The Venom of Web Series & Indian Society

The Hon’ble Chief Minister of Madhya Pradesh Shivraj Singh Chouhan expressed his anger on the web series “Tandav” for openly violating the code of conduct in the name of freedom of speech. He informed Mr. Prakash Javadekar, the Cabinet Minister I&B and asked for an immediate ban on the web series. The posters of ‘Tandav’ were burnt in Indore and Bhopal and the protesters appealed people to unsubscribe from Amazon as this web series is showing objectionable content and disrespecting religious feelings.

The immediate action on the OTT (over-the-top) platforms is indeed commendable but Tandav is not the only web series that is harming the societal norms; they are aplenty. The visual entertainment today is dominated by online web series that are showing sexual content, drug abuse, foul language and extreme violence. Just a few in written for you:A very popular web series showing a mother asking for a cigarette to her teenage son, the other representing broken relationships and extramarital affairs to be the ‘new cool’ trend of life and most of them showing earning luxuries by hook or crook should be the sole aim of human life which is really a growing threat to Indian society and its integrity where family is considered to be the basic unit as well as the strongest foundation. The scenes of violence and cruelty are spine chilling in almost all the crime series and affect viewers’ mind and psychology adversely. Even after having finished the 'important task' of watching these harrowing series such scenes keep haunting and disturbing the viewers’ mind and heart.

The nationwide row over the vulgarity and obscenity being shown by these virtual contents should not be appeased without getting results. The degraded abusive language has become today’s parlance for youth and teenagers with a long list of cuss words (gender biased). In these popular ‘venomous series’ women are mostly portrayed as temptresses and sexual objects as if they have no other motive in their lives and no prowess to make livelihood for themselves. The theory of Literary Criticism tells us about Catharsis, ‘the effects of purgation and purification of emotions especially pity and fear through visualizing something. when a spectator finds a protagonist caught in an ugly situation, he enjoys some relief for himself as the story helps his outlook and insight to be broader and relate himself with the protagonist. This is the only reason web series are so addictive. Human brain tends to relate or compare with what it sees and perceives and the same process happens when we get involved in binge-watching these web series. Despite knowing that the characters are fictitious we take the inspiration and try to imitate them in real life.

 If we talk about the increasing popularity of these web series we will find that not  just teenagers and youth but adults are also fascinated to entertain themselves through virtual content and such platforms. The entertainment companies upload the entire series at once to encourage binge-watching and the viewers fall easily in the traps with the cliff-hangers structured at the end of every episode. Many viewers agree to the ill-effects and report repercussions on their physical and mental health along with decline in productivity as they are hooked to OTT platforms for entertainment and can’t get rid of it. 

Thought Provoking Read : How Online Outrage Kills Innocence

Almost every series shows nudity, abuse, racism and derogatory remarks on religious and cultural beliefs as there’s no governing body to monitor and censor the content on OTT platforms and these web series are given free hand to vitiate the values of our society in the name of entertainment.

We agree that OTT platform has a great future and it provides opportunities to many newcomers to showcase their acting talents but there must be a check on these contents as they are easily accessible to all age groups. It’s time to stand against such violating sources of entertainment that pollute our society and our young generation. We urge the government to set up a regulation to check the obscenity on OTT platforms.

The Pursuit of Perfection

                             I will fall, I will fail but I will never give up.

It’s often said that, “Best is not just the superlative but the Enemy of Good.” We all yearn to attain perfectionism in our own realms of personal, professional, emotional and social potpourris but hardly we stop and think how strongly we are tethered to get attacked and injured by this double-edged sword that we fail to notice and mitigate the negatives of perfectionism and keep striving to meet hopelessly unrealistic standards. A positive and healthy understanding of perfectionism can propel us towards achieving our goals but there’s a big chasm between enjoying the journey towards perfectionism and the destination. To fill this gap one needs the key to find balance and to relax into a place where good enough becomes the ‘new perfect’. Getting out of this shackle can make you more adept at meeting the challenges and free up more time to work on the changes needed to bring work and life into better alignment.

The Pressure of Performance:

Many perfectionists live in the tendencies that are rooted in fear and insecurity as they are constantly under performance pressure. They worry never to lose their meticulousness and well organized systems of working and often become circumspect about channelizing their strengths just to cling to their perfectionism. In order to maintain the performance level often indulge into incredibly time consuming details and efforts which is at times detrimental to your health and mental well being. A perfectionist toils in search of this amorphous goal of perfection and repetitively mulls over a thought or a problem without ever coming to a resolution. It results into anxiety and stress. In pursuit of giving the best they start ruminate and tend to become less-forgiving of them.

The Penchant of Perfectionism:

Ironically we dwell in a world that idolizes perfectionism. From a very young age our parents, teachers, coaches and peers push us to be high achievers but they fail to teach us the balance. We sweat and exert ourselves relentlessly to fulfill our desire of being the best which debilitates our capabilility of understanding ‘what is enough?’ and ‘where to pull back?’ Extensive e research has found the psychology of perfectionism to be rather complex. Perfectionists strive to produce flawless work, and maintain higher level of motivation and expertise than non-perfectionists. However, they are more likely to set inflexible and excessively high standards, to evaluate their behaviour overly critically, to hold on an all-or-nothing mindset about their performance. They believe that their work is either perfect or a failure. So, to a certain level perfectionism is beneficial but not constructive always.

