Bullying

There’s a Bollywood song that we used to love and dance to when we were kids, probably in middle school. It’s called “Pappu can’t dance”. Now that we’re all grown ups, it hit me suddenly. Was that song really worth our praises? And then I came across this meme questioning the same. I guess we all are thinking along the same lines now.

Basically the song ridicules this unknown, random guy called Pappu who apparently can’t dance. A bunch of other kids (the ones on whom the movie is) are dancing around him and making fun of him. However, the first “Pappu” shocks them out of their minds as he starts grooving around his booty to the beats. So what to do now? The college kids find a new target, and calls him “Pappu” who can’t dance. I mean c’mon! What were we thinking back then? Enjoying a song that’s actually so degrading.

Sometimes a person doesn’t even realise that he/she’s a bully. They come up with excuses like ” he had it coming “, “she’s all cool about it”, “it’s just light fun”, and it is then that things turn pitch dark. It’s a world within a world where reality is distorted and reason ceases to exist. Like it did for us too. We only identify bullying when it’s done on an institutional level, but what about the times when it’s done as a pure joke and we’re expected to suck it up? Classmates can make fun of a fellow classmate because his hair’s turning gray prematurely! Can call him “dadu” which translates to “grandfather”. Are we supposed to ignore that ’cause it’s supposedly light fun? And to top it all off, relatives play quite a bigger part in this traditional bullying too. “Oh God, you have gained weight son!” , ” Did you stay out in the sun too long, you look darker!”, ” Why don’t you color your hair, doesn’t it bother you?”

There’s another song called BOY IN THE BUBBLE by Alec Benjamin. And this song actually talks about the recurring cycle of bullies. That is, how bullies create bullies or why bullies are bullies. However I believe it’s not true for all. Some people bully simply because they can and in most cases, there’s nobody around to show them that what they’re doing is wrong. And in fact, some bullies need medical help just as much as the victims do.

We need to be more careful and cautious about what we’re watching, listening to, especially what the kids are watching. They should be taught that it’s never cool to make fun of others, because a light joke can amount to terrible consequences sometimes.

Take a deep breath, and call the bullies out. Nobody’s supposed to put up with that. #saynotobullying

If you have inspiring comeback stories, feel free to share them in the comments. ♥️