Tuesday, September 12, 2006

Sex, Lies and Videotapes!


The title is not misleading. :P
I was catching up with a school friend on msn over the weekend, after meeting him on orkut after school, and then the movie whose name is mentioned in the title brought back memories. It was way back in 8th grade when the internet had not spread its wings (or fangs) over us and we were totally unaware of the other meaning of the word web** other than the one the spider spins with its saliva. Frankly speaking the first time I was introduced to net was at a friend’s place much later where he had showed the whole group comparison between Pamela’s n Cindy’s bootlicious bodies. After that, had followed frantic calls to people who knew how to clear history of web pages visited.. lol. So before that the only sources of entertainment were cable television and a bunch of books some guys religiously got into school every month. The cablewallah used to show nice stuff late nights but that time we hadn’t subscribed to the cable so like many guys from my class I was left at the mercy of the guys with the books. One of them was the guy mentioned in the opening line. This dude A had a very nice dad (still might be having) and we all used to envy him that time. Now, where on earth you will find a dad who gives monthly pocket-money exclusively for buying porn books? I guess nowhere and naturally we had developed a sense of deep respect for his dad.. he he. So the books would get into the class and the big geography books were undressed from their covers and the cover page models would get draped into them for circulating in the class. During one such session we coincidentally had the geography lecture on and the teacher Mrs. K asked one guy to read a certain paragraph from the text book and till now you must have figured out that he had the other book in the covers and was stumped what to do. It was a hilarious scene but he somehow managed to get the original geography book from the nearby benches. But I still clearly remember the teacher’s face writ with surprise and the guy’s huh-what-happened look when she asked him why he had to exchange the books just to read out a paragraph. So coming back to the guy A; once he had mentioned in class that there was a movie Sex, Lies and Videotape on some channel. So the next day we were quite eager to hear his review of how the movie was and more for the hot scenes but as usual the censors had cut the hot scenes and the foul language was beeped out. A few years back again this movie was aired and this time we had cable but I don’t remember why I didn’t see it. Might be coz I already knew that it was going to be edited before screening.

The censorship is still in but I feel it has grown to a large extent than before. Late night stuff is definitely for adult viewing but the government agencies don’t think that the audience is mature enough to view it. Leave apart the things related to sex, one cannot celebrate Valentines Day fearing the moral police brigade to come and beat him/her. Pubs and discotheques can’t remain open till wee hours’ coz we don’t want any ‘western’ influence on our good culture. My company has now kept 2 separate computers for surfing the internet. Imagine an IT company where 100 people want to check mails or surf but have access to only 2 computers for that. I don’t know whether to frown or laugh at it. Today afternoon I wrote on my whiteboard ‘Restrictions and Attrition go hand-in-hand’. I really have no idea if this will be read by the management but now this is a form of protest thanks to ‘gandhigiri’.. ha ha.

** I really feel happy when I see kids as young as in 1st grade learning and knowing computers. We had been introduced to computers in say 5th or 6th grade and we used to play Packman and Dave on the school computers and used to learn DOS in curriculum. When I was active in a social group for teaching kids a few years back, we had to go to their houses to meet their parents so as to confirm that their school studies were not affected due to our extra-curricular activities. I was literally stumped when a kid aged around 7-8 years hurled some technical jargon at me and told how he was learning to build his own website. But then I feel somewhat uneasy with the access these little children have to sites after getting messages on hi5 or orkut saying that I liked your profile and when their profile is seen it reads age 14-15 and status is committed. I don’t know whether I am still being orthodox in some ways but I feel sad for the parents of a gal aged in her very early teens whose scrapbook is filled with messages such as “Hey sexy gal! Can we go on a date tomorrow?” I just click the ‘back’ button on the browser and say to myself “Which age you are in? Grow up! This is what you have to accept with the developments in technology”. Really I have to grow up or else have to accept that the scene in the lower cartoon is or can be a real thing.


28 comments:

Aditi said...

hehe and here i thought i could be first..
lolz i loved the second cartoon and the title definitely had me intrigued.
Your worries are limited to what u read and saw right now the uproar is on in us against xanga and myspace for allowing teenagers etc to create accounts.
Apparently pedophiles are using that to find new prey. Think abt that!!
It really is scary

teacup said...

why u!:p just read the 1st line of ur post and I was like "sudeep u meano:P"
hehe...will read it now!

teacup said...

lol@ cartoon:)

yup, infact I was gonna write a post about how kids are growin up fast these days, it's really sad!
and this just reminded me of the time wen I had shifted to a new school and the guy from the next bench would constantly bother me with his magazine talk! he used to carry all these filthy porn magazines and stupid playboy ones, I had change my place coz of him!phew!I was the good girl u see:)

Keshi said...

why r boys so obsessed with sex? lol!

