Hello ! My little dumplings ! I have been meaning to pen down my thoughts for quite a while now. It is so ingrained in my mind I tell you , " Either write something worth reading or do something worth writing." Blessed are those who can do the latter , as for me the former is an easy alternative. I happen to use the right side of my brain more than the left. In other words I am a creative person. Having said that, I absolutely worship those who are a zillion times more talented than me in any of the creative arts.Of the many forms of creativity, advertising is something that is accessible to almost everyone to consume, thanks to the magic of syndication.If you do observe advertisements carefully , then you might have noticed a very sweet ad of Tanishq jewellery being broadcast these days.There is a dusky woman in the ad who is shown putting on jewellery for her wedding. In the next shot we see a little girl peeking through the door. The girl comes inside the room and we learn that the little girl is her daughter.They both go outside and in the next sequence we see the woman taking pheras with the new man in her life.In the midst of the phera ceremony the little girl yells , "Mumma , I also want to go round and round." These makes the woman squirm a little as she looks nervously at her daughter.Before she could say anything , her new husband asks the little girl to come and join them. The three of them are now going round the holy fire.The expression on the woman's face at this time is priceless, she looks relieved and happy at the same time.
In many ways the ad is ground breaking, as not only does it show remarriage , which is still a taboo in our culture , in a positive light ; but it has subtle nuances to it which are far more pleasant if you could put in the pieces together and conjure the bigger picture.
The beauty of the ad lies in the fact that there is no remorse or emotional trauma shown to justify the second marriage. We don't even know whether her ex-husband died or they got divorced or he just plainly left.This is a very bold step in a society which looks divorce with contempt and believes in the sanctity of marriage at any cost. More often than not I get into heated discussions with people on the topic of separation in case of an unhappy relationship. I get surprised with the response that I get from people and their views on such sensitive issues.One person told me once that divorce is for retards. When I gave some strong reasons for separation like physical abuse , emotional abuse , cheating , drugs , drinking and so on , the person got somewhat convinced that it is valid only in case of physical abuse . I was again disappointed , does this mean there is no justification for separation in the rest of the cases or even for the separation of those unfortunate people who are just plain unhappy ? I am not saying that you don't need to work on the marriage.Every relationship is hard work, but if after all your efforts, you can not find happiness together, isn't it logical to go your separate ways so that both of you can find someone who really makes you happy.
The ad is a small step towards the bigger change which the Indian society will see in at least 10 years from now. It has come as a breath of fresh air in our Bourgeois society , though it has come very late in time , but as the Spanish say - Mas vale tarde que nunca !! (Better late , than never !!)
