The Simpsons at 500 Through the Lens of a Childhood in India

The Simpsons reached a major television milestone with the broadcast of its 500th episode on Sunday.

Growing up in India, I would turn to the BBC World Service for a very British view of the world. And then, watch The Simpsons for some light-hearted American humor.

I must have been in my early teens when The Simpsons arrived – on my screen and in my life. I had never seen anything like it before. I used to watch the Flintstones and the Jetsons – both cartoon series that appealed to older kids.

But The Simpsons, it took me a while to realize, was actually a sitcom. The never-ending saga of an American family that refused to grow up – literally and otherwise.

I always thought the yellow family was full of colorful characters, that Springfield really was a town somewhere in the US and that a lot of Americans worked in nuclear power. I still remember thinking of Homer Simpson when the US imposed sanctions on India for carrying out nuclear tests in 1998. (They can trust Homer Simpson to run a nuclear power plant but can’t trust India to be peaceful with its weapons!)

There was so much I could relate to as an urban Indian living in a nuclear family and a lot that was culturally foreign.

The dynamic between the family members for one. If you know anything about Canadian-Indian comedian Russel Peters, you’d know that Indian fathers are in fact a lot like Homer Simpson. And a show that satirizes the ultimate authority figure at home must be a good show.

Also, Marge Simpson’s sisters, Patty and Salma, could well compare with “aunties” in Indian families. Annoying neighbors, bullies at school and a ruthless capitalist businessmen – I knew all these characters. (Indian society was especially distrustful of Mr. Burns-type figures in the 1990s.)

And then there was Apu – the sole champion of the Indian sub-continent, Hinduism and Bollywood on mainstream American television. As a character with so much on his shoulders, he does a fab job of it. I thought so, until I learned that Hank Azaria was voicing him up. Damn you Hank Azaria for doing an Indian accent so well. I couldn’t have done it better myself. Wait a minute, I could have.

One of the many things I couldn’t relate to was the irreverence. Indian society has its holy cows, shall we say. Many of them. And making fun of your elders, teachers, authority figures and worst of all – God – is a strict no-no.

You can lampoon politicians but not dead politicians. You can make fun of your teachers, but strictly behind their back and you ask you parents to live with you when they grow old. Grandpa Abraham Simpson isn’t someone you can make fun of at home.

And then, who can forget the episode where the entire family goes to Bangalore in India. It tackles so many stereotypes – about India and the US – all in one show. After talking about outsourcing and employee rights it ends with panache: Homer dancing to a Bollywood song from the 70s.

Maybe that’s why I am a fan of The Simpsons. It has a cheeky take on serious and sometimes divisive issues. It doesn’t simplify complex problems but expects you, forces you, to see the lighter side. Satire at its best. D-oh!