Family Matters

The Museum of Broadcasting Communications hosts an online encyclopaedia of Television. The entry for Soap Opera regards Dallas as the program that sparked off the primetime soap boom of the 1980s in the United States. Dallas focused on the shady business dealings and dysfunctional family dynamics of the Ewings, a Texas-based family whose wealth was derived from oil.

India seems to prefer its soap operas to be played out in the real world - Reportage of events in political, corporate, entertainment and sports circles frequently entertain more than any fiction dreamed up for our soaps. The beginning of the end of one such drama was heralded today by the matriarch of the Ambani family announcing (PDF) the settlement of the Reliance Industries/Ambani Brothers dispute.

She prefaces the brief statement with an invocation to one of her favourite deities, Srinathji, an avatar of Lord Krishna. In this form, if I recall correctly, the child Krishna lifted and held up the Mountain Govardhan to protect people from the storm sent down on them by the vengeful God Indra. I hope the settlement protects the interests of the minority shareholders. Three and a half million people across the nation are reported to have invested in Reliance.

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