We have entered the award season. Every time you flick on the television, there is a glitter 'n' glam award ceremony of some Bollywood stars. Enterprises sponsoring the awards have taken the commandment of 'go forth and multiply' to heart. The salver and trophy makers of Mumbai need to rejoice. They are in big business with almost everybody getting an award these days.

I think too many awards are like too much cricket. (Everybody wants to get on to the cricket award bandwagon, given that Bollywood and cricket are two of India's biggest obsessions. But that is another matter altogether). With too much cricket, matches become meaningless. Competitions tend to blend into each other.

One forgets who played against who last. It all seeps into each other, like a painter mixing colours together and then splashing them on canvas to make some hard-to fathom art work, which is passed off fashionably as an abstract.

Same it is with awards. Especially these razzmatazz Bollywood functions where television channels have a great time (and watchers too) focussing on actors' visages as their contemporaries, co-stars and enemies, go up on stage to take awards. Some stars mouth silent 'wows' as the camera pans on them, others look wry or pretend to be pleased as punch (they are actors after all) as an ex-flame goes up to get an award (the camera zoomed on Salman Khan and Vivek Oberoi in turn when Aishwarya Rai performed at a Bollywood award function).

Some others clap wildly as their film director goes up to get some award or the other. Yet others hug their parents, spouses or co-stars with glee. The winners hold the trophy aloft and shout profound things like, "This is for you." Some actors in the audience wear sunglasses in a darkened hall for some strange reason. Maybe they think it is cool. Or, maybe they have just had Botox to smoothen the wrinkles around their eyes. There are no prizes (awards) for guessing.u00a0u00a0u00a0

Everybody loves a pat on the back once in a while. Yet too much of self-adulation, standing ovations and praise becomes ridiculous rather than meaningful. Maybe, awards are a great commercial proposition. While everybody likes praise and compliments once in a while and should be showered with some, a surfeit of it makes it a painful proposition.

The proverbial pat on the back is needed, just don't call simply everybody 'legendary' or 'mind-blowing' or 'awesome' when there is little reason to. After all, there is no balm invented yet for swollen heads ufffd Munni and Zandu notwithstanding.