Can we skip the graphic details?

No sooner has the medical superintendent read out the latest bulletin on Pramod Mahajan, Aaj Tak beams a graphic which is supposed to replicate the BJP leader8217;s torso, rib cage, organs8212;even injuries8212;with a blob of blood.

First, these graphics are not terribly informative; second, they are unaesthetic; third, they detract from the seriousness of the subject.

Why can nothing be left to the imagination? Must we forever peep into people8217;s lives, their livers? Should there not be parts of our lives, bodies the media leaves untouched?

From one virtual reality to another.

There8217;s a new girl on the box and she may be the answer. If you go by the results of Indian Idol or Sa Re Ga Ma Pa, it8217;s the small time, sorry small town contestants, who are winning hearts, minds and the titles. It8217;s no longer Abhijeet Sawant from Mumbai but Sandeep from Jodhpur we think who is India8217;s Idol.

In the latest crop of serials, across channels, we have heroes and heroines harking back to the time when, in popular culture, rustic India was heaven on earth and the city, hell. Thus, we have Ananya in Jabb Luv Hua Zee, a spoilt brat who will soon find herself in rags deprived of her riches by a suddenly bankrupt father. Whisked away to her ancestral village carrying credit cards she encounters the local lad whose glittering eyes will transfix her8212;he uses them to nail her superficialities. The sylvan simplicity of the rural land and humanscape is a foil to Ananya8217;s previous life in swimming pools and yes, shopping malls.

In another new serial, Aisa Des Mera Sony, Rusty works in a London garage and finds herself smitten by everything Sikh. A fact she is unable to comprehend as the daughter of English parents. After the first week had played out, you knew that there was more to her than bacon and eggs; sarson da saag and makke di roti was more likely. Shortly, Rusty will discover she has a Sikh father and will return to da Punjab village to live with her 8216;real8217; family. Once again, the city will be forsaken for the green fields of village India.

On Star One we have Kya Hoga Nimmo Ka and India Calling. The latter8217;s lass has come from a small town. Obviously, the hero will prefer her because she is dressed in salwar kameez which like the sari, is often used to signify tradition and virtue to the short skirt skivvies.

Similarly, it is Nimmo with her homespun charm and salwar kameez! who will win over the men around her. Currently, she has her boss pretty fida on her and now the boss ka boss wants a one-year contract marriage with her in order to obtain his inheritance. You know it is her unsophisticated ways and innocence that will win the day, straighten out the boss and, in all likelihood, his family.

All these leading ladies are gamine and gauche, strong but playful, knowing but naive. Very different from the mascara mems of the saas-bahu soaps. There have been earlier attempts with Jassi and Millee to challenge the supremacy of Tulsi, Parvati and Prerna. And, for a while back there, Jassi succeeded. Until she became one of them. But all is forgiven as she makes a tearful bow, this week, leaving us to wonder whether she would not have been better off jaise koi nahin.