WTF Series: Episode 03: Stud Farm

Just when I thought that the reality TV scene in India had plummeted to the abysmal nadirs of the entertainment experience, the idiot box barfs another unmatched gem!

UTV Bindass launches a brand new reality show - Super Stud - to find the first super stud of India - believe me it is an impossible task because all the 13 contestants are more like burros - but then that's not the point I am making here.

So my peaceful Sunday TV surfing brought me to this show (yes I had nothing better to do on a Sunday evening) - the host of the show and a bunch of skimpily clad, mostly dumb women (apologize the judgmental tone to this, but I swear your opinion wouldn't have differed either) were oohing and aahing as the 13 hand picked studs were introduced one by one.

Every single guy who introduced himself prided in the number of girl friends he has had and the number of girl friends he has dated simultaneously - These are 20-somethings with wannabe six packs, hardly a qualification up their sleeves, no clear ambition, absolutely no innate talent (except that of making a fool of themselves), and a bloated sense of their masculinity, even if they figure pretty low on the good looking index. If you are interested in numbers - one guy boasted how he has had 900 girl friends and another how he dated 15 at a time!

Aah, the stone age is back - a guy's virility is proven with the number of women he can keep up with! Wow! On national TV, this is what we get and this is what we apparently endorse, and the most pissing off was the fact that all the women just awwwed (in appreciation)! I wonder if not a single one of them felt that it was derogatory and humiliating to be in a "stud farm" where the horse's, oops sorry, the donkey's mating prowess decides his hunk factor.

Not one of the guys thought he could be manly enough to say he has never had a girl friend cos for his face he couldn't get one! Or that he was shit scared of being caught and therefore never dated more than one at a time - or (and I am really trying my luck here) that I respect women and therefore have a girl friend whom I have never two-timed!

Seriously, WTF!

WTF Series: Episode 02: Random Incidents!

So, the CM of Uttar Pradesh, the rape capital of India has dismissed the surge of crimes against women in her state as “Random Incidents”. Here’s the official quote,

“UP is a populous state and we consider such cases as random incidents. It will be wrong to say that such incidents reflect on the ability of the administration”

Very true, with over 199 million people, UP is the most Indian populous state, and the world’s most populous sub-national entity.

Out of these 199 million people, the approximate total number of women would be less than 94 million (now the sex ratio being skewed is a whole new blog post!).

Of these 94 million women, in the last 48 hours, only 6 have been raped – Ofcourse these are random incidents!

I found some statistics around such “random incidents” – mind you, these are only in one financial year and ofcourse include only registered cases. In 2007-08, the state recorded 21,215 cases of violence, including 2,066 cases of dowry death, 1,532 cases of rape, and 3,819 cases of kidnapping.

I have only one question to the authorities concerned – so how many more women and girls should be raped and harassed and killed before we can conclusively state that crime against women is a disease in endemic proportions in so many states of India, especially UP, and needs a coordinated administrative and judicial effort to control it?

Seriously, WTF!

Introducing WTF Series and Episode 01

Prelude

Now, here’s something new I am thinking of starting – The WTF series! You know there are those times when you come across something really really atrocious and the first and the most emphatic exclamation that you can manage is WTF!...

...There’s nothing really to elaborate or blog about in detail but you cannot simply just ignore and maybe a tweet wouldn’t do full justice to it!

Well WTF series is going to be an episodic succession of such WTF moments (maybe personal ones too), news items, snippets, quotes, conversations, experiences and more! I aim to keep these posts fairly brief – all compiled under the tag WTF.

So how do you like the idea? I would love it if you readers and visitors also contributed to WTF episodes!

So here I go…

WTF: Episode 01

News Item: Maharashtra raises drinking age to 25!

So you can decide who rules the country by exercising voting rights, you can decide who rules your life by marrying them (legally!) and also have children. You can drive, choose a career, get promotions, earn salaries with 5 and 6 digits, have bank accounts, trade in stocks and shares, change your religion or citizenship, if you wish, and even smoke, BUT you cannot drink alcohol.

Seriously, WTF!