Daily Times

Praise be to the Lord for imbibing in us a sense of right and wrong; oh wait, let me rephrase that: praise be to the Lord for imbibing in some of us a sense of right and wrong! Given my extremely delicate emotional balance, I feel if I repeat this as a mantra, over and over again, with strategically taken deep breaths, I shall recover, hopefully! Recover from what, you just might be wondering.

Did you ever wonder why television was dubbed the ‘idiot box’? Maybe it was due to all the idiots inside it. Wishful thinking! Apparently, 60 odd years ago, it was felt that somehow the people glued to the screen lost their brain power as their minds stopped functioning and they turned into idiots. I think it still holds true today; just ask someone deeply engrossed in mindless television a simple question like, “Are you an idiot?”

General Musharraf did a great service to the nation. Yes, I have almost choked on these words, but having said them I have to, in all fairness, admit that if he had not gotten too big for his boots and delusional, he might not have evoked such opposition. As I was saying, the great service to the nation was the opening up of the numerous independent television channels. Having been born in the era of PTV and moving to England as a child where they had three channels, I was ecstatic! When we moved back, although PTV was still going strong, in the 1990s the satellite dish arrived and life as we knew it changed.

Change is good, or so we are told. I still remember the days of responsible reporting, educated anchors and exemplary conduct. While I acknowledge the many idiots watching the idiot box, I also wonder whether they surpass the idiots inside the box. With the advent of so many channels and programmes and TRPs, it seems that the managements are hard pushed; sadly, the refined and educated lot seems to be scarce, which leaves the field open for a new breed, which I affectionately call ‘the twittering twits’!

Not a single day goes by when one does not see at least one example of a ‘twit’ in action. These twits are gender-neutral with ‘twit-ism’ manifesting itself regardless of gender, caste, creed, age, education level (if any) and political or religious orientation. Our talk shows have turned into twittering-twit soap operas; this is of course with due respect to some truly credible and decent programmes out there. And our soap operas are just that: soap operas! But enter the not-so-recent brand of ‘neither here nor there’ (adha teetar adha batair) morning shows! I have to admit I am the twit here for not knowing really what these shows are aiming for. I suspect that they are supposed to target the ordinary woman at home who eagerly awaits valuable insights, fashion advice, recipes and so forth after sending the menfolk and the children away. One look at the designer-dress clad hosts is enough to point out the disparity in their audience and them. The extensively made-up faces and hair-dos are too unreal, but maybe that is what the ordinary woman is looking for: a spin in fantasyland, away from her dreary life. However, is she really looking for the ‘pearls of wisdom’ that come rolling out of the mouths of candy dolls presiding over these shows? A more appropriate question would be, should the average, unsuspecting woman be subjected to the advice tendered via these shows by twittering twits who evidently have no connection between the brain and the tongue?

It was only last Saturday that I had the luxury of flipping channels courtesy the remote, the idiot’s best pal, when I caught one particular morning show, probably a re-run, talking about maasis or female domestic help. Since the issue is of considerable interest to me and I have been actively advocating laws to safeguard the domestic worker given their vulnerable status, I decided to watch. The host, clad in fashionable clothes and make-up, introduced the topic; now I must admit here that a couple of years ago, I saw a serial in which this particular host had acted and found it to be extremely realistic, touching a particularly sensitive issue. It was with this background in mind that I started watching the morning show. The first shock I received was when the host asked the guest, a domestic worker, whether she wore make-up while going to work. The guest, a young girl, sitting cross-legged, was smartly dressed, with dupatta to one side, wearing make-up, nice earrings and shoes and was well poised, having every right to be so. She answered in the affirmative to the question posed. Much to my horror, the host looked at the audience/participants, incredulous, raising her arms and shrieking in disbelief. What ensued was a sermon to the guest on how not to dress; the girl was advised not to wear make-up and to cover her head. Running parallel to this were accusations of husbands of the begums being seduced by the female help. The guest was also asked a question in this respect and what advice she would tender to her fellow workers in the matter. A volley of accusations by the begums in the show to the effect of how lazy and manipulative the domestic help becomes after the initial settling-in period was given a considerable airtime. A ‘victim’ was also on the show whose husband had allegedly succumbed to seduction by the domestic help.

I found the show to be in extremely bad taste and a violation of the fundamental rights guaranteed to all citizens irrespective of their status. To invite a vulnerable person to come on television, then to degrade her by hurling accusations against her, calling and telling her how to dress is despicable, callous and highly unprofessional. Every person has an inalienable right to equality, dignity, life, liberty, body and reputation. While these twittering twits sitting on judgement on a poor girl and many in less fortunate circumstances like her exhibited their fluff-brained myopic vision, did they pause to think whether they came to work with their heads covered and no make-up? If that indeed was the recipe of a harassment and seduction-free work environment, then why pray had not they abided by it? The stupid advice being tendered to the jilted wife was that had she been cooking food herself, her husband would not have strayed from the straight and narrow! Grow up: real life issues are far more complex then churning out a gourmet meal. It is apparent that these begum brigade sorts failed to consider that a male is in a superior position, especially an employer, wielding the power to exploit young, vulnerable, gullible and disadvantaged girls rather than the other way around. Another fact, which was apparent, was a lack of empathy and understanding of the life of the underprivileged characters such actors play: it is nothing more than fiction to them.

This is just one show I happened to watch, but unfortunately there are many out there. There are the unscrupulous questions, the judgemental attitude, the utter lack of respect, decency and grasp of real life problems as they exist away from the realm of designer clothes, accessories and fine dining. Real life, as some know it, like the poor girl on the show, is different. Time to take the idiots out of the box: control the twittering twits before the masses start accepting their sermons as the gospel truth.

The writer is an advocate of the high court