Sep 18, 2004 06:13 PM
3002 Views
(Updated Sep 18, 2004 06:50 PM)
I know that all Jassi fans will feel like murdering me after this one but here’s my opinion anyway. And I am prepared to face all sorts of comments for this. Ok. Here goes :
I am sick of the fuss being made over that buck-toothed, bespectacled, puppy dog resembling Jassi. Lately, I heard, a stamp with Jassi’s mug shot is being released. I was shocked to hear this. How about a stamp with Kalpana Chawla’s smiling, radiant face ? Has everyone forgotten that young, brilliant space explorer already ? Or are TV serials such a norm in this country that science, technology and development have no importance anymore ?
This is for the people who are not aware of this sensation called Jassi : Jassi is the main protagonist in a TV serial. She is supposed to have a terrible face, no figure but spectacular brains. She works in an office surrounded with beautiful women (obviously with no brains) and at the center of the plot is the dashing, handsome boss who is supposed to be some kinda prize catch for any woman. Jassi has a martyr like air about her. She bears the humiliations and hurts that people pile on her with a long suffering look and an invisible saintly halo around her head.
The message of the serial is : Ignore your appearance, look your worst, be so simple that you look almost stupid and sit and pray for that miraculous day when the world will wake up, feel sorry for humiliating you and come and fall on your feet and beg for your forgiveness. Then, forgive them, of course. After all, you are a saint, no less.
I don’t really know why this serial is titled ‘Jassi jaisi koi nahin’. Because there are many like Jassi. Just look around yourself. There are millions of people who in the name of simplicity make sure that they spend their lives looking ordinary and boring. They work 'very hard' and extol their virtues about slogging day and night, serving the whole world and never, ever taking care to look good. Why ? Because it’s selfish and vain to look beautiful / handsome. It’s a sin to take care of your appearance. It’s blasphemous to take pride in yourself.
We have been conditioned to think that a beautiful and well groomed person is bad while an unattractive person has to be good. Just like we feel that all rich people are terrible and all poor people are fantastic. Don’t we get surprised if we find a beautiful woman to be intelligent too? Don’t we get amazed when we hear that a rich man is large hearted and generous too?
About hard work. Is working hard the same as working smart ? You decide :
Imagine two people. One is A and the other is B . Both are given the same task. A finishes the job in one hour and goes out for a movie. B finishes the same job in five hours. No, he does not go for a movie. Now who is better ? A, of course. But wait. Who ‘looks’ better ? B, of course. A, the smart worker looks like he is having fun too and that immediately puts him in a category of someone untrustworthy and unreliable. B, the not so smart but ‘hard’ worker who has sacrificed going to the movies is the underdog, the poor thing. But the bottom line is : The results are quicker if A tackles the job. And the result is what matters finally. Appearances be damned.
Jassi is the queen of self-righteousness, a mentality that makes virtues out of being a downtrodden object of ridicule. It makes people complacent and smug about remaining under-achievers and looking their worst. Jassi is a terrible disease inflicted on a society already creaking from the weight of inferiority complexes.
It’s great to have brains, be very dedicated and work with a passion. But it will not hurt if you look beautiful and confident to compliment your achievements, will it ? And how about dropping that holier-than-thou act, honey ? It's human to have some vices too !
