An Adult Child

Tanay’s Web : September
A Column by Tanay Sukumar for the e-magazine 21 Fools.

An Adult Child

Saloni Daini is a regular face on Indian television, thanks to the weekly comedy show she is a part of, and also to the news channels which show her stand-up comedy as part of broken news — which they proudly call “breaking news” — all through the day. She is barely 8, and the stuff she does has bared childhood out of an innocent mind. Talents need to be recognised and appreciated, but the little girl — a remarkably bundled talent — was over-recognised for the things she could do. She is not leading a normal childhood now, and is over-exposed to the world of show business and stand-up comedy. While a normal child her age would rather develop skills for a potentially remarkable future ahead, she has missed out by already assuring for herself that remarkable future with money, fans and fame. Her basic education, moral education, regular development, etc remain handicapped. She misses the journey, and has been deposited near the destination via a shortcut route. She can’t understand that life can also have struggles. She has got a tailor-made future for herself; since in the modern ideology and technology, being recognised and loved by a whole nation is nearly the ultimate success.

Life’s aim is living a successful life — not just getting a successful life. Saloni is, right now, just tasting success, and by the time she realises the need of the real learning of how to lead life and carry that success, she will be well past the age of learning. It is high time her abnormal growth be stopped, and she be brought to the normal front — at par with others her age.

What also matters is the genre of her talent. Exposing a child to such mature comedy at this age is not good for her psychology. We don’t want our kids to participate in shows where another contestant derives laughter from a serial kisser Emraan Hashmi and a vulgar Baba Kaamdev. A small child is enough of a...