Yesterday, when I was surfing through Netflix (yes, I’m one of those poor people with rich friends) and I found a show named ‘Vir Das: Abroad (read: A Broad) Understanding’. It is a one hour Comedy Original by Netflix performed by Vir Das in a stadium in New Delhi, India and also in a Comedy Club in America in front of 200 Americans.
Being a comic show, Vir Das said so many things that forced us to think, that many people don’t say out loud and that needs to be said, for Indians and their mentality.
I’ve summed up some beautiful points he made during that hour, which may force you to check this show out:
People spoke crazy sh*t back then, and now we call it religion.
He spoke about religion, and how it needs to be updated. We humans (not only Indians), follow books like Bhagvat Geeta, Quran, Bible which are supposedly written hundreds or thousands of years ago.
“Five don’ts.
Four of them make sense.
The Fifth one they added just to fu*k with you.
That’s a religion: Don’t Lie, Don’t Cheat, Don’t Kill, Don’t F*ck, Don’t eat non-veg on Tuesdays.”
You know the difference between 2001 and 2018. The difference in technology, style of living, life expectancy, everything has changed in the last 18 years. How do you expect to follow something that was believed 1000 years ago? Don’t you think it should be updated?
The lines below are my favorite from the entire hour.
“But I don’t mean to insult my country, ladies and gentlemen.
I am a patriotic Indian. My patriotism is based on a very simple fact: that this country is where I live. That’s it.
I live in India. I am proud of India.
If I lived in Estonia, I would be proud of Estonia.
There is no middle ground in India anymore.
We all have to align ourselves. You’re left wing or right wing.
It’s like you think India is a bird. India’s not a bird. Birds are free.”
Here’s how beautifully he compared India to a goldfish.
India is a goldfish. We have a memory of 15 seconds. It lives in bowl and it wants nothing more than what is in its bowl. But look. The bowl is made of glass.
There’s another world outside the bowl, a world with different cultures, different ideologies, different beliefs, different sexual orientations. We must learn, we must embrace, we mus – “I am India. I live in a bowl. I want nothing more than what is in my bowl.”
These are only few points that he made in an hour of his special. He talked about multiple critical points, like religious phobia, racism, patriotism, politics, corruption, love or even parenthood.
This might be a bit offensive for some people, the show and even this article. This might be against some beliefs, and we are very sorry about it. But this is what nobody is saying, or talking about. This is what needs to be in open and this is what will change the future generation of India.
Keeping all the grudges aside, always remember what Vir said..
“It’s okay not to understand each other”
Have your favourite bits from the show? Or any counter-argument or opinion? Please let us know in the comments below.
Didn’t watch the show yet? Close this and go watch it ffs.
