As I’ve said here before, I’m a fan of the first season of Bigg Boss, which I watched raptly, even as I questioned my own voyeurism. True, the shock value brought me in. But what compelled me to watch was the fact that contestants such as Bobby Darling, Deepak Parashar, Ravi Kissen and of course Rakhi Sawant, who were not part of mainstream identities or imaginations, brought a certain larger meaning to seemingly petty everyday conflicts — like with any really good novel or soap.

The differences of class, language, gender or sexual identity mirrored real difference in our society — which meant something more fundamental was at stake in an argument about who used someone’s favourite cup without asking.