgeous girls fighting, back-bitching, plotting, scheming etc. But it was not an ordinary day. It was one of those days when all news channels were swarmed my racial attacks in Australia. Whole country seemed united, all looked offended and all wanted (or pretended) to make a change! Quite unlike India! Comparing both the incidents, a very interesting thought came in my mind which I would like to share.
Why don't you ever see an ordinary looking, little dark or a South Indian girl (or boy) on these REALITY SHOWS?
Why do all the girls and boys who participate or, as they make us think, QUALIFY, for all these shows, are extremely attractive. Why the looks are so important?
I understand if a VJ is good looking because its showbiz and its only the looks that matter. So I can make out a Nikhil Chinnapa or a Malaika Arora being part of these shows, but why only a Palak or a Bani make headlines? I especially feel bad for the people who are a little dark in complexion. You can be brilliant, even great at all the tasks etc but still you wouldn't get a chance to be on these shows and win a fortune. And if you can't wear skimpy clothes, you have absolutely no chance! Your ability to expose may cover for your color a bit, you know!
India is probably one of the most prejudiced and racial country. I am a north Indian who has spent 4 years in probably one of the most cross cultural university of India. I have seen prejudices from close quarters. Indians have an undying fixation for fair skin! India is one of the few countries in the world where Fair and Lovely can claim to make a dark skinned girl "fair and beaming with confidence" in 7 days. In USA you would prosecuted with charges of racism for such a campaign. We all must have felt in our daily lives, at some place or the other, that the goris and firangs are treated specially. Why is such a discrimination so common? It's not the lack of education etc, which by the way is the best excuse for everything in India, because MTV is not for that class of people. Its for a target niche audience which is college going youth. They are all well educated and highly prejudiced.
Is it not a kind of racism? Is a country like this deserves to complain when there are "so called" racial attacks on its Diaspora? (before you raise a finger on my "so called racial attacks ", I must confess one thing, that I don't think these attacks are racially motivated…I believe they are recession motivated ). Why does everything has to be so beautiful and tailored? Why can't we accept simplicity and mediocre looks? You can agitate and condemn attacks Down Under but you still want to see only fair pretty girls on TV!
What a pity….
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