Pati, Patni aur Woh

Reality shows seem to be the in-thing with our TV channels these days. Every channel has a show and everyone seems to be following some show or the other. Rakhi Sawant seems to be the queen of reality shows. First it was Big Boss, then Swayamvar and now Pati, Patni aur Woh. And with every show she has become intolerable.

This new show ‘Pati, Patni aur Woh’ has all the ingredients to spoil your evening. Five celebrity couples are put through the motions of everyday life of the common man – raising kids, caring for elders in the family, working and earning money and doing household chores without any help available. Clearly goes to show the ignorance and naivety of our celebrities and the artificial world they live in.

Anyway, currently they are bringing up kids who are 6-9 months old. Their real parents monitor their children through video conference, sitting in the next room and can interfere if they think something is going wrong. I feel sorry and pity for the children who have to put up with the tantrums of their celebrity foster parents, rather than the other way around. Also, how would parents have the heart to put their child through such an ordeal? Why would parents keep their children away from them, voluntarily and then moan and cry? Would any parent be calm and composed if told that they had forgotten to give their child, the medicines it needs to be given? Would anyone take an answer that they forgot to read the manual in which the food habits of the child are clearly mentioned? The real parents of these children are putting up with the reel parents on all these points. There can be only one answer to this question of why. “Money speaks honey.” They are compensated well for putting their children through this ordeal. They all come from well-off families. So why would they want to put their child through this? The answer is pure greed. One of the parents proudly told the media that their child got an offer for a movie, after being seen on this show. So, till the child has commitments like school, make them earn some bucks. Contentment and living within means is slowly but surely vanishing from mankind (no offense to women. Making sure before I get sued for discrimination).

Highlights of the show:
- One lady called her mom and asked her how to make plain rice.
- Another lady keeps cursing the baby that it eats so much
- One of them keeps hogging all day and I have never seen her husband eat
- One of them cries that she misses her other half. Where is he? Gone to work for 4 hours a day
- And the icing on the cake has to be Rakhi Sawant, who openly says that when she gets married to her Mr. Right, she wants to have only one kid and then will undergo ‘nasbandi’. Wow!! But there seems to be a mismatch of.. you know what.

Now I have BIG question. What on earth is our government, IB ministry and the thousands of NGO’s we have doing? If a middle class household employs a child in their home that is a crime? If poor people send their children to work, that is a crime? If our diwali crackers are manufactured by children, in the factories of Sivakasi, that is a crime. The government cracks a whip in all these situations. Middle class people, who genuinely need help and are willing to pay for it, cannot employ a child. Or if parents are poor and want to send their children to work, to make ends meet, cannot do so. Then why are well-off families allowed to use their children, to make money? Why is the government allowing such parents to let their child to be on such a show? Why is a TV channel allowed to employ children less than 14 years?

The law states that children less than 14 years should not be employed in hazardous working conditions. Now who defines non-hazardous working conditions? I know people who have hired less than 14 year olds as domestic helps. The environment and working conditions are much better and a blessing, as compared to what is provided to the child on this show. If a child working in a cracker factory is hazardous, then not feeding the child properly or making the child bleed on the show is also hazardous. Why can’t the government put an end to such ludicrous shows? Why does the government have a two-faced attitude? It is a shame that the mass needs such shows to keep them entertained. It is a shame that we have fun at the cost of others.

A parting word of advice for the ‘celebrity’ couples who have been given jobs in a hotel so that they can earn money for their so-called family? If you are given a palatial, fully furnished house to live in, without paying rent, without paying any taxes, without paying for utilities, without paying for transportation, having a car at your disposal, having medical help at your disposal and given Rs. 3000/- per month, I think majority of Indians would love to swap roles with you, considering that’s what the per capita income in India is and with the burden of all living expenses. So stop cribbing and get you’re a** moving!!!!