**After that, had followed frantic calls to people who knew how to clear history of web pages visited

haha I so know wut u mean but :)

ROFL @cartoon! Such a guy thing to say :):):)


Technology is robbing childhood. Thats all I can say.


Keshi.

AnonymousBlogger said...

After that, had followed frantic calls to people who knew how to clear history of web pages visited.

LOL. Yeah, I think we all learned how to clear the history the same day we learned of the internet.

Censorship for the most part I think is wrong. Yes, there is a downside to free speech and such freedom. But for the most part, I think it's all a good thing.

The big question is, who decides what is appropriate and what is not? There's no answer, which is why we need to allow people access to everything that is out there.

Is technology hurting our kids? To an extent, but they're also more knowledgable than ever, and that's a good thing. If we teach them what's right and wrong, and let them explore the world on their own, they will be better off.

Parag said...

great post.

i remember those DOS and BASIC days..it was fun :)

summer moon said...

The cartoon in the end says it all .. :))

Tarun said...

DOS and basic really sucked.
There wasn't much to do in scholl but things changed after 8 standard.
Packman was cool, dave sucked, there was one more game what we use to call "Memory Game" it was downright dumb the king among dumbs may have cracked it.
Engineering was a different story.
Lots of fun and excitement.
I could related many things on this post except being given pocket money for "Books".
I just saved enough money to treat myself to a wada pav/samosa along with a glass on Niboo Pani.
Sirji u have spilled a lots of beans. ;)

Sneha said...

...but I feel sad for the parents of a gal aged in her very early teens whose scrapbook is filled with messages such as “Hey sexy gal! Can we go on a date tomorrow?” ....

well, feel bad if she REPLIES to those messages.. not otherwise. she didn't ASK for them!

lol@ the strip.. seriously.. orkut-stalking is increasing at an alarming rate.. infact, i have been orkut-stalking someone since the past coupla days *evil grin*

Love you longtime! said...

a dad who gives monthly pocket-money exclusively for buying porn books? Damn... how cool is that?

Love you longtime! said...

Yes, dude the censorship sucks. It's like we are mature enough to elect the government but apparently not mature enough to watch the so-called 'adult' content. Now they're telling us what not to watch, tomorrow they'll tell us what not to speak, what not to do... when will this thing end???

TV is truly an idiot box now!

HP said...

Hey...

Cool Post...And love the C&H strips ..moi too a big fan of C&H..

Cheers,
HP

Anonymous said...

... ** Sex, Lies and Videotapes! **
LOL!! what a title huh?!! are u in what mode sweetie?? seems the "Orkut Totally Blocked" ;(;(message i had today :P affected u so much?? hehe ^_^
... yeah, i know u guys are crazy for that bootlicious bodies of playboy models lol!! that's the first thing u want to see when ur in front of pc right? well, hubby can't do that at home coz i've locked pc :) w/ %&'$#"$%%& password so he can't use when im not awake... ^_^ he only have that sweet smiles when he's alone in office :P and i know he hardly have that free time too lol! :P

... ** where on earth you will find a dad who gives monthly pocket-money exclusively for buying porn books? **

... lol! and u envy ur friend? ^_^
yeah, its quite scary for children to reach this things freely on net, parents must be aware of all the dangers and educate their children to know the good and bad side of amazing technology!

...luv the cartoons lol!

u take care sudeepuu!

*cheers*

Anonymous said...

Great post sudeep...
majhya athavani jagya kelyas...

Movie Mazaa said...

Sudeep,
First time here!!

I guess Sharmila Tagore has come up with some interesting suggestions regarding Censorship, rating films as X and A+. (dunno what the latter means though, hehe). Now if only the moral police wudnt strike, we wud have some sensible viewing in the country!!

