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I had an alcoholic uncle in my family. Quite often, late at night, he’d come in front of our house and unleash verbal abuse, the kind you could not imagine. Since brother-in-law (sister’s husband) is a revered position in our culture/family, my parents never retaliated.
That was my first introduction to verbal abuse.
In my teen years, I’d hear abuse here and there. Mostly from grown-ups, drunks, or during fights. For the longest time, I believed the person abusing was not in their senses. Yes, some teenagers also indulged in the same, but mostly backbenchers and the kind who believed they could get away with anything.
Then I came to Delhi.
Within a few days, I heard new kinds of swear words, and some iterations of which I had heard in Patna before.
Unlike Patna, abuses here were more casual, and no one blinked an eye. I mean, we’d have ‘Battle of Baghpat’-equivalent fights over the mention of mothers or sisters. The C-word was far more casual. And people addressed each other like that. Grown-ups, teenagers, young, old, men, and women. It felt like an indiscriminate firing of swear words from everywhere.
I was fine with all this as long as no one called me those words. I also made a promise to myself not to swear at all. I broke this promise within a few days. Probably during a time when tempers were high. And since then, it has been a slippery slope.
Around this time, the internet was increasingly becoming a part of our lives. And a lot of things there were uncensored. On TV, beeps were heard far more frequently. If you are aware of the swear words, you’d easily make out what was being uttered.
So films (and music) and TV, usually a big influence on younger minds, were also gradually embracing swear words, or dancing around them.
For instance, the film Shootout at Lokhandwala’s famous song “Aye Ganpat” has lines like “…Bhaai main bhaai tu fikar na kar, Uski maa ki uski behen ki jo dekhe idhar…” Of course, we’re not fooling anyone with “Bhag DK Bose” kind of lyrics either.
And then, in parallel, ‘Volume 1’ kind of songs were being circulated among people via Bluetooth, pen drives, and MP3 download websites.
Not that films did not have vulgarity and vulgar songs, but usually double meanings. From “bamboo me tamboo” to “Choli ke peeche”, there’s a long list of such songs in mainstream commercial cinema.
TV, however, has remained clean for the longest time. Though, “uncensored” versions always make it to the internet.
On OTTs, there are many shows with swear words. Sometimes it appears that swear words are the USP of the show. And mostly, those dialogues become popular too. Whether it is Mirzapur’s “O….beep beep Chacha” or Sacred Games’ expletive-driven narration of events happening in the country.
There’s a viral video of senior actors like Manoj Bajpayee and Vijay Raaz discussing their favourite expletives. So, you know.
Probably, one can censor swear words in films, TV, and even on the internet. But what will you do when your favourite sportsperson loves uttering “Ben Stokes” during live matches?
I never saw Sachin swear, or Dravid for that matter. And I was not literate enough at the time to make out what Ricky Ponting said to Javagal Srinath when the latter hit him with a bouncer. But the newer generation’s Sachin-equivalent does, and far more frequently, so I am sure the young will be influenced, like we were when we were younger.
I am not surprised now when I hear an expletive from a younger person. The young ones cannot unhear it anyway, whether they’re out or watching content online. It’s like a common suffix to every sentence that exists. I believe or would like to believe that a lot of younger ones don’t even know the meaning of such swear words.
The point I am trying to make is summarised in these questions, and the ultimate paradox of it:
Do I use swear words? Yes.
Do I want to hear them on TV or the internet? No.
Will I continue to swear? Maybe, maybe not.
Do I want my children to swear? No.
These pieces are being published as they have been received – they have not been edited/fact-checked by ThePrint.