An Ad shows the way.....

There is an ad running on TV now days for TATA AIG, which shows a man asking his son to thank their servant for serving him food on dinner table. It’s a very well made ad and definitely touches a chord while conveying the right message about the insurance company, however I think, it does much more than just promoting the product on TV to the right audience, it actually touches upon a very important social issue.



When we became independent in 1947, we got freedom from the British rule politically, but still remained enslaved to their ideologies and philosophies to certain extent and felt that it is good to follow the class based society, filling in the positions vacated by the “gora sahibs” in our minds and society, with politicians and affluent residents of India, giving birth to the modern VIPs. These earlier versions of VIPs were still closer to the “aam junta”, as they were a part of it till some time back; however over the next few decades, this species followed what Darwin called the Theory of Evolution and developed into a species which is different and totally alienated from the “aam junta”. Everyone of us wants to be that VIP, who must be given priority over other “lower mortals” and respected , irrespective of whether s/he has the merit for same or not. All these VIPs make sure, that not only they themselves, but all those related to them, even remotely, are treated like one. Their children become used to of being ferried in a government vehicle with a red light on top, always surrounded by servants or worse still their parent’s sycophant followers, feeling important and developing a mindset of being superior without having any merit at times, born to command and rule the people in their service. As if these VIPs were not enough we also developed a “superior” form of this species known as VVIPs, some of which are called so, because of the position they hold in society, while some by virtue of their in-laws’ positions.

At this point, someone may question, how does having VIPs in the society affects us adversely? I can cite hundreds of examples where the VIP status of a few privileged ones have caused discomfort and even bodily harm to many hundreds, but let me restrict myself here to only a few. One of the most recent one is the disarray caused by visit of Mamta Banerjee to the site of fire accident in Kolkata hospital. The authorities and officers, instead of tending to the victims focussed their energy in taking care of Didi. Those who have lived in Delhi know of the mess created by the VIP movement on the Delhi roads and its affect on traffic. Many flights have been delayed in the past, just because some VIPs could not board them in time. Now, having made my point, the question is what to do about it, and that is where the aforementioned ad comes in picture.

A very clear message, the father in the ad gives to his son, that his servant is also a human being who should be respected and thanked for his services, as he is doing his job. He also conveys to him that, being served on a table by another person doesn’t make him someone special or superior, making it clear in boy’s mind that he is not a “born VIP”. I look at it as a very good start in the right direction. We have bred and nurtured these VIPs over the last so many years, because of our colonial mindsets and practices, now the time has come that we start afresh and kill this concept of VIP. As it is always difficult to change the thinking and the existing mindsets, it will be a good idea that we try instilling this new concept of equality in our future generation’s mind, so that at least they can be independent from this age old mental slavery and bring the much needed change in the society. If we keep on passing the baton of our colonial mindset to future generation then we will never be able to eliminate this unnecessary social inequality, which is the root cause of many evils existing in our society today.