Rang !

I have this question for anybody who buys me any thing.What other colors was that thing available in ? I know, it is quite irritating, for the person but I  persist.I just start imagining how that object would appear in that colour or colours.My imagination takes wings & goes soaring.I can also visualise the shades of the colour /s.But all this vivid imagination of mine has a flip side.Many people have sworn, never to buy me anything as I appear quite displeased with the colors of the objects they get for me.This despite the fact, that I have instructed them on the choice of colors !

I draw rangolis twice a week.It is basically a pattern by the rangoli powder on the black cuddappah.So ,the rangoli is black & white & embellished with specks of turmeric & kumkum ! In festivals,I draw colourful rangolis -all filled with an assortment  of colours ! Hence,the festive rangolis are very eye catching, as they are all bright, in comparison to to the daily white rangoli designs.

When I look at photographs dating back to my childhood,I am struck by the utter simplicity of our bygone lifestyle.I keep wondering, how would it all have looked in colors ! Would the clothes we wore in those years have similar shades as now ? Was the sky as blue ? Were the trees & grass as green as now or maybe they had a different hue ? Moreover ,many of the photographs would be clicked in studios unlike now, when we just click them anywhere !

The advent of colour television in India during the Delhi Asiad was a milestone & we got our first  idiot box at home.We fell for it -hook line & sinker ! So much so, that our studies suffered but slowly & steadily ,we got to ignore it every now & then.Maybe, we were so awestruck as we had only been used to monotone of black & white on the idiot box & that too with a lot of disruptions & awful reception back in  small town India.The color television came with a lot of changes -reception was good & it was Asiad -a matter of honour to be hosting it ! After this visual treat ,I guess colour television became the norm in India, rather than the exception ! So mesmerising is colour !

Now ,one can even opt for colour in Xerox ! We ,Indians need record/s for anything & everything. Actually ,unless there is a record,we are skeptical of that person ,the event  ,almost everything.Hence ,the xerox is our most valuable friend in these times ! Xerox was & continues to be the most  valuable  ally & colour xerox all the more so ! Now trust can be xeroxed in  the original ! With colours !

Even computers come with colour printers & amp; mobiles are also with coloured screens -all are reasonably priced ! So all of us can enjoy colours without our pockets pinching us.In fact ,the advent of colours in all devices has made all of us equal in more ways than one ! It has brought in a  kind of social equality !

 I am sure ,as we get  ahead in this age of social networking ,our lives will get colored all the more, in myriad shades ! It will also work as color therapy & make us better humans !

This blog post is my entry for the HP Take Flight with Colour Contest on Indiblogger.You can learn more @http://h20426.www2.hp.com/campaign/demand-more/in/en/index.html

Sit coms !

Soaps have become so addictive that, I feel, I cannot survive without them ! It is just a routine.This despite the fact, that I am watching the idiot box only in the night-the prime time.Most of the soaps start with lot of promise.This is the honeymoon period - when the soap /s & the viewer /s enjoy the  initial pleasant days .Very soon,to maintain TRPs,the story line is changed or rather adapted to suit demands of the day .Then the actors are replaced -sometimes the main actor & actress gets replaced with a new actor and or actress.This all causes a lot of hilarity as also confusion.

One particular serial is on cops & is aired on weekends.It has been on the television since years now.I used to enjoy it earlier & now I end up watching it though it is so mundane now.It is actually very comical.All the cops go after every suspect together rather than one cop going after the suspect.In one episode ,a vehicle  which was used in a crime was left unattended while all the cops ran to investigate more in the vicinity.Just shows that there is not even a semblence of investigation ! In the soap,the cops go & ask the witnesse/s about the looks of the suspect/s ,the vehicle numbers etc.The witness will initially mumble about not noticing & or recalling anything but stern looks from the cops are enough to recall the minutest  details ! How I wish ,the cops would confront me when I forget where I have placed my keys,files etc ! The cops are the best re-callers of memory ! In the soap,almost all shopkeepers ,garage owners ,schools,colleges etc maintain registers which have names,addresses & all other details which come in so handy to the cops ! Just goes to show, there are methods to madness ! If only our government departments had maintained records like this.Then ,all scams,crimes  etc would have  got solved in a jiffy !

