Why don't they just shoot me instead?
I did have nightmares, though not so frequently. I hardly recollect them post- waking up and they never ever came true. But the cursed day arrived and I did not have the slightest intuition (it’s on strike since a couple of years) that my nightmare was going to materialize. I entered my living room, flopped on my couch and switched on the idiot box for my favorite show- The Bugs and Daffy Show, on Cartoon Network. That’s when I suddenly realize, they have dubbed it in Hindi. The cracks on my ceiling, a very angry mom and some terrified neighbors are all I have as witnesses to my blood curdling scream. And the potted plant at the window withered a bit.
I spent around a week sulking and making frantic calls to the cable operator who kept saying the same irritating line “madam, this is the transmission problem. We cannot help it. You got kids at home?” Now, I’d like to meet the super dumbass who said that cartoons were meant for kids. I think that the wit, humor, sarcasm and mild double meaning talk cannot be possibly appreciated by children. Unwritten norms of society. Pah.
That’s beside the point. (I’ll write separately on that). The issue here was that the only channel I truly loved and that was in a way quite real in comparison to the “real life drama” soaps, was dubbed in Hindi. I do respect my national language and am proud of it. But that does not justify dubbing of non-Hindi channels. It’s ironical that a country where it is alright for a person to be bad at their mother-tongue, but absolutely unforgivable for a person to lack the knowledge of the English language, where dogs and children, in presence of outsiders/visitors/relatives, are asked to obey commands in English- Sit, stand, sing a song for uncle and aunty, say a poem…in this country, English channels are dubbed.
The least they could do was to have believable and different voices for each and every character. Dexter’s sister Didi sounds suspiciously similar to the notorious princess in Powerpuff girls, Wilma Flintstone, Jane Jetson and Dexter’s mom are all the same person, Fred Flintstone sounds perpetually drunk, Scooby-Doo was always irritating and continues to be so. But what really takes the cake is The Mask. They went to the heights of changing their names. Stanley has become Sachin and his dog Milo is Billu. Somebody kill me.
Thankfully, Tom and Jerry and The Roadrunner Show do not have dialogues so I still watch them. But they have ruined most of my favorite cartoons. Even the title tracks are dubbed. I had vowed against watching Cartoon Network till they changed it back to English. They didn’t. I found solace in Nickelodeon. A few months back that too has been dubbed in Hindi. Now Spongebob Squarepants is called Spongebob Chaukorchaddi.
Fifty eight years of Independence and what we get is dubbed channels. If we are so insecure of letting western culture mess us up, I’ve got news. We are already quite messed up and undoing it is going to be a pretty nasty job. We educate our children in English and a good hold over English grammar is a priceless asset. Yet, if the only solution to the fear of our children not understanding English cartoons is to dub the channels, I suggest people to first stop being hypocritical and jeer or look down upon any Indian who doesn’t speak fluent English. We don’t need to. It’s not our mother tongue or national language.
Unfortunately, all I can do about this ordeal is to pour my heart out on my blog. And some unfortunate souls (if misfortune shines on them) will have to read it. It’s not fair. It’s just not fair. They cannot do this to me. Cartoons were my only source of laughter, fun and some whacky, unbelievable and insane moments. They have inspired me to think out of the box, to think unnatural and outright crazy. They were more than mere entertainment. They cannot take all that from me. They cannot make Bugs Bunny say “Eh, kya ho raha hain Cheerkut?”
It’s been years since that scream of mine. The ceiling sustained it. Neighbors still stare at me when I pass by and keep their distance from me. The potted plant by the window survived too. It’s just me who died.
That’s All Folks!
I spent around a week sulking and making frantic calls to the cable operator who kept saying the same irritating line “madam, this is the transmission problem. We cannot help it. You got kids at home?” Now, I’d like to meet the super dumbass who said that cartoons were meant for kids. I think that the wit, humor, sarcasm and mild double meaning talk cannot be possibly appreciated by children. Unwritten norms of society. Pah.
That’s beside the point. (I’ll write separately on that). The issue here was that the only channel I truly loved and that was in a way quite real in comparison to the “real life drama” soaps, was dubbed in Hindi. I do respect my national language and am proud of it. But that does not justify dubbing of non-Hindi channels. It’s ironical that a country where it is alright for a person to be bad at their mother-tongue, but absolutely unforgivable for a person to lack the knowledge of the English language, where dogs and children, in presence of outsiders/visitors/relatives, are asked to obey commands in English- Sit, stand, sing a song for uncle and aunty, say a poem…in this country, English channels are dubbed.
The least they could do was to have believable and different voices for each and every character. Dexter’s sister Didi sounds suspiciously similar to the notorious princess in Powerpuff girls, Wilma Flintstone, Jane Jetson and Dexter’s mom are all the same person, Fred Flintstone sounds perpetually drunk, Scooby-Doo was always irritating and continues to be so. But what really takes the cake is The Mask. They went to the heights of changing their names. Stanley has become Sachin and his dog Milo is Billu. Somebody kill me.
Thankfully, Tom and Jerry and The Roadrunner Show do not have dialogues so I still watch them. But they have ruined most of my favorite cartoons. Even the title tracks are dubbed. I had vowed against watching Cartoon Network till they changed it back to English. They didn’t. I found solace in Nickelodeon. A few months back that too has been dubbed in Hindi. Now Spongebob Squarepants is called Spongebob Chaukorchaddi.
Fifty eight years of Independence and what we get is dubbed channels. If we are so insecure of letting western culture mess us up, I’ve got news. We are already quite messed up and undoing it is going to be a pretty nasty job. We educate our children in English and a good hold over English grammar is a priceless asset. Yet, if the only solution to the fear of our children not understanding English cartoons is to dub the channels, I suggest people to first stop being hypocritical and jeer or look down upon any Indian who doesn’t speak fluent English. We don’t need to. It’s not our mother tongue or national language.
Unfortunately, all I can do about this ordeal is to pour my heart out on my blog. And some unfortunate souls (if misfortune shines on them) will have to read it. It’s not fair. It’s just not fair. They cannot do this to me. Cartoons were my only source of laughter, fun and some whacky, unbelievable and insane moments. They have inspired me to think out of the box, to think unnatural and outright crazy. They were more than mere entertainment. They cannot take all that from me. They cannot make Bugs Bunny say “Eh, kya ho raha hain Cheerkut?”
It’s been years since that scream of mine. The ceiling sustained it. Neighbors still stare at me when I pass by and keep their distance from me. The potted plant by the window survived too. It’s just me who died.
That’s All Folks!
posted by eh, what's up doc? at 11:14 AM
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