I saw yesterday a post on an American portal indicanews.com which has totally put me off. This depicted birth of a child to a well known filmstar couple of India.
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https://indicanews.com/ranveer-deepika-become-parents-for-the-second-time-welcome-daughter
I remember a long time back I saw on TV the filmstar Amitabh Bachchan emerging from a Mumbai hospital carrying the newborn baby of his daughter-in-law Aishwarya, which had also deeply distressed me. I was then Chairman of the Press Council of India, and I strongly protested against this highlighting of something which was a purely private matter, hardly a thing to be shown on the media. The media organizations of India then castigated me for trying to suppress media freedom.
I regard showing such ‘news’ of the birth of a child to a filmstar totally disgusting, and it reveals to what low depth the media ( both in India and America ) has sunk, in its search for increasing circulation and raising TRP rating, by dishing out ‘mirch masaala’ ( sensation creating news ) to the public.
I also regard it insulting to the hundreds of millions of women of India ( and also of Pakistan, Bangladesh, and other underdeveloped countries ) of poor or lower middle class families, whom I regard as our true heroes, not our filmstars whom our media’s gross lack of any sense of propriety or proportion, has placed on pedestals.
Most people hero-worship famous political leaders such as Abraham Lincoln, Winston Churchill, and Lenin, or brilliant military commanders like Alexander the Great, Julius Caesar, and Napoleon. I too admire many of them.
However, my greater heroes are those who remain anonymous.
In particular, I salute the brave women of the Indian subcontinent who selflessly and quietly dedicate themselves to feeding their families and managing their homes on the modest incomes earned by their husbands or through their own work.
These women perform back-breaking labour throughout the day — washing clothes, cooking, caring for children, and maintaining their homes. Many also contribute to the family income by working outside the home.
It is estimated that about 57% of Indian women are anaemic, indicating that many do not receive adequate nourishment.
https://www.tribuneindia.com/news/haryana/57-women-in-india-suffer-from-anaemia-says-doctor
Despite this, many women ensure that their children and husbands eat first, often sacrificing their own needs.
Should we not admire them ?
I regard them as our real heroes, not our filmstars.
https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/blogs/satyam-bruyat/women-s-day/?source=app
https://nayadaur.tv/05-Mar-2020/why-i-as-an-indian-support-pakistan-s-aurat-march
I have written an article advocating banning of beauty contests, fashion parades, etc
https://indicanews.com/justice-katjumiss-world-contest-2023-in-india
I was particularly distressed by the 30th April 2012 issue of the journal ‘India Today’. The cover of this issue showed the cleavage of a female breast, and the words mentioned there were ‘The Booby Trap – Women want them perfect. Men want less flab. Breast surgery is the new rage’. Inside the issue was an article which began ‘Woo hoo! Its Happy Cleavage Day. How should I celebrate?’ Then followed all the details about breast surgery to increase the female breasts to make them more attractive for men. This was said to have become a rage in India. The editorial mentioned the cost – Rs. 1.5 to 2.5 lacs, and said it was no longer unaffordable.
My reaction to all this was — what has most of the media become? Have you lost all sense of shame? In a poor country like India where most women are bravely feeding and supporting their families on the pittance which their husbands, or they themselves, earn, is it not a gross insult to them to talk of breast enlargement by surgery?
I hope Ritu Jha, who runs indicanews.com from California, and is herself a woman, will keep the above in mind in future, before publishing news of the birth of a filmstar’s child.
