The man responsible for fleshing out the character of P G Wodehouse’s iconic Jeeves and one half of the madly funny A Bit of Fry and Laurie; Stephen Fry made the headlines recently. He tweeted about the आदर्श बालक – Adarsh Balak (model or ideal child) poster that he saw in his doctor's office; which many of us will remember from our school days. And just like that, a discussion about the hilarity (and hypocrisy) of societal expectations was reignited.
This is Stephen Fry being characteristically wry. He thought it was very odd of his doctor to hang this in his surgery. It isn’t clear whether the doctor is in real earnest, is nostalgic about his (possibly) Indian school or just being drolly tongue in cheek about the straitjacketing morality of social expectations.
People indicated their amusement and approval using one of Jeeves’ pet phrases – the understated but feelingly uttered – Indeed Sir.
Many of us remember going to the stationery store to buy charts such as these – good habits, flowers, wild animals, domestic animals, Indian monuments, our helpers – for ourselves or for your kids’ projects.
The good boy doesn’t just brush his teeth, greet his parents and join NCC. He is also well mannered, polite, thoughtful and law-abiding; a veritable paragon of virtue.
One Twitter user challenged Fry to put up a counter to the good habits and this is the closest that he could find.
The updated list cocks a snook at the moral expectations of society and the disapproval and censure faced by those who either refuse to or cannot conform.
There is an Adarsh Balak Facebook page devoted to the artist who creates art in the fashion of the old school charts. The images he creates are sometimes funny, frequently disturbing and at times frankly dystopian.
One adarsh balak deserves another; however this latter day adarsh balak is not really adarsh.
In the world of the latter day non-adarsh balak, joints seem to figure rather prominently.
What is the girl version of the bad kid? Another Twitter user was quick to point out this satirical poster about women rejecting stereotypes – which had become wildly viral a few years ago as a symbol of female resistance to the patriarchy. This one detailed all the many, many things that women are not supposed to do – including having fun, deciding not to be docile and having a mind of their own… all the things that society expects of her.
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