My radiant wife watches the TV show "Extreme Makeover: Home Edition" from time to time. When I join her, I find pleasure in the hope that the featured families receive, satisfaction that benevolence sells in America, and puzzlement over the property tax hike that must hit these families post-Ty Pennington. But yesterday's show gave me a new reaction: frustration.
Last night, an Indian family was to be blessed with a new, luxurious house courtesy of this TV program. It is a rare occurrence to see Indians on TV, (I'm talking true Indians, not the tragic Native Americans who were misnamed 400 years ago), so I peeped the last half with the wifey. The good aspect was that these people were no longer living in a burnt shell of a house by the end of the show. The bad part is:
America was served up an Extreme load of BS. At one point, we learn that the Makeover team had to include an oddity in the new house's design: two kitchens. The gay designer graciously informed the viewers that in this family's religion, Hinduism, they had to have two kitchens, one to cook in, and another separate one to prepare sacrifices for their rituals. Immediately, I turned to my noble wife and said, "Do you know how many Indians have zero kitchens, much less two?"
I wondered what other wonderful Hinduism-inspired amenities would be included. Would that English guy dig out a Sati pit in the backyard, so if the husband died, the wife could burn herself alive on his funeral pyre?
Why didn't this family explain to the foolish Americans that their house burned down because of bad karma, which means everyone deserves any suffering they receive? Isn't this the reason the pain of others is so neglected in India that Western Christians had to import justice, via British evangelists and Albanian nuns?
If I am ever on Extreme Makeover: Home Edition, I'll tell the crew that my religion requires an indoor basketball court.
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3 comments:
Man, you have an eye for the culture beat. Excellent call. I knew there would be a punchline at the end of your piece - I could only speculate if it would include basketball.
Aw, what a great post. My wife and I also catch this show quite a bit, and Sunday's show might have done me in.
I have an inclination that there was a bit too much "Christian prayer" going on in past shows, and what better way to diversify this show then to play "pimp my hindu house."
Some other good advice if you ever make it on the show is to never, ever tell the designers that you have any hobbies, interests, etc. Did you see that ambulance room? The guy says he's an EMT, and now he has to sleep in a friggin' ambulance the rest of his life. 18 years old! Yeah, that guy's going to have a lot of friends.
Ariel, you know me well.
Teef, I'd tell the designers that I loved Billy Ray Cyrus so they could make me a giant cowboy hat bed.
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