A few years ago, the instructional charts used to teach moral concepts in schools gained a new meaning online. The most prominent of these was the “Adarsh Balak” chart, which began as a meme and later became the inspiration for an ideological battle on twitter with hashtags like #AdarshLiberal and #AdarshBhakt.
However, years before the Adarsh Balak meme fest began, acclaimed author and poet Amit Chaudhari, who doubles up as a musician, had satirised the ideas with his 2007 song Moral Education. Featuring lyrics like “Always be meek and mild; Never be loud and wild” and “Don’t look at girls except once weekly,” the song from the album “This Is Not Fusion” presciently foreshadowed the battle that was to follow.
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