big brother , big boss

i stopped watching or even trying to watch ‘big boss’ when rakhi sawant was evicted for the first time. now she is back and i don’t feel the need to return to the cat-fighting, bad hair-days, sweat pants and t-shirts of b-grade celebrities. now the shilpa shetty racism controversy in ‘big brother’ has reminded me of the absurd nature of the show- the fish tank in which strategically chosen characters snap each others heads off while brushing their teeth, washing clothes and cooking dinner. what happens when this fish tank sits in our living rooms every day and we watch this room within the box of the tv set play out its drama of survival? and survival in a world where the good and the bad are not so easily distinguished. to stay in the room the strategies have to be cunning. friends have to be made who want you around; while to stay on the audience must be seduced into liking you – for who you are (or at least purportedly so).

every week we are to watch this drama of death play itself out as one member leaves the room. is this box a place to let reality release itself from a world where all appearances are merely denials of the real gruesomeness that defines us? is this the violence that we crave for in a world where the cushions of political correctness and good behavior seem to have numbed us from the brutality that is our essence? perhaps the show reminds us about who we are and why in spite of our puny little bodies, our delicate clawless hands and our weak jaws carrying tiny blunt teeth ; we sit pretty at the top of the food chain.