Skip to main content

Indian Idle

Indian Idol. Auditions across the country. Only the best make it to the televised regulars. High profile judges, peppy host, higher profile guest stars, the works. The show then takes the (by now jaded and predictable) 'Reality Route' that contrary to its name bears little resemblance to reality.

In the resulting hullabaloo, the question that is foremost in my mind is... WHY?

Why does the Indian 'Idol' have to be a singer anyway?

Why do they have to sing the same songs that have been 'classics' for the past 69 years instead of allowing fresh talents to showcase their musical abilities?

Why do the judges have to be so diplomatic in their criticisms?

Why does the final decision have to be made by the voting of the masses who know NOTHING about how the candidate sings and EVERYTHING about how he's poor/ has an aged mother/ bursts into tears etc..?

Why do they have judges anyway if the final decision is made by public vote?

Why is the host so irritating?

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

The Companion

A gray-walled room with a window. That's how he remembers it. It looks the same now: a large window in a small room. It makes the room look even smaller. The window-sill is thick with dust. Beams of sunlight stream in singly, their path illuminated by many-sided dust particles spinning. Or seeming to spin. Is the room this dusty everywhere? He wonders to himself, trying not to breathe it in. The sunbeams merely illuminate what's already there. Slowly, as his eyes adjust, more details of the room start revealing themselves. The room is bare. Devoid of anything except walls and tiny patches of plaster embedded in the cobwebs at corners. The effect is almost artistic. He wonders if rooms could feel. If they could, what would this room be feeling. Do they remember the people who lived in them? It's almost impossible to believe that people would have lived here once. The walls would have been new and shining with paint and resonant with echoes of laughter or tears or screams....
5 comments
Read more

The Dragon and the Phoenix

The contents of this post are based on no specific research whatsoever and contain interpretations according to my limited knowledge on the subject only. Please feel free to add/correct any factual errors or omissions. The Dragon and the Phoenix have always been two of the most ubiquitous symbols in mythology. Especially the Dragon. Every culture major culture, from Scandinavia to China contain some reference of this mythical beast. And all of them share some common characteristics while allowing for other differences in detail, symbolism, origin-myths etc that can be attributed to cultural differences. The common characteristics are: Serpentine nature: i.e scaliness. Dragons are never represented as mammals Ability to breathe fire Immortality with a variation being immortal, but can be killed Immense wisdom Then there are variations of course. Some dragons are portrayed as serpentine viz. the Chinese, while others tend to be like giant lizards. However, these common points d...
Post a Comment
Read more

Patriotism and Parti(san)ng Sorrows

Is patriotism overrated? What is patriotism anyway? An irrational love for ones country irrespective of regional, ethnic, religious or cultural differences. Why is patriotism? It is obvious. To build a 'nation' one must have people who relate to one another so that they can see beyond the short boundaries of personal/familial interest and look towards the interest of the group as a whole. Ideally, the relation can be ideological in nature. However, historical evidence and the knowledge of human nature leads to the conclusion that as humans are irrational beings, thus they can be governed by principles of irrationality. This is done using the concept of patriotism. Patriotism (or nationalism, or social-nationalism or national socialism or nazism... see where I'm going with this?) is but a name for the Universal Method. Now the Universal Method goes by many names and flavours that differ subtly from one another in their means of execution or agenda, but essentially they ...
4 comments
Read more