the reality without the show

There is this thing about minors pretending to be adults- psychologically, a complex well defined and explained scientifically. How do we expain a situation where, in a reality show, the minor girl or boy emotes, sings, articulates, behaves so adult.... to say the least, its embarrassing. And by my reckoning, not legalized

I call it exploitation- I also call it taking advantage. I do not call it talent, or artistry. Neither do I call it fair- it is inhuman.

Please for Gods sake, and in the name of sanity, stop this. Let children be children; let them particpate in matters that concern their own age group- let them not behave precoccious; please allow them their childhood. I cannot think of my five year old daughter emoting to a raunchy bollywood item number just as I cannot think of my sixteen year old singing and acting out a nursery rhyme..... do we understand? Its simply incongruous- I think thats the word!

I can still not enjoy a ten year old singing a romantic number - I feel all bunched up inside when I hear him sighing and wailing- yes, thats what I call it. Or a sexy cabaret/bar number is so hard to tolerate when a little girl renders it with all the vocal nuances it requires. I agree that its their talent- but lets then put it to good use. Lets be our age. Lets celebrate all the growing up each one does by respecting it.

communication etiquette

What are we communicating? To whom, and how? What is the imperative? What can we achieve from the action? These are just some of the questions that dictate the ground rules that we observe when we chart out a communication plan for clients. Can we please apply the same to ourselves?

What goes around, comes around! OMG, it sure does!

I am talking of emails! Especially the ones which say, "if you care for me, send this back to me too, and to this many others, and you will receive good luck in the next so many days....."

Do we have a right to send these out? To whom do we send these out? With the underlying threat of a disaster in case the recipient does not wish to forward it to those twenty others? I would not send it to anyone I love. And why should they be forwarded? Do they have a social message, apart from the usual I care and I love and I wish story? Even if they do have an underlying social message, is it fair to insist on forwarding?

I am very uncomfortable receiving such an e mail, and more uncomfortable forwarding it to my friends who may view it as an unwelcome intrusion . Unwelcome because the barrage of emails received is not funny these days, starting from personal, to promotional to head hunting to deal swapping, to broking to selling refilled cartridges, to e -marketing research tools, and so on. Intrusion because it comes into the mailbox at a time when the box owner is looking for specific information and this request to forward puts them in a 'shall i- shall i not' mode.

The worse case is when over the weekend, the blackberry gets jammed with all these forwards with heavy graphics and due to poor remote access, the recipient is unable to clear his or her mailbox and ease the jam- what happens then?What if important business details or personal information is jammed also? Can we compensate for a deal lost due to access denied, or a relationship busted due to a jammed mailbox?

Then why can't we be more focussed in our communication imperative?

Om Sai Ram

To the profound One-
The Omniscient and the Omnipotent;
My Master, Mentor and Protector,
The reality of my dreams-
He lives in every cell that breathes in my body.
He is before every breath I take
And lives before I do....
And after me too.
To that power, I dedicate this effort
And pray for sustenance, for guidance and for peace on earth and goodwill to all men.