The KK axis of evil

“There is nothing but this scandal or that scandal, or ‘so and so got this much money from so and so’ and ‘for such and such dirty work’. For the past three months we have had scam after scam on TV, including a repeat of the ancient Bofors issue. Yet, TV channels are still not satisfied and only our local havalidars, who collect small bribes from your brother for rash driving, seem to be left alone,” lectured mother.

“Mom, a leading TV has covered that too, in Delhi local policemen are now facing the heat,” I chipped in, and added, “If you say that I should not switch on news channels, then you should not watch any serials either.” Mother wanted to know why. I then explained that if the news channels were full of scams involving money and power, serials were full of scandals, involving adultery.

“Okay, if news channels are the devil, serials are the deep sea. Sri Ramakrishna was quite right in saying that KK is the axis of all evils in this age,” mother said.

“Mom, KK? The serial Keshav Kalshi has receded from public memory. You are talking history,” I butted in.

“My dear, KK is not your Keshav Kalshi, or his gang of goons. KK is kamini and kanchan, which Sri Ramakrishna Paramahamsa said will be the root cause of all our modern evils. He was really a visionary when he cautioned us to be careful about the above two Ks,” mom went on.

What she said was true. In one way or the other, it was either money (kanchan) or women (kamini) that lay behind all the recent scandals plaguing society today. But they are both so ubiquitous that it seems there is no way out of the conundrum.

When I emerged from my stream of thought, I heard mother ending her observation with the words, “I accept that it is difficult in modern times to keep up our standards, but we all can do one thing — be careful not to wear our weaknes for K and K on our sleeve. And, by the way, Sri Ramakrishna’s birth anniversary falls tomorrow!”

Now how’s that for a lesson in morality, the media, and mothers?