Start Loving your Imperfections:

“To err is to human,” we know that without making mistakes we can’t learn and accomplish anything. If we know and accept the idea of being the authentic version of ourselves, we will start loving our efforts and learning from our mistakes derives deep satisfaction from within. It’s a lot easier to tolerate making mistakes and having flaws if we know how to curb rumination, if excessive thinking is just going in circles without helping to find a solution, it will definitely put us into a bad mood, so let it go.

Enriching Read: Where Theres Will Theres Way

How to Change this Attitude:

The most popular approach to mitigate the lows and negatives of perfectionism is to plan how you can improve by 1%. Have smaller goals so that you’ll start to see that there are easier ways to improve than what you’re imagining. Think positive about your past and reflect on times when you had tried something new. It will fill you with exultation despite your failure in that attempt. This helps you “learn from your experiences”.

Sometimes try to bring distractions to your routine life as they can break the monotony and the consistent patterns which you have set for yourself. Once you begin working on moderating your perfectionist tendencies, a weekly review is recommenced through which you can reflect on your progress and see the change where your perfectionism has a positive impact and where it does not have. This way you will redirect yourself to build a more sensible and practical perfectionism in yourself. Calibrate your standards and understand what you are writing or saying doesn’t have to be the final word; it just has to contribute something useful. Create a checklist that ensures you follow a process with measurable targets and make yourself ‘Perfect’ to harness the positives of perfectionism.

Let me continue to stride on my journey towards perfection and excellence, I will fall, I will fail but I will never give up.

                                                                                                                       -Rachna Babel

A Homemaker Holds Equal Status in Economy

The Pivotal Role of a Homemaker

In an unprecedented and historic verdict by the Supreme Court of India, on Tuesday, Jan 5, 2021 the judgment says, “There can be no exact calculation or formula that can magically ascertain the true value provided by an individual gratuitously for those that they are near and dear to. The attempt of the Court in such matters should therefore be towards determining, in the best manner possible, the truest approximation of the value added by a homemaker for the purpose of granting monetary compensation.”

The conception that house makers do not “work” or that they do not add economic value to the household is a problematic idea that has persisted for many years and must be overcome, Honourable Justice NV Ramana observed in a judgment delivered in this case.

The honourable court was disposing an appeal arising out of Motor Accident Compensation Claim filed by two toddler daughters and the elderly father of a man, in Delhi who died along with his wife following a bike collision with a car. The deceased wife was a home maker. The Motor Accidents Claim Tribunal (MACT) had ordered a compensation of Rs. 40.71 lakhs, which was reduced to Rs. 22 lakhs by the Delhi High Court. The claimants challenged the High court ruling before the Supreme Court, which came up before a Bench of Justices NV Ramana, Abdul Nazeer and Surya Kant. The bench enhanced the total compensation as 33.20 lakhs. 

The judgment, as well as the opinion, is praiseworthy and significant enough to encapsulate the pivotal role of a homemaker in supporting a family's economy leading to an added value to a nation's but the reality is an illusion for millions of homemakers across the globe who are actually privy to their own economic value and all the productivity which attain by each and every task they are doing for their children and their families.

How repugnant it seems! Not just India but in many other countries women, specially homemakers are considered of lesser or no economic value as they don’t earn and contribute (monetary) to the expenses required to run a house and feed a family. The status of women is still unchanged and least respected in many parts of the world. They take care of the house, cook, clean, raise the children, and do other activities in plethora which nurture a family. A homemaker is indeed a pillar of strength and leaves no stone unturned in making the family members grow and achieve they deserve and aspire for but her place is never incorporated in the economic analysis; neither by the family nor by the country saying she doesn't add to the monetary gains but what about saving all the expenses which would be made to take care of a family in her absence. Is GDP a true indicator of welfare of a nation? Her services help the nation achieve better health, nutrition, Education and human capital formation; surprisingly she does all these important jobs gratis. Women, in villages, contribute to the cottage industry, cattle rearing, farming and other repair works without being counted.  

Interesting Read:  Women-Warriors-Demand-Gender-Neutrality

Gandhiji once said, “Woman is the noblest of God’s creation, supreme in her own sphere of activity.” How women can talk of supremacy when most of the times they struggle to achieve the status of equality both at home and at workplace. In 2017, a study showed the overall gender pay gap in India was 20%. While men with 0-2 years of experience earned 7.8 % higher median wages than women, in the experience group of 6-10 years, the pay gap was 15.3 %. The pay gap becomes wider at senior-level positions which really put a question mark on the ethos of our culture and society.

Despite the struggle and the grind that a homemaker goes through, she continues to be categorized as a non-economic entity she is never referred as an asset in a nation’s economy. Granted that a housewife’s activities are diverse as well as multi-tasking, and are not easy to calculate in monetary terms, but to underestimate her worth and unconditional support is not fair. She holds equal status in the economy indirectly if not directly. Hitting out the chauvinistic approach, the Supreme Court of India had said, “Such categorization of about 36 crore women in India by the authorities betrays a totally insensitive and callous approach towards the dignity of labour and …also indicative of gender bias.”

With such judgments and quotes, we hope that someday economists will be able to set an economic value to household services of women to arrive at a correct estimate of the country’s GDP, and we are anticipating the scenario when a housewife will be given her due worth and win this highly debatable economic analysis to be in their favour.

Being a housewife is one of the noblest professions. Be proud of yourself if you are committed to your duties of a housewife!!