I don't watch TV because it mostly consists of drama. But, there are some comedy shows. I know a few Hindi ones and one Marathi show and I'll admit, all of them are funny. But, there's a difference between PJs and actual jokes.

Most of the comedy shows are reality shows that have partners who present sketches or so. Comedy nights with Kapil is one show I know that has a bit of stand up comedy and sketches too. And when I first heard from a friend that it has stand up comedy, I was pretty surprised. And by the way, this show is pretty much the only comedy show that every family watches and it makes me sad that this is their idea of funny.

If you've ever seen stand up comedy, you'll know that it's basically telling jokes, without props or anything of that sort, with hand gestures and voice changes etc. and the world's #1 stand up comedian right now, Russell Peters, is Indian. Of course, these jokes are to be told in a proper way, you can't just memorize a bunch of random jokes and tell them.

And what I've seen in a lot of stand up comedy shows, Indian and otherwise, is that it has a lot of audience participation. Its not like the audience is called on the stage, but they do speak to different people in the audience and make jokes on them etc.

But this show, it's as if the entire thing was set up just for "Paaji". There is no improv comedy based on the audience, it's entirely scripted.

And there's another show. I haven't really seen it on TV but I saw a few videos on YouTube. It was Rising Stars of Comedy on NDTV. That show had actual stand up comedy with Indian comedians from various laughter clubs across the country. All they put on YouTube were 10 minute clips and yet there are so many videos of that show. That means, there's no shortage of stand-up comedy in India.

And all of them are funny. And they talk about the life of Indians, maybe a few racist jokes, political jokes but all of that is much funnier than the sketches of Comedy Nights with Kapil. Why? Because the entire show is based on cheap jokes. The show is based on really bad puns, and the kind of shitty jokes that are popular on Whatsapp.

And I still don't understand how this show is so popular, and an actual funny show, with real stand up comics is still unknown to the majority. And the worst part of Comedy Nights with Kapil is "Paaji" laughing. We get it, you're getting paid to laugh. But enough, he laughs at the most absurd things. It's as if his sense of humor is so messed up, he'll even laugh at "hello". And what's worse is that they have a mic near him. Which means, the viewers have to put up with this guy laughing for no reason.

If you want to laugh, check out Russell Peters, Vir Das, Kunal Rao, Sorabh Pant, Sanjay Manaktala, Jeevashu Aluhwalia, Sahil Shah, Varun Grover, Azeem Banatwala, Atul Khatri, Maheep Singh, Angad Singh Ranyal, Neeti Palta, and there's many more. And this is just the names I got from YouTube. Just half of what you can watch on TV. And their improv comedy is so much more better and funnier than the scripted comedy of any other comedy show.

It's more of a social obligation to celebrate this one day. I say obligation because that's what everyone talks about when you go to school/work on the 2nd. Everyone boasts how awesome their party was and something like that.

But I fail to understand the motive behind the hype. For one, you end up spending your entire Christmas bonus in one night. Second, people are EVERYWHERE. That means, if you want to reach a restaurant by 9, you have to leave your house 2 hours before.

And well, since people are everywhere, you have to wait at restaurants/clubs/etc.

Of course, it's mostly just grown-ups that get to celebrate. But, even the kids are hyper before midnight on the 31st. Then, when it's midnight, they wish everyone by text, calls, Whatsapp, Facebook (can't meet in person because they're still kids) and everyone's really happy for 15 - 30 minutes.

After that, we all realize that that's it. We realize our holidays are about to end and we need to start studying again. So, that's it. The hype is about 15 - 30 minutes.

Even worse, in my opinion, are the cheesy messages you receive. Most ironical, as far as I know, is the fact that you get messages saying "May this year be full of joy...blah blah...and all your wishes come true." from people you haven't even heard from in months.

And the worst of all is the fact that this day or transition from one year to another does not count for anything. It amounts to nothing, at least in India. If you think about it, you'll realize, our fiscal year starts in April. (Source) And our academic year begins in June (for schools) and July (for colleges).

So, there is no apparent reason for celebrating.

We all know it as the idiot box. Something that keeps us addicted all day long, with multiple channels and hundreds of ways of attracting us. TVs today have reality shows from all over the world, educational shows, daily and weekly soaps from all over the world, movies (national and international), news, music and miscellaneous.

In India, we have different DTH providers (Satellite TV, in case you don't know) and some of them provide games through their set-top boxes.

A lot of DTH services also have a recording feature now. Which means, you can record your favourite shows and watch it again and again, like a VCR (which, I think, never came to India)

Serials are a BIG part of any Indian household. It is one aspect where parents are more addicted than children. And these serials are down to the earth stupid. These directors, they know how addictive their serials are and how many viewers they will get.

Because, in all fairness, Indians are a bad judge for movies. There are a few good critics, and teens nowadays have started hating some bollywood movies. But, parents, no. They will hate every movie, song, serial their kid watches but whatever shit they put on their Hindi serial channel, they will watch it.

That's how an average Indian household is. All day long, the mom does her chores, dad goes out to work. Then, when the first serial starts airing, she will glue herself to the couch while waiting for the dad. And when he comes home, after missing 1 or 2 serials, she will tell him what happened. She only tells him 50% and he only understands 25% but he's still excited about the serial no matter how shitty it is.

So, they don't discriminate, they could put ANYTHING on that channel, as long as it doesn't have nudity and constant swearing, parents will watch it. Something educational, something that spreads awareness about a sensitive issue, something citizens should know about the country or stuff like that.

But, no.

You know what they show?

Typical Hindi serials:

Guy is richer than God. Marries a pretty girl who doesn't have a job (hence spreading the message that girls are gold diggers) then she just works in the kitchen all day (Yes, another stereotype that needs to change now)

Huge family in one house. The most elder person in charge of everything however, the male adult often goes against the elder, and ends up getting slapped, in slow motion, 5 - 6 times, depending on the director.

All have dinner together (which fucking encourages parents to call their kids to have dinner with them, while they watch this shit and give excuses like "As a family, we should spend more time together") and naturally, the women are just serving food to the men. Then, there's a discussion going on, usually something to lighten the mood, or sometimes overly serious based on some recent problem in the house. But when a woman voices her opinion, the men shut her down. (promoting a male dominated society)

Discrimination against women is a serious issue in India, and very very sensitive. Even I don't joke about it. I was just on a class trip to a city far from home and I saw first hand what the females go through in public places.

And these serials just encourage the crowd. Yes, I know, TV serials are for entertainment and they aren't to be taken seriously, but, that's the thing, they are taken seriously here. If you watch some reality shows where celebrities from these soaps are called for talking, you'd find out. I was watching one of these shows and a lady, who played the villain in a serial, was talking.

She said that she and her husband went to a house in their neighbourhood where someone had just passed away to pay their respect. And when they reached, the women of that house called her to a room inside. Inside, it's all private, all the relatives of the dead person were gathered and then one of them says "why do you trouble the main character so much?"

A person is dead, and all they can think about is a serial, plus, they even think that she's a real villain.

This is the kind of hold that TV has on Indians, why don't they use it to spread some good message? It'd be a lot better than the drama they spread to every house.