Here’s one more reality
Before you join a reality show, look within, are you ready for the rough world?

By Meha Mathur
New Delhi, January 08: We usher in the New Year on a somber note. Eleven-year-old Neha Sawant, a talented dancer and participant in a number of reality shows like Boogie Woogie, ended her life because her parents decided against her continuation in reality shows and pulled her out of the Dance Academy, of which she was a member.

Until now the education debate had centred around pushy parents who want the world out of their kids through these reality shows. Now we must reckon with crises in families if parents want a more paced out career path for their child. In either case, the end result is the inability to handle pulls and pressures.

There can be no foolproof answers to who is right and who is wrong. It makes sense for the child to devote more time to dance if she sees her future in that, but are parental anxieties totally unfounded? After all, how many reality show aspirants in dance and music shows have found their ground after being promised the moon by their mentors? The answer, perhaps, lies in letting the child find his/her likes and dislikes through the school years, and yet keeping her firmly footed on ground.

Also, we felt that life is not a rocket science. Why make it so complicated, even for kids? Retain some element of simplicity. Enjoy the small pleasures of life rather than exhausting yourself worrying about the big break. Maybe a few analogies will help here. Life is a long journey of twists and turns. You’ll get your turn to drive on the highway, in the fifth gear. Or it’s like that 10 km morning jog, which the coach Kabir Khan demanded of his trainees. Do you want to exhaust yourself like Balbir Kaur, too fast, too early?