Educative entertainment

RIGHT IN THE MIDDLE

“The devil is a sportsman and likes big game- he makes the deadliest assaults on the finest minds and on noblest spirits. That devil seems to be enjoying the games being played on the small screen in our homes day in and day out” I said, as the conversation went freewheeling between me and my friend over a cup of coffee.

"Yes, absolutely...I wonder why human beings are shown as an embodiment of all deadly sins - jealousy, greed, anger, sloth, pride, lust etc and they are depicted as social climbers ready to do anything to achieve their goals. Why are they characterised in such a straight-jacketed manner...as though their emotional quotient is at the lowest? There may exist such people in socio-political and entertainment spheres, maybe in small percentage but when family relations are shown in such a crass way, it definitely must be shunned. Sadly, a majority of people seem to enjoy the large doses of such worthless stuff,” my friend sounded angry and naturally so.

I remembered something amusing as well. My husband and I had a fine time with the family of my (then) would be daughter-in-law in Sri Lanka, and later after the marriage. As a compliment, my daughter-in-law mentioned that her family found me to be very nice, not like the mothers-in-law they see in the Indian TV serials. I felt very good though was sad to know the impression these serials create in the minds of people about our important family relations. Saas-Bahu serials filled with conspiracies, schemes have become a part of many real lives--their TRP keeps going up as people lap up every scene with great delight. Children are very impressionable, please save them from negative influences and try to teach them that "a great relationship is about two things- first find similarities, second, respect the differences.”

As long as you keep your face towards the light, the shadow will fall behind you. This is the case with relationships, we must turn towards brightness and enjoy the warmth.

Many of the TV serials show people in a bad light, highlight their weaknesses and evil side, show how they scheme and manipulate, show how easily others crumble and fall. Why cannot they send across positive messages, that there are people with great minds and noble thoughts, that when we feel God is destroying us by troubling us, he actually is tuning us, the way a violinist screws up the key till the tense cord sounds the concert pitch? He doesn’t do that to break it, but to use it tunefully, he stretches the string fully. Then entertainment becomes educative too.