media as social change driver

Indian Idol. Watch it occasionally with family - what struck me this time around was the number of non mainstream profile contestants. We have a chinese boy whose family has settled in Patna, we have a boy who has both biological parents and parents who have adopted him and we have a police constable from the north east. I really doubt they've been selected to drive viewership in east india (though one can always think that these shows are manipulated). Rather, the bigger and more interesting thing for me was to see mainstream gujarati/marathi girls sitting in the bombay studio audience cheering for these non mainstream folks. Suddenly, the north-east has become mainstream and suddenly it's okay for kids to be adopted. Suddenly, the tiny chinese community in India gets visibility and HOW (saw a banner titled "change, marry me!" in the audience!). Now we need to get in gays, single parents, live in partners and inter-religious couples into Indian Idol...!