The reality shows are getting dirty. For the sake of fame, people are willing to fool themselves infront of the television cameras which are telecasted across the world.
Amrit Dhilion writes in The Times of India ( 3 August 2009)
As someone who believes we should take our secrets to the grave, i watched 'Sach Ka Saamna' with appalled fascination and a queasy stomach. The
participants bare their souls, admitting their misdeeds, betrayals, lusts, envy, hatred and evil thoughts in front of millions.
Most of us recoil from confronting such stuff even in the privacy of our own minds, wincing in pain if we go anywhere near those dark, deep, secrets because who, among us, has never done, or thought something, to be ashamed of? It is difficult to fathom what prompts the participants to reveal intimate secrets that horrify their loved ones, sitting opposite them, eyes wide open with disbelief.
Maybe fame or the prize money on offer. But even in these celebrity-obsessed and materialistic times, most people do not go around destroying precious, lifelong relationships in pursuit of fame and Mammon. Perhaps it's the urge to confess. Few things, apart from a long massage, are guaranteed to make you feel as light, refreshed and at peace with yourself as a good confession. Or, maybe, it's the thrill of playing with fire. A recent participant said that he had agreed to appear on the show for the 'excitement' of telling the truth.
The truth is indeed thrilling because it is more destructive than a thousand nuclear bombs. Its flames singe and burn. The Bible says ''the truth will set you free'' but it also unleashes utter devastation in our personal lives. Few relationships can survive the onslaught of truth, which is why i am firmly against too much of it. With the exception of three places our own minds, the courts and curriculum vitaes i'd say the less truth we have the better.
Who wants to hear what our wives, husbands, children, parents and friends really think of us? Who wants to know the crimes and transgressions committed by the people we cherish? Because truth has been overrated and elevated to a sacred principle, when people speak it, they feel little compunction about the suffering it causes. In fact, the only time people can go around breaking hearts and stabbing souls while feeling pious and self-righteous is when they are blabbering the truth. Uttering the truth is regarded as a moral licence to hurt.
But i can see how the thrill of revealing your innermost secrets could be intoxicating for some perverse individuals. You throw the dice and wait to see the results, to see the power you possess to shock and disappoint. Will the shattered best friend still love you after hearing that you slept with his wife? Will your daughter recover from the pain of hearing the lie detector proclaiming daddy to be a liar when you claim to have been a good father? The participants may have some obscure reasons for appearing on such shows but even more mysterious is why the people in their lives agree to their public humiliation. But i'm not wasting any sympathy on them. They have chosen to make spectacles of themselves.
The programme has shattered some of my illusions about India. I used to think, living in the UK some time ago, that two moral concepts shame and honour were disappearing there. There seemed little that people were not prepared to do. But, i used to think shame and honour were still alive in India where people were, in any case, culturally more reserved and private. This was a society where, to avoid shame and dishonour, you hid the truth even from your nearest and dearest. Yet here they are, unburdening themselves on national television.
As for what happens when they get home, God alone knows. If only the cameras would follow them home, we would see how the wife who told the world she wished her husband was better endowed sits down to rajma-chawal with him, and her in-laws.
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