Sex, Lies and Videotape had the superlicious Andie McDowell in it, if I remember right. It was one great film; especially in those days of drought! ;) :)

Pinks said...

i can only say that boyz will be boyz..so no more comments for the 1st para..u reminded me of my ol school days when we used to play pacman n dave..i still have it on my old machine..also Dbase n lotus ..the programs which were first thought to us in sixth std...but then jai ho internet ki...everything is so advanced these days....lol@the gandhigiri quote...good one

Priyankari said...

liked the last cartoon. i too remeber the days wen we used to learn DOS. nowadays am also surprised wen i go to teach my small student and she says things which i learned much later. the orkut thing sometimes really become shocking wen i see people of the age 16, 17 going around like spoilt. nyway, i guess am being a bit orthodox too bt that's the age n we need to accept it.

Sudeep said...

@Ishita: congrats for the gold..
lol @ tempting title.. yeah learning frm Yashita ;)

@Aditi: i am on myspace n though i mentioned orkut here the actual thing was frm myspace itself..
n i was hinting at paedophiles only..

@Yashita: he he.. glad u got tht :D
lol.. u really had a partner like tht
was the good girl
i like it when u use past tense :P

Sudeep said...

@Keshi: dont tell me tht gals aint.. coz i know some.. now also dont say tht gals are some while boys are all.. he he
agreed on robbing childhood

@Sean: he he.. yeah it was the first lesson i guess
very very well said in ur last 2 paras..

@Parag: thnx.. yeah it was fun
i thought u would ask who tht guy was frm my divn.. or u already guessed his name?

Sudeep said...

@Sanchari: tht cartoon is awesome na.. :)

@Ishita: yeah as a parent it looks a more serious situation.. it is not possible to restrict so it is better to educate

@Tarun: he he.. i always scored less in tht but the sessions were fun
well still today we cant believe how his dad gave him money for those books..
haan yaar maine bhi socha woh.. lol

Sudeep said...

@Sneha: yeah she didnt ask for them but tht gal is facing a risk of running into a paedophile.. now i didnt go n check the replies but it is easy to fall prey without a mature head above
lol... u evil gal :D

@Vaibhav: dekh na yaar..
when this thing will end
i think no one can answer tht looking at the scenario now..

@HP: hey.. welcome here
yeah i too luv those strips..
thnx for dropping by..c ya arnd

Sudeep said...

@Kathy: well not all men are horny all the time but yeah some desires have to find a suitable outlet :)
i agree with u tht education is must..

@Nishant: thnx... ha ha

@Velu: hey.. welcome here
yeah i saw her interview n liked her ideas too..
Andie McDowell.. hmmmm.. i havent seen her much except tht hair colour ad.. shld catch up tht movie i guess ;)

Sudeep said...

@Pinky: u still have it? arre phir toh tere ghar aana padega khelne woh
lol @ jai ho internet ki

@Priyankari: yeah kids learn fast these days n much better than us..
yeah we can accept it now coz they aint our kids.. wht if u were a parent?

@Kalpz: ha ha.. not all bring porn to home.. it is similar to dont bring work to home.. he he
lol.. i would agree with ur elder son :D
yup teaching to distinguish is the best option

teacup said...

again how mean!:p

hehee, and yea! he was really the creepy kinds...it was quite a relief after I changed my place! and I still am the good girl:p

Keshi said...

goshhhhhhh NO :) Girls r not sooooo obsessed with sex as boys r...thats for sure!

Keshi.

Anonymous said...

I know what the feeling is like..ma bro..5 yrs younger to me.
Whenever i go home i ake ma laptop with me, mpre for style jhadoing, and less for work..he he, anyways...
the other day i was so shocked to see some porn downloaded onto ma laptop..also that dumb game, playboy, u tou must be knowing abt it na shudeepuuu, was installed..
I was quite mad at that time, but realized later that he is a boy, who is agrowing up, and then....... after all...he is a boy!!!!!!!!!

Nadim said...

lol! i remembr tht movie ... it ws on star movies... they showd it sooo many times! i ws too in 8th i think... used to wakeup late to watch da late nite movies... hehehehe....

nd abt da young ppl growin up too fast, too early... its nevr gud, howevr fast tech is devlopng...

Sudeep said...

@Yashita: :P
really.. but i m not still the bad boy :D

@Keshi: he he .. yeah tell me

@Neha: playboy game?? huh? i dony know.. u get to be Hugh Hefner in it kya? he he..
give ur bro's contact number to me.. incase i might want something :P

@Nadim: hey welcome here.. :)
yeah they used to play it quite a number of times
thnx for dropping by.. c ya arnd