Because of my abject ignorance about Hindi TV serials, I had to find out who or what a Kokilaben was/is (other than Mukesh and Anil Ambani’s mother that is). So apparently there used to be a series by the name Saath Nibhana Saathiya in which one Kokila ben was seen to strike terror into the hearts of other women. There was one scene where Kokilaben appeared to be getting to the bottom of a chana-mystery in her own terrifying style. This caught the fancy of singer-music producer Yashraj Mukhate.
Mukhate created a Kokilaben mix and posted it on Facebook where it promptly went viral.
The Kokilaben rap inspired a rash of memes.
Your guess is as good as mine.
The strangest and most trivial of things go viral; obscuring and diverting attention from real issues.
While most were appreciative of the artiste's creativity, some took out time to debate the dangers of putting empty cookers on lit stoves.
This character from the serial likely was forgotten in the sands of time; however, this rap seems to have given her a new lease of life.
Rarely have the tweeple spoken so much and so creatively about the humble cooker.
The scene depicted may be as utterly ridiculous, but the rap is catchy and simply refuses to leave once it gets into one's head.
Some of the tweeple were exasperated by the catchiness of the Kokilaben and Rashi rap.
Since Gujarati is my mother tongue, I can tell you that ‘rasoda’ means kitchen. Who was in the kitchen, Twitter wanted to know.
It is quite remarkable how something as inconsequential as this catches the fancy of so many who then spend time and effort creating memes around it.
Most people just thought it was hilarious.
The rap is also a reminder of the banality of most saas-bahu serials and the utterly petty ‘conflicts’ that are supposed to consume the waking hours of stay-at-home women.
The ‘innocent’, ‘simple’ young bahu is tricked into washing a laptop --- because apparently innocent is a synonym for unbelievably stupid.
This is where the virtuous ‘bahu’ is obviously supposed to spend most of her time according to TV serials. And this is the reason why so many plot points of serials revolve around women plotting against each other in the kitchen.
Unfortunately, regressive mindsets continue to be perpetuated by our TV serials and their ridiculous tropes. The scene upon which the Kokilaben Rap is based is just one example of standard fare on our TVs. It may seem very funny, but it is a telling comment upon our society as well.
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