Now that the crackers have been burst, and the roads have been cleared by magical elves who ensure we can go back to work the next day, I’d like to address something that bothered me last week. In case you’ve been living under a Hard Rock Cafe, you’d have seen the kid who went on KBC, was outspoken in his demeanour, and got ousted before he could win anything. The entire nation celebrated, shared memes, and felt a collective catharsis when the kid went home after winning a grand total of nothing. Memes about being humble, reels about being impolite – for a couple of days, the entire nation dumped its morals on a 10 year old kid.
Most of us can’t do basic math, remember our passwords, or quote our full Aadhaar card numbers. Yet, we held a 10-year old responsible for the moral decline of our civilisation! We expect our TV children to come in a particular variety – cute, polite, humble, and reverential. That’s also how we like our sportspersons and stars. I don’t really watch KBC anymore. After you cross 30, your life becomes a real-life Kaun Banega Crorepati where you chase the first crore on a daily basis. But it was refreshing to watch a kid who wasn’t overthinking or burdened by fickle ideas of humility. People from my generation, who were beaten up at home, school and tuition classes, were speaking about how the kid should’ve been beaten up!
I doubt the issue would have become such a rage if the person sitting opposite the kid wasn’t Mr Amitabh Bachchan. The kid hasn’t watched Sholay or Deewar. He has probably never heard of Shahenshah or Panama. Of course, Mr Bachchan was voted the ‘Superstar of the Century’. But this kid belongs to the present century. We overthink ten times before posting a story on Instagram. Yet, expect a 10-year-old to behave immaculately in front of the camera. As a nation, we used the erstwhile Angry Young Man to become angry old men!
We will move on to other memes. But the damage has been done. Yesterday, the kid apologised to the whole country, saying he has ‘learnt a lesson for life’. Congrats! We gave lifelong trauma to a 10 year old for not behaving appropriately with an 83-year-old! We loved Mr. Bachchan’s movies for playing a character who stood up against the establishment, for being outspoken.
Now, we hate on a kid for showing some individuality and spunk on a TV show. The actor who showed us our first glimpse of rebellion now has to sit across a child who is being punished for it. I hope all those people who shared the memes are happier people. I am sure the incident made them better human beings and helped them become grounded, wholesome individuals.
His teachers must be waiting for him to commit a mistake in school, only to quote ‘Ah! No wonder you behaved like that in front of Mr Bachchan’. In the future, the kid will have to face competitive exams and the rigours of making a career in the most populous country in the world. But he will always be the kid who behaved ‘rudely’ in front of Amitabh Bachchan. Kaun Dega Sympathy? Without knowing, the kid answered one of the most burning questions in India – How to behave in front of an elderly superstar? A) Polite B) Polite C) Polite D) Polite. And that, ladies and gentlemen, was another episode in India’s favourite show – Kaun Banega Sanskari?
(The writer’s views are personal)
