Close to reality A first person account of a day spent at the Bigg Boss House, Lonavala

Close to reality

A first person account of a day spent at the Bigg Boss House, Lonavala

I would rather have fiction than reality any day. But when the chance to stay overnight on the sets of a reality show, along with fellow journalists came my way, I was game. It was for the sixth edition of Bigg Boss which kickstarts today. I was made to travel to Lonavala alone in a cab, well the idea being that everyone gets to meet everyone in the house itself. A big flop I assume since most people seemed to knew each other so well already. There were 14 of us in all. Having gathered in a meeting room, and being ripped of mobiles, money, wallets, credit cards, pens, paper, books and hair dryers — we were blindfolded and led to the Bigg Boss house. Honestly, I could see from under the silken black cloth. So once in the house, the hell of an experience began. Done up with glass and mirrors I took an instant liking for the set and even more so when the house mates started bumping into the spotlessly clean mirrors. Yes, four people got hurt like that. It couldn’t have gotten funny! But this was just the tip of the iceberg. One of the girls insisted we play “physical games” as she referred to hide ‘n’ seek. And well I was comforted to know that there was another journalist, besides me, who was dumbfound by what was happening. But it was not too long before my amusement turned into painful torture. Bigg Boss kept us waiting for too long before he made his auditory presence felt. If you wonder whether he made us do some stupid tasks? Well, yes. One. (I think he did not have to try to hard as the bunch seemed to be happiest doing so). We were judged on our banana love. The contest called kele-akele: whoever finishes 10 bananas first, gets to be the captain of the house. And before I could finish the third (I stopped at three), a girl was already yelling into the camera “Bigg Boss maine dus kelle kha liye hai, sabse pehle.” The other task was tasty. We were divided into a team of two and made to cook a sweet dish in 30 minutes and present it to the elected captain who’d then decide the winner. Yes, we won. I cut my thumb in the process, but never mind. Post this, I retired to the room and woke up the next morning to a loud theme song. I cursed everyone as there was no morning chai for the longest time. But yes, the good aloo parathas and tea later made up for it. I wanted to get out of the house as soon as possible, desparate for some oxygen in my system. This ‘reality’ sucked.