Inglorious son: Where would family be if everyone was super judgy of their parents like Quentin Tarantino? 😜

Hai hai what an ungrateful son. Is he even human? Quentin Tarantino, with a net worth of roughly $120 million, shares not a penny of that success with his parents. No house, no vacation, no Elvis Cadillac for mommy. She mocked little Tarantino writing scripts in school and “there are consequences for your words as you deal with your children.” His father wasn’t around back then, so forget money Tarantino doesn’t even grace the man with his company.

This looks like the kind of radical individualism that these days is in very bad odour, as some Ayn Randian perfidy. Towards the end of her life, she famously said: “I won’t die. The world will die.”

Turn camera to desi shores and very different scenes await. We still don’t wash the dirty linen in public. Traditional family values are the basis of a harmonious society, and since that’s who we are and will continue to be, outing our parents’ or children’s cruelties remains taboo. Other taboos may or may not follow from this. Depending on which way the hawa blows.

We will not let the umbilical cord between individual achievement and collective pride be dented, painted. Look how socially we set aside all other work when our Olympians entered the medal rounds, to not only pack tightly inside their families’ TV rooms but also sacrifice masking for the occasion. We had never watched a javelin competition until now and may not watch another one until the Paris Olympics, but Neeraj Chopra will understand. He has admitted it’s a very individualistic sport. Until the gold comes home, or the silver or bronze. Mobbed by loving fans, is the theme that then plays on loop. We gather at airports to feel sportspersons’ glory by touching their skin.

If a Vinesh Phogat is breaking ranks, it’s from a troubled place. Individualist truth-telling, far from the selfish and duplicitous vein in which critics cast it, is actually both an act of courage and a social good. It is not the punier cousin of duty and discipline but just as promising. It is also not unlike watching The Bride in the Kill Bill movies setting her world to right. Creative destruction is hardcore. That yellow-jumpsuited figure rips into a lot of flesh with her katana. Most of us won’t ever join such samurai action. Tangping, the game of just lying flat, is what I for one prefer playing.