When I sit down for breakfast, I almost always encounter this. On our home TV, they will be running some program in which extremely untalented children are singing a song. As a listener, it is painful to hear. The voices are hideous, and your brain naturally compares them to professionally recorded songs — the contrast is laughable.

There will be some kind of panel of judges or analysts who appear to enjoy the performance. I just think: what on earth? I have no idea how people watch such programs, or how long they endure it — thirty minutes? I’m not sure. I finished my breakfast early, so I didn’t find out.

College and Office Performances

I did study at a college — I wasted four years of my life. There used to be cultural programs with singing, dancing, and other performances, and they were invariably awful. I think there is some kind of bias in the human brain. Just as people in Tamil Nadu blindly support the actor Vijay regardless of the quality of his work, we start cheering for colleagues and classmates when they perform, no matter how poor the performance is.

In offices and colleges, these programs are a welcome distraction from overbearing bosses and uninspiring lecturers. You don’t really need to watch or listen — you just show up, take the time off, switch off your mind, and think about something else.

What Troubles Me at Home

What troubles me at home is that my family seems to be genuinely enjoying this program, not merely sitting through it passively.

Child Labor

I believe this is a form of child labor. There was once significant controversy around dance reality shows involving children, where it emerged that parents were overworking and pressuring their kids to practice relentlessly. Similarly, I think some parents, driven by the desire for fame or money, push their children into singing competitions. Even when the kids perform poorly, the parents are chasing some kind of recognition or prize. That is why such programs exist.

Unconditional Support for Kids

There is a school of thought that says one must support children unconditionally and encourage them no matter what. For some people, the children may seem endearing regardless of their performance — but that sentiment does not apply universally. A child who sings badly is singing badly. A child who dances badly is dancing badly. Poor performance is poor performance, regardless of the performer’s age.

I was once cornered by a friend whose baby had said something that day. He went on for thirty to forty minutes about what the baby had said. It was excruciating. I had no escape — I was at his office, trapped. Today I do not even know how that child is doing. It is that irrelevant to my life. Yet I had to sit through it. Painful.

Overpopulation

I do believe humanity should endure and flourish — no other biological species has demonstrated intelligence comparable to ours. But too much of anything becomes a problem. I think the human population has grown to a point where it has become a burden on the planet.

We are destroying nature on every front. Wild animals and forests are disappearing. The world is being poisoned by our waste, and we are steadily raising the planet’s temperature. Eventually, I think population will come down — and it could happen dramatically.

A better path would be to have fewer children, to parent more consciously and responsibly, and to resist the urge to promote one’s child simply for the sake of it.

Nepotism

Look at what nepotism has done to the film industry. We are subjected to poor-quality films because the children of established cinema figures are handed opportunities to act, produce, and direct, regardless of merit. Innovation has nearly disappeared. In politics, the same pattern holds — deeply rooted family networks dominate, keeping capable and honest people out. Governance ends up in the hands of those who inherited power rather than those who earned it, and the nation suffers for it.

People need to be educated differently — in a way that values talent and character over bloodlines. Good skills and good values should be recognized and supported on their own merits. I believe this would lead to a far healthier society. Those who promote their children — or anyone else — without genuine reason ought to be called out for it.