Hey DABBA!!!

"Sirf daal chawal sabzee ka nahi, Paneer mushroom gobi ka nahi, Aare Methi Mutter malai ka nahi, Balke itni saari mamta aur dher saare pyar se bhara… hey Dabba!!!"

This song from ‘Stanley ka Dabba’, was one good time I was having seeing all the food going around and filling up containers to be taken by kids to school. Apart from the fact that the visuals did build an appetite, the movie and the song- both captured the spirit of relations that a dabba can build.

I never really carried a dabba to school or college or work till 2008 as my school was a few buildings away, college was a walk and later got adapted to canteen food. From KG to PG, the only place I remember carrying a dabba on a regular basis was to my coaching classes in 12th. It was a big event then. We used to be in the class from 7 am to almost 1:30 pm and breakfast had to be a feast. In fact, the thing was so big that one of our classmates who stayed in the same building made it a point to carry a dabba and join in the feast. Bottom line, carrying a dabba and having cold food; both are seemingly impossible for me.

The flash point for me was when I completed my PG and started work again- only to avoid a relapse of Hepatitis (aka Jaundice), I started carrying a Dabba. But soon I realized that having lunch together was much of an office social behavior. It was one place where the office boy to the CEO could share one table and food as well. A place for informal chats, discussion, jokes and leg-pulling- lunch rooms served it all.

‘Har dabba yeh kehta hai: ke isse kaun aur kahan se lata hai…’- Yes this is a fact. You really can learn a hell lot from the food and the type of dabba about a person than a market research will yield.

The family man has a dabba service from a dabbawala and has simple meal. The ones who carry food are either a working couple or just stays too far for a dabba service. Bachelors who carry food are the maa ka laadla’s- you can expect fancy food every day. So paneer and pratha is staple diet. Of course chicken, Chinese rice or biryani is served from the left over of last evening- no wonder they have the spices all well absorbed and hence tastier. The ones who help themselves to the canteen or nearby eateries are usually the ones on a outdoors job.

Gujratis in this regard are a unique case. A gujju bhai; no matter from which part of Mumbai, will have a 3 course meal, no compromise. Now if he was from Charni Road, Ghatkopar or any Western Suburb he will have a Farsan, main course and a sweet at the end. If it was a up market Gujju from Walkeshwar you can expect a soup, some fancy snack/ fast food and to finish off a sweet.

Contents of a dabba are also a reflection of an individual’s background. How do I make this statement- well recently I was sharing a table with 4 other friends and the containers before us gave up the story. One had a regular tiffin service since his wife also worked. One had a premium tiffin service as he stayed alone and this was one meal he enjoyed. Another had sabudana khichadi thanks to a fast enforced by his wife. The next one had a pulao from his newlywed wife (his expression gave away a lot about the end result) and last was me- left over chicken and paratha. Finally, after loads of debate if it was right day or not, all had the chicken and the rest was shunted off.

So finally, my mind goes back to that real old Doordarshan filler (saw it as a kid) of a School master trying to discipline students making noise in the recess- we are at times hammered with the idea that we are unified in diversity; a living example is the lunch room and ; the Dabba…

Unreality TV

Cable TV came into India in 1991 and caught the frenzy of the Indian masses. Till that point, the four Indian metros had a choice of two channels while most of India had only one- all state owned. The programming was more of a monarchy run from Mandi House and content was what the head at Doordarshan wanted to show rather than what people wanted to see. I remember the days went from bad to worse in case of a state mourning- a day full of shehnai, veena and sitars echoing a sad tone.

This has changed over the last 20 years and now I am not even sure of all the channels I get on TV. Being a part of media, I do track developments, but with the kind of choices available, it is impossible to know every small change or addition. But in all this, I do have one point that I am upset about. The biggest attraction that came to me as a transition point between the Doordarshan and Satellite TV has got diluted- music channels.

Okay, I agree that music is my weakness. No wonder MTV was like a major attraction in my early impressionable years.(Well a part of the reason for writing this is I hate what comes on it over a weekend) Yes it was a certain amount of cultural change in terms of attitude, clothing and vocabulary that were coming into our lives from a five minute video on MTV. No amount of blurring or smart edits kept us away from realizing where there was possibly a passionate moment or nudity in a video.(at times the blurring made it more obvious that it was something forbidden that was happening here)

One of the changes in the Music Channels that I certainly am not comfortable with is their shift away from music into a domain of reality shows. I would say that I was comfortable when Channel V came up with shows like super singer; it was an organic shift; a music channel hunts talents and put them up on a stage, cuts an album. Viva made it big, Asma did not. But this was a much better platform than Sa Re Ga Ma at that time- the latter has become a popular breeding ground for talent now.

MTV made it big with Roadies. Raghuram always says he is what he is because of a troubled childhood (he said that on stage in my college but it might be just sarcasm) - well his brain child definitely attracts people I believe certainly have been through some trauma. The success opened the flood gates and out came a whole avalanche of shows that had only one motive- be different, even if it meant weird or fake or staged. A channel called ‘Real’ was launched. A GEC like Colors launched with a reality show. 24 hours surveillance camera’s made Big Boss and mega hit.

What pains me is the fact that if this is entertainment as demanded by audiences today, we have become sadists. I want to see a certain person undergo an agony, some embarrassment or witness a catfight and feel good about it. Firstly I am completely aware that it is staged- don’t believe me… well how else does someone who faced pranks in “Axe ur Ex” feature on “Dare2 Date” within three months? Most of the participants are on these show for cheap fame- I mean why else would a guy go the full monty before a packed auditorium on a reality show as a task??? (does anyone recall a case against Channel V where 2 girls striped on a street???)

What is very much disturbing is the way these unreal incidents are portrayed. Take revenge on your Ex- pure sadist behavior to feel good. Plotting against people to eliminate them, playing the honey trap, acting the seductress and tons of beeps on being voted out- no wonder Dolly Bindra was once most Googled by Indians. (Until Poonam Pandey came in)

I know this debate is going be endless, more so; not have any kind of resolution. But if the generation before me felt that MTV was the cause of social changes and rebellions on the rise in Gen X; I really am not sure how the Unreality of TV today will play its role in shaping Gen Y.