Desi parents – those with an overpowering urge to control their kid’s life.
In most cases, these parents have two means:
1. Forcing their kids to do certain things, like taking up sciences, against their will.
2. Forcing them to not do certain things, like date in school, etc, again, against their will.
The one thing that brings both these means together is the lack of a solid reason as to what parents want their kids to do or not do!
That brings me to yet another unreasonable parenting trend that Indian parents love to follow.
Forbidding their kids from watching English/Hollywood films. I mean, I can speak for the 90s with complete surety!
You would be lying if you never found your parents changing the channel if anything intimate was on screen. And this is in respect to desi content. As far as English films were concerned, they were a complete no-no.
I understand that kids below the age of 13 should be kept away from such content, but after that, if you tell them to not do something, then parents should be prepared to stand in the face of situations where their kids do exactly that.
So, every time my mother told me to change the channel if she found me watching Star Movies, little did she know that I’d be watching the channel at 11 in the night, after she went to sleep.
The first time my parents doubted their upbringing was when they took me to a theater to watch Titanic. Shit got real the minute Rose took off her robe and asked Jack to paint her.
My parents moved awkwardly in their chairs, so much so that my mother even covered my eyes. That’s when I realized this was the best way to piss them off and that if I ever watch Hollywood films, I should never, I mean NEVER, EVER let them find out.
But you know how desi parents are, right? They’re going to land up in your room exactly when you’re in the middle of watching something questionable.
It happened with me when I was watching Pretty Woman and dear Lord, my mother freaked the fuck out at the sight of Julia Roberts and Richard Gere in a bathtub together!
I got thrashed for 45 minutes. She even considered banning TV time for me, despite my failed attempts of putting into context as to why Julia Roberts and Richard Gere were taking a bath together. And just when I though that I had seen all of my mother’s anger, my dad mentioned how Roberts plays a prostitute in the film. The following 10 minutes where when I got a glimpse of what probably goes on in hell.
TV time was banned for a week, to say the least.
After learning it the hard way, I decided to not watch Hollywood films at home. But they never said anything about American TV shows!
Since they were okay with me watching Small Wonder, I assumed they were okay with everything else too.
But I can’t possibly imagine sitting with them and watching something as vanilla as F.R.I.E.N.D.S primarily because it shows a group of girls and guys living in the same apartment.
For us, 90s kids, this struggle was real and each one of us took on it in our own unique ways. As far as our parents go, they still get awkward at the sight of Sunny Leone sexily advertising for condoms on TV.
Thankfully, they don’t change the channel anymore. Somewhere I believe, they’ve grown up too.