I personally am of the opinion that the prime time ‘saas-bahu’ serials must be watched by each and every member of the family and that too together. Sceptics please don’t look aghast! I can give you many benefits of watching these serials.
The following are just a few of them:
Benefits for women
1. Women can learn the art of looking younger as times progress in leaps of 20 years – (all you need is a new hairdo and a change of wardrobe)
2. The saas-brigade can learn the art of looking younger than their bahus (sometimes in spite of a dash of grey on the head)
3. Housewives can learn the art of succeeding in the corporate world, without even going to the workplace or by just attending a couple of meetings (so what if they have lasted less than a few minutes)
4. Women can get a rare insight in the new designs of jewellery (where chandeliers are passed off as ear-rings)
5. They can learn to make ‘rangolis’ on their foreheads which can be passed off as ‘bindis’ (Mr. Hussain – your canvas just got smaller!)
6. They can learn the art of working in the kitchen with the best of designer wear and perfect make-up (not to mention the matching stilettos)
7. The art of finishing small work while the husband is catching up on prime-time news (where the poor man is allowed nothing more than the headlines)
Benefits for children
1. In times of dwindling family sizes our children get to know what joint families are/were (so what if they conclude that they never want to be a part of the organised chaos)
2. Our children learn what a Chacha or a chachi is (so what if they are all wicked and scheming)
3. Our children will grow up much faster than what they should because they get to learn a lot from these serials (bad relationships, broken families, scheming relatives, extra-marital affairs, pre-marital sex, what-have-you?)
4. Our children are much better prepared for the intricacies of family life because the serials have exposed them to all such cases (however impractical and improbable many of them may be)
Benefits for the family as a whole
1. The family can learn the art of talking less, precise and to the point (during the breaks and before the next scene begins)
2. Working with a clock-like precision with house-hold chores happening robot-like (especially between 8pm and 10pm)
3. The family can learn the art of getting shocked on hearing a bad news one by one (in accordance to ones hierarchy in the family)
4. The art of wearing crisp and ready-to-go-out clothes all the time (even if you are going nowhere)
Before you think that men folk have nothing to learn from the serials, here are the benefits for men:
1. They can learn the art of getting promoted to the post of an MD of a large corporation (from a nobody a few episodes back)
2. They can learn how to age, again in leaps of 20 years, with grace, just grey hair and no paunch or wrinkles (wrinkle-free creams – Quit India)
3. The art of handling growing children who have never been to college (but suddenly leave for abroad to do their MBA)
4. The art of handling problems of the new-generation children – wayward sons with pierced body parts and tattooed to scare, daughters who are on their way to become un-wed mothers, obnoxious mannerisms picked up from the backstreets of New York or LA (though they wouldn’t have crossed the borders of Mumbai)
5. How to afford big cars for your children (irrespective of your means of livelihood)
Aren’t these good enough reasons to watch these serials all together as a family, especially during meal times? Some bright fellow has said – a family that eats together, stays together. Well we are eating – he didn’t mention anything about talking – did he????
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