V for Vulgar

Just a few days back, while surfing channels on T.V I came across Channel V. A young boy and a young girl were being shown sleeping in bed together. The host of the show, a bearded sixer, was trying to wake them up. The show on air was Dare 2 Date.

First of all, let me tell you, I used to watch Channel V and MTV quite a bit till a couple of years ago but now I don’t feel like watching at all. Earlier, the shows they used to broadcast were great in terms of quality of content. But in the last couple of years both the channels seem to have lost the plot. Anyone who views these channels nowadays will agree with the point that most of the shows are vulgar. By being so they may be attracting more eyeballs than ever before but in my opinion, this is being totally, socially irresponsible. It’s not only adults or youths in their late teens who watch these channels but also children in their early teens. Shows such as Dare 2 Date, Splitsvilla and similar others are the most senseless and indecent. I don’t understand what they try to achieve by putting youngsters in the show and getting them to enter into a relationship. Even the relationships they enter into are founded on loose grounds, always a recipe for disaster. Some of the things they are made to do are just not suitable for universal viewing.

Apart from vulgarity in the form of intimacy and obscenity, there is another form of it – Swearing (gaali galoch). Before the start of this millennium very few young people used to use obscene language in their conversations. Even the frequency of usage was less. But now, it has become mandatory to have a good vocabulary of abuses both, desi and videsi, partly thanks to these channels. Swearing has become a trend. If you don’t swear you are looked down upon. A show such as Roadies has people abusing each other tens of times in a single episode. In a way, such shows have encouraged swearing. Putting a beep or blurring the mouth doesn’t help. You are considered ‘cool’ if you watch such shows. Your coolness is measured by the number of such shows you watch and how many of the things which they show you imbibe in your daily life.

My opinion is this vulgarity in the aforementioned two forms has become an unwarranted part of our youth culture. We just don’t need to do what the people in those shows do. Some youngsters are aware that what they show should not be followed but they fail to go against the norm. They succumb to peer pressure. It is, inherently, not a part of our culture. It is the Western culture that we are aping. I know what I am saying is a cliché but it is true. It is easy for the channels to say that the youth knows what to watch and what not to, what to practise and what not to. And so it becomes necessary for the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting to enter into the fray and crack down on them.

Also, let me make it clear that not every show of theirs deserves contempt. For example, ‘U R Fired’ on Channel V. Boy, it takes creativity to get yourself fired. Also, ‘Stunt Mania’ on MTV. I think it is one of the best reality shows on T.V presently.

So, boys and girls, don’t get run over by what you see around. Stop and reflect. You will realize what you have become while what you should have been.