It’s no secret that the Indian media has an unhealthy obsession with film stars’ children. The kids are scrutinised and pushed into the limelight almost as soon as they are born. First it’s their ‘oh-so-adorable’ baby photos. And as they grow up, their Instagram pictures become news stories. Their bodies are sexualised even as they’re kids.
Currently, one such unhealthy obsession the media is harbouring is with Taimur Ali Khan, Saif Ali Khan and Kareena Kapoor Khan’s son. The boy is just over a year old, but that does not stop the media from interpreting each of his antics and expressions. Taimur threw a spoon? Oh, he could not just be playing like other one-year-olds do… the toddler has Pataudi blood in him and must be LIVID at something.
As infuriating as this is to witness, one Facebook page might provide you with some catharsis.
Aptly titled ‘Pictures Of Taimur Ali Khan To Distract You From Real Issues’, the Facebook page cleverly ends up doing the opposite.
Check out these posts for example.
And here’s another one to make you realise how little we know about the north east.
And here are a couple to get you interested in the Aadhaar debate.
Online portal Social Ketchup got in touch with the admin of the page and asked them how they started it. The admin said he created the page after an incident in office left him feeling angry. In a conversation about the wealth distribution in India with colleagues, no one, save for one man, seemed to have anything meaningful to contribute to the discussion.
“One even chimed in with Taimur is so cute. ‘He is definitely a Bollywood celebrity in the making’,” the admin narrated. They added that their news feed has more stories about the baby than actual news, but this conversation was the last straw.
They started the Facebook page then, “to satirise the way our news organisations work” and to get people to read about more meaningful things using cute photos of Taimur.
Genius, isn’t it?
Here are a few more posts. Hopefully, you’ll feel less ‘distracted’ and more woke after reading them.