India's (English-speaking) Child Genius?
The "search" for India's child genius is conducted in English, a language that about 60% of Indians can't understand or speak fluently. Does this mean that true genius in India is confined to the (admittedly large) middle/upper class minority? Or is it that we consider children who can't afford to go to expensive private schools (which, quite ironically, are called "public" schools in India) so inferior that they can't even be considered for such a contest.
I'm sorry if I sound cynical here, and I definitely don't have anything against popular television or the English language. But calling the show India's child genius can't possibly be right. Sample the first rule of eligibility:
Don't get me wrong though, I don't want the show to be shutdown or anything. If anything, I think the show is entertaining and presented quite well, even though the questions sometimes are a bit off. What I would like to see happen is either a change in the name of the show or a widening in the scope of talent search so that it become more faithful to its name. This, of course, might be too much to expect from the hubris laden, inconsiderate producers who came up with the name in the first place.
I'm sorry if I sound cynical here, and I definitely don't have anything against popular television or the English language. But calling the show India's child genius can't possibly be right. Sample the first rule of eligibility:
Any child may apply, who is between 10 years and 13 years of age, as of 1st September 2004, is a resident and citizen of India, is fluently conversant with written and spoken English, enrolled in a school in India that is duly recognised by a state or central government, and has scored an overall average of at least 80% or equivalent in school tests in the past two (2) academic years.The really strange part is that I have seen no popular protests against this. In fact, a man as widely respected as our current president has lent support (and perhaps a certain degree of legitimacy) to the show by meeting the contestants. Political parties that take to the streets for the smallest, most insignificant disgressions have chosen to completely ignore the issue. This is probably because opposition to the show is likely to earn them the ire of the Indian middle class, one of their most vocal critics. But really, how can this possibly be justified?
Don't get me wrong though, I don't want the show to be shutdown or anything. If anything, I think the show is entertaining and presented quite well, even though the questions sometimes are a bit off. What I would like to see happen is either a change in the name of the show or a widening in the scope of talent search so that it become more faithful to its name. This, of course, might be too much to expect from the hubris laden, inconsiderate producers who came up with the name in the first place.
posted by Arun at 3:52 AM
12 Comments:
thats like my chacha. talking cynical stuff like me. just like some years back i asked how come kajol remained unmarried till she was around 30 in kuch kuch hota hai while shah rukh got married, got rani mukerjee laid, get a kid, grow her old enough to become another nausiating character in the story and in the end, find kajol marrying (hopefully for the first time) to salman and rob salman of her to get married for the second time :|
dude, you seriously need to watch better movies. that movie? full of hatred.
That's the problem isn't it, nobody complains, so anything goes. This is the kind of attitude that is letting every other corporation/rich guy trample our rights to the ground. Besides, I do understand that there are practical difficulties in conduction a quiz in two languages, and that a quiz show at this level would be considered downmarket in Hindi. But my point is that they don't have to delude us into thinking that unless a child can speak English, he/she can't be intelligent.
You may or may not admit it, but subconsiously, that is exactly the message this show throws at you. You only have to look around yourself to see how this hindi/english divide has segregated our society. Your plumber probably makes more than you did in your first job, but most people tend to ignore that and concentrate on the fact that he's not part of the english speaking public school educated middle class. It seems to me like knowledge of english is fast becoming a prerequisite to the posession of dignity in our society. That sucks!
i have sify broadband to yell on. another reason why i dont go for reliance... cannot start more online campaigns... :D
I am Sathej.There is nothing wrong with the title.And yes,of course a 'genius' has to know not only English,Hindi but a host of other languages.A question was asked even from Spanish.A genius defintely has to know everything.
Sathej, while I do respect your opinion, I think you're being a bit naive here. There are close to 3000 recognised languages on the planet, with at least as many dialects. Even a genius wouldn't know them all. What if a certain person knows Swahili and another knows Spanish, but neither know english? Knowing a foreign language is nice, but it is definitely NOT a pre-requisite to being a genius. Just so you know, I have discussed this same thing with some foreign (English to be exact) friends of mine so that I can ensure that I haven't been culturally biased in my views. They all seem to agree. In Europe, most well-educated people are expected to know a smattering of French, but the English would still feel very offended if UK's child genius was to be chosen from among only the children who spoke french. The problem is that the ideas of English speaking and success are so intertwined in our heads that we refuse to recognise that after all, english is NOT the native tongue of this country.
Also, you've got the concept of genius COMPLETELY wrong. A genius is not just someone who knows everything. A genius is someone who can make good use of their brains, and I fail to see how someone who knows English could be any better. Besides, the whole point here is that they chose to ignore about 60% of India's children (geniuses or otherwise) in their talent search. As such, I don't think they have any right to call their show what they call it.
Hmm...Guess you've got a good point after all..but then like you said the producers just wanted to put it the easy way rather than going "India's English-Speaking 10 to 13 years old Child Genius"...your blog is pretty interesting :)
~Reverie
Thanks for your encouragement. You have, in fact, convinced me get off my lazy bum and make a new post in my blog after almost a whole month of inactivity.
looks like you need more encouragement for a new post........
the show actually had this as the punchline:
search for the smartest kid in india.
so there you go anand bhai... ;)
Well, I am Sathej.As for the concept of genius,you can almost never spot one.As far as I am concerned,in India, there never was a genius ever except on man.Ramanujan.Not even Noble winners like CV Raman.They were nowhere close to a 'genius'.
Sathej
Hello Sathej, haven't seen you here in while. I agree with you when you say that you can almost never spot genius. In fact, every definition of that term I've heard till date has sounded a tad dubious to me. Anywho, don't know much about Ramanujan or CV Raman, so can't comment. I am planning to start reading Einstein's biography though, not sure if that has any bearing on this :)
True genius is almost always shunned by society. These children may be brilliant but the real geniuses are recieving a beating somewhere.
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