india's adult tv

Apart from the nipple exposing on FTV's "Midnight Hot," India's idea of adult programming appears to be shows with America's MA14 rating due to sexual situations. In this "more bullets less sex" stance, the culture that came up with the Kama Sutra is demonstrating one more way in which it has more affinity with America than with Europe.

Ironically, the debate is raging in Bombay of all places, a city otherwise known for its laise faire attitude to hotties in strapless blouses and sheer saris (thank you very much). I ask you: What's all the fuss about? From several overly frank discussions with students in India's hinterlands, I humbly submit that Indian boys could do with a non-intrusive outlet for their peek-and-grope starved hormones.

But a bigger question is why India is coming to look and sound more and more like America, despite the frequent criticisms of the world's big brother? The country's class-based society would seem to have more affinity with the old world than the new, and its ancient roots would seem to have more parallels with, say, Italy than with cultureless Bushland. My bet is that the love for all things American in India and Asia generally is inspired by the headoverheels rush to make money, in which all other concerns--fairness, quality of life, fine food, the environment, relaxation, etc--lose their meaning. That's American if I ever saw anything that was. Our best statue was dynamited out of the side of a mountain, and our best cultural artifact is an amusement park inspired by a cartoon mouse.

Careful, India, lest you follow China down the same path, with nothing but fastfood and peasant fare, eaten beside roadside mockups of the Louvre and mini Eiffel Towers. To my mind, a prudish middle class morality is the first step.