Ae meri Zohra-chubbi

The marketers love to see you FAT. I swear by French Fries!
Because fat women (and men) eat out more, have more medicines, consult more doctors, use more beauty aids than their not so fat cousins, work harder to not look their weight thus focus more on clothing and of course work hard to get back into shape.
With all these things going for marketers (and media), who would not want to have fat people around?
As India bloats (Add India today statistics here) the marketers are only too happy.
But why are we bloating?
Because we are eating the same that we used to in school & college but have stopped taking the bus (thus no walking to the bus stop), sit in air-conditioned environs (thus stopped sweating) burning, do not have the time to go home (leave aside a game of cricket or tennis), have more alcohol to consume (no need to pool for a bottle of Old Monk, just take a cab to the nearest pub & let the waiter be your saki) & eat more non-vegetarian fare than what our grand father would have ever imagined (over 65% of Indians are no-vegetarians today – Hindu state?).
No matter how much wellness is reported by media, the inches are not going anywhere yet. Statistics show that two thirds of working people joining a gym to lose weight, give up in the first 10 days.
While the nation ‘seems’ to be becoming a health freak the chances are that people are heavier rather than healthier.

Thin is in but fat is not out!

My Super Sweet 16

A look at the super successful primetime fare on the highly rated TV show My Super Sweet 16 throws open opportunity for TV programmers in India. If it can be tweaked for a little younger kids say between 8 & 14 it can work wonders.
The original show is about the excesses of privileged youths marketing the achievement of making through their 16th year. Parents sign cheques of USD 200,000 saying it’s worth it!
The parties, as the Time magazine recently said, are the equivalent of Hillary Duff’s MP3 videos. It is all about a celebration of self.
Growing number of urban middle class families, with fewer children at home, are already going overboard in ensuring that their kids get the best. I usually say believe that the socio economic classification does not apply to kids. Because every parent does more for his kid than what he can realistically afford.
Contemporary attitude towards parenting is like the average first date – we all go overboard!
What better way could there be to help parents see what really is the best that they can do for their kids than by showing them (and their kids) how people, who have the money, do it.
When the Mittal, Chatwal & Subroto Roy Sahara’s children’s wedding can give so many ideas to the Indian elite, why can’t a show for elite kids stoke middle-class aspirations.
Rarely would one have come across a kid who does not look forward to his birthday celebrations. A program like this would only make kid’s aspirations a little more specific and put parents under a little more pressure!
No matter how unethical or immoral it might make Television programming look, it would sure make parents, and more importantly kids, take note.

It sure is about self-centered greediness that gives infantile a bad name, but if people like it, let’s give it to them.

If the thought sounds rather too outrageous for kids it can very well be done for teens or youth. The idea is to make everyone in the program famous for a price and make everyone watching the program aspire for it.
There is a new industry taking shape that is devoted to re-creating celebrity culture for anyone who can afford it, fame is a commodity like any other. A show like this could gratify those who have it by helping them flaunt it & would connect with those who don’t by giving them what they love to read in tabloids and supplements of leading dailies.

Nu Uth One - Geography is History

Starting today I'd share with you learnings and observations on youth under the title - Nu Uth. You'd get Nu Uth udates regularly.

Here goes the first one.

For the urban youth of today, technology is an enabler and geography is a concept of the past.
This is manifested in their attitude towards of social networking websites like Orkut, MySpace etc. A quick glance of these websites indicates a sharply youth oriented user ship.
Most of these social networking websites are a life-sized illustration of the concept of 5 degrees of separation. Young boys and girls do not just interact with their offline friends but also get to explore a whole new network of offline relationships, online.

Apart from interacting with friends & friend’s friends and so on, a large number of young boys and girls registered on these sites are active members of multiple ‘communities’.
A lot can be understood about the Nu Uth from their community affiliations. Also, these communities bust the myth that Nu Uth is poorer in belief & is groping for a cause. Actually they have both and they are actively engaged in them too, just that the location of the community, cause & the belief has moved away from slogan shouting & striking down the classic broadways to scrapping and mass messaging on broadband data pipes.

For the Nu Uth, passion and principles are free of physical space.