I had posted a few comments on an article written about ’’Friends’’. This the complete article and the research findings.

This article has statistical findings (by a student of the AIIMS, India) and has extracts from a report written by me in 2003. The mentioned research paper was reproduced in part in reputed Indian magazines. What follows is the startling truth about the declining moral standards in urban Indian society.

Meghna Sharma* is 15 years old. She studies in a well recognized school from South Delhi. She is the only child to two successful doctors. Meghna had lived a very normal life going to school, being part of the school handball team and watching soap operas on TV. She was also excessively obsessive about Rachel a character from the popular tele-serial ?Friends? and wanted to be ?just like her? when she grew up. Little did her parents know that Meghna had already started all the groundwork to be just like her tele-idol.

The evening of 13nth February 2001* was eventless enough. Meghna had left home at around 7 pm since the local division of the Friends Fan Club (the innocent name given by the children to their own club that let them exhibit the creativity and fantasy about the Friends characters), was organizing a ?Viva forever!!!? Friends Party, on the eve of Valentine?s Day. It was very normal for 13 year old Meghna to attend such parties. After all it was ?just a Friends party?. But, little did they know that Meghna was to play Rachel to Bunty?s* Ross during the sleep-over in the friends house that followed the party.

The Sharmas were slightly surprised at Meghna?s high spirits the next morning and put it down to the after-effects of the party. Meghna had kept saying she is becoming more and more like Rachel and she was so happy about it, and that ?Ross? was simply great at the party. It all dawned on the Sharmas only later but by then it was too late to stop the damage.

Soon Meghna was complaining of nausea in the mornings and the Sharmas as dutiful parents and doctors immediately took matters in their own hands. What the found out shocked them beyond belief and they are yet to come out of the shock to this day. What?s more shocking is that little Meghna could not understand the gravity of the situation and that she thought what had ensued between her and Bunty was completely natural! After all, if Ross and Rachel can do it and they were ?just friends? why can?t she and Bunty?

What caused this kind of declining sense of morality among our kids? Are people who say ?yes this is the direct effect of what is being fed on TV day after day? really bonkers? Or could they really be right to some extent. A student from the Psychology Department in AIIMS seems to have the answer for it.

Srivatsan Bharghava* has been doing his intern training in the psychology department of AIIMS was startled by the remarkable number of Meghna-like situations that he comes across in AIIMS. He proceeded to investigate. He used the resources of all his friends across most of the leading hospitals from the major cities to unearth these startling statistics. He has always thought that teenage pregnancies were higher among the villagers in India since there was a higher incidence of teen marriages in those areas. What he found out startled him? and us.

Number of recorded teenage pregnancy cases in,

..................1990 ? 1995.....................1995 ? 2000................2001 - 2003
Delhi.................235...........................2,435.................
.........2,621
Bombay.............192...........................1,623...........
................2,289
Calcutta.............210...........................1,895..
.........................1,524
Chennai.............46...........................
756...........................632
Bangalore..........28.........................
..692...........................727

Contrary to our opinion, there has been a multifold increase in the number of teenage pregnancies in India. ?At last we have something to defeat the west in? says Srivatsan with a wry chuckle. A trifle tasteless but the harsh reality of the truth is carried across. The increase in the number of metropolitan teenage pregnancies cannot be solely attributed to the population increase. If the current trends of immoral conduct among our nation?s young continues we would soon have a very big problem in out hands. The reason propounded is startling but is quite believable.


Cable Television ? the influence of the Western Media
Some might say it is preposterous but the increase of cable television and serials like the aforementioned ?Friends? have a remarkable effect on the psyche of the urban teenager. Not only does he enjoy the jokes in the serial, but also the blatant sexuality that is being presented. Mainly because of conflicting surroundings and out of sheer curiosity, falls victim to the inappropriate and unguided exposure to un-Indian practices.

?Sex in India is sacred. Has always been since the days of Vyatsyayana? says noted psychologist Ajit Mehta*. ?It is inappropriate to present it in such a flippant way as shown by the western serials. Indians in India do not have the mental structure to handle blatant sexual freedom as shown in these western serials. Such exposure to serials like ?Friends? and ?Will & Grace? that feature indiscriminate relationships between the characters is harmful and is sure to corrupt the target audience? the teenage Indian mind?.

?The teenager sees no-one like the characters in ?Friends? among grown adults around him (because of the seclusion of Sex in the Indian society) and does not know what is on-screen is not the case even in America. He is hence confused and resorts to what comes naturally to him. Try it out!?

?Considering the growing environments in India, it is infinitely better to telecast pornographic acts and present it as wrong, rather than show such gross justifications of immoral acts by grown individuals on primetime television? Mehta justifies.

What is the solution to this problem? Is it banning of such serials in India? Is it censorship? Or is it active participation by parents to teach their children that what is being justified in the west is wrong by Indian standards? Mehta says a judicious application of all three.

Children should understand that what is West IS West and is CANNOT be Indian. Serials such as ?Friends? should be banned or severely censored. People must be taught that Rachel and Ross can never really live and be respected in an Indian society.

Also, Mehta says ?Encouragement of serials such as ?Friends? would increase the risk of similar serials from the Indian entertainment industry that would further increase the risk of such indecent activities spreading into every nook and cranny of India.?

’’In-fact he suggests children who watch Friends should spend twice the amount of time with the Bhagavat Gita or the Manu Smriti. Probably then they would learn what is truly Indian from those great books and realize their true culture rather than just jump from tree to tree trying to ape the west. Instead of just following what they did, we should try to teach them the glory that is India by taking every step to popularize our very own serials there?. Sage-like words from an Indian settled abroad indeed!!


*names and dates changed for privacy purposes.