A cringe-fest

Indian TV shows have had some of the most ridiculous plots by far. Titular characters turned into chudails nevlas, makkhis, daayans, and even ichchadhari naagins on various TV shows, taking audience to a whole new level in suspension of disbelief every time. But, Indian television has now hit a new low with the making of a show on the crass love story and supposedly unique bond of a 9-year-old boy and an 18-year old woman.

Major backlash arose right after the launch of its promo which shows a prepubescent boy putting vermilion on his adult wife’s head. The episodes are much worse and awful than the promo. It features a mismatched couple, an 18-year-old woman and her nine-year-old husband, and narrates the story their so-called unusual relationship. To shock us further, it is a consensual marriage.

The much younger husband is totally besotted with the young woman. He is seen stalking and photographing his future wife. He rescues her from cockroach, proposes for marriage, gets married, celebrates suhaag raat, and is even gets ready to go on a honeymoon with her. Isn't it cringeworthy? It’s almost Lolitha in reverse.  However, the makers have the weirdest reason for portraying the strange relationship – The child prince has to be protected by a bodyguard, the reason why the 18-year old, who has always longed to marry a prince, agrees to marry the 9-year-old prince.  Looks like the makers are yet to hear about Raksha Bandhan. Or, portraying her as a expert bodyguard too would have been an acceptable alternative. A woman who walks in heavy and ornate lehengas all the time and who is scared of cockroaches agrees to marry a child to keep him safe. Seriously? She is neither a trained bodyguard or a closet ninja.

Simply put, the show sells stupidity and continues to get a lot of flak for the creepy storyline which is no less than crude, appalling, and downright shameful. The makers of the show are totally unfazed and keep boasting of portraying an unconventional love story, but the fact is, it has the most bizarre plot till date, and is a clear glorification of child marriage.

The show is loaded with double entendres. It is not even adhering to the basics of censoring rules in our country and is still getting lauded as a major breakthrough in TV shows. What if the story was told in reverse? What if an adult man was shown marrying a 9-year-old girl? The entire team would have definitely faced a whole lot of hullaballoo, mass boycotting, and even legal hurdles. So, why doesn't the same apply to the present situation?

Fun Fact - In a few months, there would be a time leap, as always, and the boy would reach a consensual age to woo and seduce his much-older ‘wife’. A love-triangle is a close-second possibility.

The possible subtle reason behind the awkward storyline - Any publicity is good publicity and there's no such thing as bad publicity. The makers will go on displaying go on displaying gross, regressive, and indigestible content to raise more eyebrows and get more viewers with peanut sized brains.

When a small bottle of liquid changes one’s life forever

“He threw acid on my face, not on my dreams.” When Laxmi Agarwal said this during her TEDx talk, I stood up and clapped, forgetting for a while that I was sitting in my hostel room and watching the video of her talk on my laptop. She is an inspiration, an embodiment of courage and grit, and so are all the acid attack survivors who chose to fight back and win, rather than whining over their past. A few strong women survivors together run a café, named Sheroes Hangout, in Agra, and tell their stories to the world. Kudos to the way they chose to emerge to the social mainstream, rather than hiding their scarred faces. It has ignited the hopes and dreams of many other survivors who want to get out of pain and isolation.

Acid attack, it is not something unheard of, at least in our country. It keeps shaking our conscience again and again, practically every other day. The laws were modified a few years back, but have we done enough to deal with this horrific infliction on women? Acid is still readily available in our country, and costs less than a packet of milk. Despite strong laws and punishments, the number of acid attacks continues to rise each day. And irrespective of having lawful curb on the sale of acid, illicit buying and selling still happen in full swing.

As per a report on The Guardian, “women make up 80% of acid victims”. It debilitates them, ruthlessly robs them of income, livelihood, opportunities, and sometimes life as well. With hardly a few advanced burn hospitals and specialized experts, getting timely and adequate medical treatment is far from easy. Survivors need multiple reconstructive surgeries, and soon they will be neck deep in debt.

You cannot even fathom what acid can do to a human body. It burns skin, eats the flesh, it can blind, disfigure, and literally leave person’s face unrecognizable. Why do the perpetrators do this most ghastly crime? The obsession with superficial beauty and fairness is a strong reason why perpetrators use acid to ruin a victim’s chance to lead a normal life. May be they want to deprive the victim of love and acceptance. Sadly, the perpetrators win in many cases and victims get ostracized. They suffer in many ways, undergo tremendous amount of trauma, and can never dream of a career, marriage, or even a normal life. They are literally treated as outcasts. Isn’t that mind numbing cruelty? What shocks me most is the fact that acid attacks often happen for all unimaginably trivial reasons possible.

Are all acid attacks getting reported? No, says the volunteers who work for Stop Acid Attack campaigns. Several cases go unreported, and not every victim gets the needed support and recognition. The struggles are endless and the pain is more than excruciating. No one deserves such terrible fate. No one. We need to stop acid attacks once and for all.