Enforcing ratings on TV

I read an article about a 9 year old boy in India dying after trying to imitate a stunt performed in one of India’s reality TV show. This is one thing that has always bothered me. I have subscribed to an Indian channel here in US and you can be assured that there will always be some R Rated gory scenes telecast by this channel without any inhibitions. So I always change the channel when such scenes come by and when my 4 year old is watching TV with me. This is true even when I watch News on TV. They show violence without any kind of censor even during daily news. This never happens on US public channels. Of course there are specific ‘Rated’ channels. But you can never expect to see such things on public television. I wish such things are enforced even in India.It would prevent these kind of incidents.

Apart from this Parents too hold the responsibility to steer kids away from watching such things. Media alone cannot be blamed for this kind of incidents.

What do you think?

Who was that guy?

Yesterday while I was strolling in the mall with my family, I saw a guy but I just could not remember who he was. I was thinking long and hard for a long time but just gave up after sometime. Then suddenly when I woke up today morning, I remembered who he was. It was as if my brain was processing the request in the background through out yesterday night and found the answer and gave it to me today morning. Amazing how our brain works.

Sweetie, This is your first time!

I overheard this conversation while I was having lunch with my son in Ihop. A young waitress was describing about her wedding preparations to an old couple. She was describing how stressful the whole process is and how much time it’s taking out of her day. The couple who was listening to all of this quickly remarked ‘Sweetie, This is your first. The first one is always stressful’. To that the waitress replied ‘Yeah. I know. That’s what I have heard.’
How long is that marriage going to last????

This is not the first time I am hearing the exact same conversation. A Real culture Shock!

Aliens and Monsters

My 4 year old, like any other kid, is afraid of the dark. He always thinks that there is a monster somewhere in the dark waiting to attack him. So I have told him many times not to be afraid of Monsters and aliens because they are not real. Yesterday he told me a theory on why he is not going to be afraid of Monsters and Aliens anymore.

Varun: Daddy I am not scared of aliens and monsters anymore. You know why? Monsters are not real. They are only on TV. I am also not scared of aliens because they live outside the earth. But all the dead people who live outside the earth will fight and kill all the aliens. So I am not going to be scared of Aliens anymore.

I thought about it and laughed for quite a while. Pretty interesting theory. Then I gave a little dad’s talk explaining stuff to him. But I am not sure whether he got it or not. Anyway it was an interesting incident.