God only knows that I was horrified when I heard my 10 years old cousin sang out loud in front of me "Main to tandoori murgi hun yaar, gatka le saiyyan alcohol se”.

"Too much TV," I sighed.

The government today has done probably what every parent has been secretly praying for: barred what are called 'item songs' from TV telecast because of their explicit content. According to reports, from now on, item songs will be considered adult content (and will come with an 'A' rating) and will not be telecast on TV.

It is a welcome move for people from many walks of life, especially working parents, who by no measure can regulate and monitor the content their child watches on TV. They might unplug the Internet, give them select access to Facebook and YouTube but TV? who unplugs the TV? It is on from the time you wake up to the time you wake up and keeps on spewing its content to all and sundry, without any bias during the day and sometimes during the night. Children are the worst hit from this 24-hour show – who pick up things that might just take away their childhood forever and put them straightaway into the adult mode.

It is undebatable that the content on TV has to be regulated. No questions asked on that. However, that item numbers take the entire brunt of that regulation is a tad unfair. If we come to it, news channels are equally horrifying. Daily soaps can embarrass you with their nitty-gritty analysis of familial sexual escapades. Advertisements have always been problematic. And today, with Ben 10 kissing his girlfriend at every opportunity he gets, I wouldn't call Cartoon Network the ideal channel for viewing by children either.

And if the bar is not for children, or not just for children but against the larger gamut of violence on women which seems to have formed a feedback loop between reel and real life, then I would say that the battle is half won. In fact, the battle is a quarter won because men also learn that violence against women is OK from movies like Ishaqzaade where the character of Parineeti Chopra falls in love with that of Arjun Kapoor even after the latter molests her and behaves violently with her all the time. These movies give an impression that women somehow like violent men; because women still look for a man who is strong enough to hunt to provide for the family. That seems to be the only probably explanation.

Men also learn that it is okay to be violent to women when their father slaps their mother and the mother still serves him dinner. Even before anyone else gets food in the family.

So, I am all set to welcome the time when small children would still be small and innocent and I would be saved from the shoddy sights of women in different levels of scant clothing when I sit down to watch TV, but this is where the expectations end. Sorry to break your bubble.