Reality Bites

Shinjini - does that ring a bell? Well, if you have been watching the news channels (Indian), your answer would be 'Yes'. I just happened to watch the footage of the infamous Bangla reality show in the news yesterday. A heavily made-up Shinjini (she is just 16) sobbing away as the judges one after the other points out her 'mistakes' and rebukes her remorselessly. The whole nation seems to be following up the developments of this bit of news as the girl is being treated for paralysis and depression in some hospital in Bangalore. The parents sure must be feeling elated as their child is now famous! I am not sorry for being sarcastic.
I felt sick watching the whole thing. A child, dressed up in glittery costumes, made to look like a sexy woman and sways and hip-swings to some 'Bollywood' number, trying hard to impress the whistling audience and the hard-hearted judges.
What is happening to us? In the name of game shows, are we trying to rob innocent children of their childhood? These children are taxed beyond their capabilties through rigorous training by their ambitious parents. They brainwash the children and convince them the 'importance' of their victory in the show. Big money is involved and hence threats cannot be far behind when selfish, ego-struck parents push their offspring to the limit. In this process, they forget that the child is highly impressionable and is ill-equipped in coping with too much pressure. Such traumatic events can destroy the child's health and her/his outlook on life itself.
Why dont we ever treat children as they are? Why do we want to speed up their growth, making them talk and walk like grown-ups? Of all the places, please let us not have children brought into reality shows where everything is far from reality. Children by nature are never pretentious, what they say they mean it and what they think they say it. Let us not fool our children or rather not teach them to fool themselves.