Don't watch 'MOM' if you are a 'MOM'

One of the most brilliant performances of this year and amazing music score,  that is how I rate movie 'MOM'. But this post is not about the critical review of the movie. 

It's a post of a scared MOM, who got more scared after watching this movie. Though I was expecting the movie plot as it was but couldn't imagine the magnitude of the impact it made.

The ones who haven't seen this movie so far, this movie is a revenge story of a MOM to reclaim the peace of her daughter after she goes through the trauma of gang rape. 

Movie made me literally sick and pukish, my heart was beating out of my body, eyes filled with tears and by the interval, I was not able to breathe. And all this,  because I am a MOM of a GIRL. Though we read these kind of news everyday in newspapers,  but watching it happening on screen was horrifying. Rahman's music added to the horror. 

Movie made me realise that how easy it is to violate a woman's body to make her feel that she is weak, that she is not supposed to do certain things in certain manner,  that she can't say NO. It made me realize that how difficult the task is to raise my girl in this unsafe environment where I don't have any choice other than feeling helpless. 

Normally I am not a skeptical kind of a person and believe that by and large, people are good. However,  this movie forced me to think that how I am going to make sure that my daughter stays safe. Will I have the courage to send her alone for higher studies or party late night with her friends? I don't know,  because I don't have answers. 

I am a scared MOM. 

Advertising jo hai na khoon mein hoti hai...

Title of this post is inspired by the famous dialogue of the recent blockbuster movie Dangal "Sirf body banane se koi pehalwan nahi ban jaata ... pehalwani joh hai na, woh khoon mein hoti hai". 

This dialogue is literally true in my case with my 3 yrs old love for advertisements. Whatever little time I allow her to watch TV, I have seen her enjoying watching advertisements. And if I try to switch off the TV saying "Ads aa rhae hain", she tells me "Mujhe ads dekhna achha lagta hai". 

I allow her to have leisure bath of hours long in summers. Last summer, while she was busy playing with her toys in her bath tub and I was in kitchen, I heard her crying really loud. I ran to bathroom expecting some mishap and saw her sitting there in her bath tub. She looked completely heartbroken with soap in her hand and in first glance, I couldn't understand anything. So I asked her and I was stunned with her reply. She said looking at her soap almost in sobs "Dekho na mumma. Kitni der se try kar rahi hoon, but princess hi nahi ban rahi hoon." It took me a while to understand what she meant. When I looked closely, I saw Pears soap in her hand. So she was sitting there for quite a while and was expecting Pears to turn her into a princess. I was bowled with her innocence.

Another incident hapened recently. One fine day, we were watching TV together. Suddenly, she pulled my face closer to her and said pointing towards TV "Mumma, aap vo kyoon nahi lagate ye sab chale jayenge". I noticed some fairness cream ad there and by "Ye" she meant moles on my face. Again, I was stunned with her observation.

Being a marketing professional, I am concerned with how advertising plays with kids' minds.  But for the time being, I would like to keep that debate aside. 

What I like to discuss is that my daugther is as mad for stories as I am. I feel that her love for advetisement is inherited from me. And, I take pride in that. I love it when she believes in stories which she knows are not true, I love it when she has her own fantasy world where anything is possible. I love it when she shows me all her nakhras. Becuase that's so me. 

I wish our love keeps on growing; for advertsing and for each other.