Nick Junior - I give up!!

OK I give up! I resign! I have quit this fight and see no reason fighting in vain, when I am completely outnumbered and outlawed by my own flesh and blood. So you guys are wondering what the fuss is all about. It is just that after a day of mind-numbing meetings and a tsunami of emails that I had to fend through on a typical day in my office, I was just tuning into TBS to watch a re-run of Seinfeld and just sit on the couch for 30 odd minutes without listening to anyone and thinking about anything significant. Well! It never happens. I am always voted out and remote grabbed from my hand or possibly even threatened to change the channel to Nick Junior or to one of the recorded routines from the day (thanks to the DVR) and up comes Diego.

Given this happens quite regularly, it is only fair that I bore you folks, who have clearly signed up to share my agony by clicking on the link that I sent to you, with my ramblings. Seriously folks, I can take a talking jaguar, the backpack that can morph into anything you want, vines that takes Diego from Rainforest to the beach and/or the desert within a span of 132 seconds while the animals are singing "Go Diego Go", but the one I saw on the other day, I believe is completely atrocious and has pushed me over the edge to write this fiery piece against the arrogance of Nick Junior.

 Diego and his sister are in Antarctica. First of all do they allow kids in Antarctica? Anyway they claim to be animal scientists and would have hitch hiked their way out to the freezing island. This time - it is talking Penguins. Of course all Penguins talk in Spanish. The day when these Penguins actually start talking in Spanish, Sun would have really set in the British Empire. Come on Blokes - Where is Capt. James Cook (founder of Antarctica) when we need him.

Now the most controversial thing I saw in this episode, is that different types of Penguins have different schools to go. The emperor Penguins is searching for its school where other Emperor Penguins are learning and does not want to stay in a school where other Penguins are studying. Isn't this a clear violation of equality under the rule of Penguin Law? And is this what we want our kids to learn from staring at these cartoons without even batting their eyelids. Come on Stupidity is not just the birth right of Nick Junior alone! I can claim equal copyrights to that myself!

Another incident that I have a confused recollection from, that happened during our trip to India last winter. I was kind of half out of my late morning nap and still lying in bed, clearly having no desire to show any of them that I am actually awake. My mother was intently listening to the morning devotional discourse by Sri Velukkudi Krishnan Swamigal and my daughters flipping it across from Jaya TV to POGO to get their morning dose of Dora and Diego and my Mom persistently managed to go back to the discourse every few seconds once and this is what reached my ears,

"டோராங்கறது வேற யாருமில்லை. நம்மளுக்கு எல்லாம் தாயார் அந்த பூதேவியோட அம்சம் - அந்த ஆண்டாளே தான். அவள் நெஞ்சிலே பெருமாள சுமந்துண்டு முதுகுல இந்த உலகத்தாருக்கு வேண்டிய எல்லாத்தையும் சுமந்துண்டு, அந்த பெருமாளோட பரமபக்தனான boots என்ற அனுமானின் துணையோட இந்த உலகத்தையே தினம் தினம் வலம் வருகிறவள் தான் டோரா. அவளை வணங்கி அவள் முதுகுப்பையிடம் கேட்டால் கிடைக்காதது ஏதாவது உண்டா? இந்த உலகத்தார் எல்லாருக்கும் வழிகாட்டத்தானே அவள் Map யையும் சேர்த்து அந்த முதுகிலே சுமக்கிறாள். இது எல்லாம் அந்த நீலவண்ணனோட விளையாட்டுன்னு நன்றாக தெரிந்த சிவபெருமான் தன்னுடைய வாகனமான நந்தி தேவனையே Benny the Bull ஆக இருக்குமாறு கட்டளையிட்டு இருக்கிறானே - இதிலிருந்தே நம்மள மாதிரி சாமான்யர்களை அருளத்தான் இவர்கள் வந்திருக்கிறார்கள்னு நமக்கு புரிய வேண்டாமா?"

After all these confused thoughts have pervaded my system, once I went to watch the movie called Avatar and guess what, now I have to deal with Pan-DORA. After all, it seems like Nick Junior has indeed created something that is all pervasive and almost indestructible. Quite a feat by a stupid TV channel!