Then there is a soap, which shows an ideal Indian housewife catering to the silly demands of all males in a family in Mumbai.The family owns & manages a saree shop !The bahu is the only woman in this male household.She does all work by herself-cooking,washing clothes,utensils,teaching the youngsters,caring the elderly et al.And all this, as she struts about in designer sarees with matching accessories ! She is always defending the males in front of her mom as well ! No male even considers the options of hiring a maid & or the washing machine  to assist the bahu ,not even her hubby !Maybe they are unable to choose the washing machine from so many brands ! Maid ,is not being kept so that the bahu is able to stay fit by washing ,cleaning etc ! The amount of food she cooks for breakfast ,lunch & dinner is enough for a  party ! In one episode,it was shown, that gunny bags of veggies were brought from the market as some three to four guests  had been invited.They went on to show, that the bahu slogged to cook a sumptous dinner for all ,  without any help from the males ! This is the ultimate exaggeration so far ,idiot box style !

Another serial has gone in for selective amnesia to maintain TRP.I fail to understand, as to how, the hero can remember  all in his family except his wife.She keeps dropping hundreds of hints but he fails to follow even one of them .In some family soaps ,all in the extended family are sweetness personified.So much so that the viewers  get diabetic ! In other family soaps,all members are cunning -one up on the other & are always scheming ! It really makes one wonder ,how does one get so much time to conspire ?

In many serials ,the women are shown cooking the littlest amounts, though all are joint families containing many members. Moreover, all ladies are garishly dressed with all matching jewellery which has no connection with their economic status in the stories.

To maintain popularity ,the lead characters die  bang in the middle of the soaps.But the character never dies.He or she has survived & is resurrected again later. So very much, like our shastras which believe that the soul never dies !

The serial are  hardly aired for ten to fifteen minutes though the time slot is for half an hour.This is so, as sponsers take away half the time.The rest has to accomodate the current episode as also what happened in the last episode & what is going to be the next episode ! This is for the supposed benefit of the audience in case they have missed the episode/s ! Not that much happens in any episode.The story moves at a pace which will make a tortoise proud.This is aping us as,  as we do not live in the present ! We are either recalling  the golden past & dreaming about the better future !


Really ,I ponder ,is life imitating the soap or is it the other way around ?All said and done,these sitcoms are my prime source of entertainment ! The way ,they are aired, makes me laugh night after night ! That's why ,I have managed  without joining any laughter club.You can also watch the soaps & get stress free just the way the washing soap frees  the body of  dirt &sweat!

Movie magic

I love movies .Though now it has become very expensive to go & watch it in theatres sorry multiplexes,wherein you feel like you have spent a fortune .Yes, a fortune -the ticket cost,plus  a snack which is invariably prices above 100 bucks .Also,let us not forget about the transport cost of getting to the theatre.So,it is rather advisable to get a CD & watch it on your computer  or on the idiot box .Nowadays, the films get to be telecast very fast on the television .So that is more economical.

But the big screen effect is missing from the tiny screens of the computers & the idiot box.Yes,this is true even of the lavish Home theatre systems which were being promoted by numerous brands.For that gigantic screen effect ,it is a must to visit the cinemas & experience the magic.

As the screen opens up in front of you ,you tend to become a participant.It si as if you are standing there watching all that is going on & enjoying every moment of it.In fact,you feel as if you are living it yourself.The scenaries are breathtaking.Even if some place you have visited is being shown ,you feel you never looked at that place in such details.In films depicting stories of ages gone by,we feel we are reliving history.Films also make us aware of a lot of things- of modern science in sci-fi films, of people whom we would like to know more like Gandhi,etc.The Richard Attenborough film on the Mahatma is a classic which taught the youngsters that there was indeed a man who managed to achieve independence through non-violence.

Some films also are quite ahead of their times & make us think on futuristic ideas.They force us to think about  different perspectives .Many films also depict stark realities driving home the point that we all should change for the better.Some films are based on romance,others on comedy,still others on relationships,on politics et al.

I feel that watching a film once in a while is better than going shopping.Shopping is generally a useless exercise as we tend to go overboard .We shop for things which we will never use & then such things occupy space in our matchbox sized houses.Moreover,we are unable to discard them as we remember the exact amounts we have wasted in buying them.Yes,unfortunately our mind stores all such information to remind us how indulgent we have been though at other crucial moments,our memory fails us .

When we watch a film,we enjoy it & the memory of it lingers on diverting our minds to relax.Shopping is an exercise in stress & the money spent  is rarely ever  completely utilised.So,every time, my daughter's exams get over,I take her to a movie.We bond together & it is a treat ! My husband reluctantly agrees, as it has reduced my kid's shopping sprees.

Though I do feel that multiplexes have robbed the poor of watching movies in theatres,I still vote for the movie magic.I hope & trust that somehow ,the bottom strata are also able to catch a movie or two in the vanishing cinema halls once in a while.After all,they also need to relax -though a luxury in these times,they also have a right to relax.