Self indulgence at Five Rupees

Until yesterday I thought that drowning myself in wine or chocolate, or rose petals followed by a body massage with the most expensive and rare aroma oils, could be the best thing in this world. I called this self indulgence until yesterday. Only the descendants of the Raj kapoor clan or one of the Ambanis could afford this kind of self indulgence on a daily basis. And damn!!!! I envied them for this. I always wished someone would present me with one of those 99.99% discount coupons to one of the posh spa's in town, and I could indulge in myself without feeling a wee bit guilty about wasting money.

But let me tell you, yesterday my perception changed. It was 5.00 pm in the evening, and while I was wondering what could kill my boredom which was eating my head, I just got reminded that I had forgotten to pay my Dad's credit card and mobile bills which he asked me to pay in the morning itself. I decided to walk it down, as the weather in chennai for a change was very windy and pleasant. Half way down it began to rain. There wasn't even a slight warning in the form of drizzle and the rain came with a bang. Now I ain't like any of those filmy heroines who loves to get wet in the rains and dance to tunes. Rains are such a pain I tell you. All your clothes get messy and your shoes and pants are messed with mud. The wet weather irks me and I hate it. In chennai with many drains overflowing the rain mixes with sewage and there is a high probablitiy that you are walking on diluted urine.

Before I could find a roof above my head I was all wet. So there was no point now to go and huddle up in front of those big showrooms along with old uncles and aunties. The last thing I ever wanted , on the top of getting wet was caress my wet shoulders with theirs. So I was walking with the rain. I finally reached the destination and paid the bills. The man at the counter looked at me with disgust while taking the wet cheque from my hands. I wanted to tell him " what are you staring at dumb ass??? You'd look more disgusting if wet", but I just kept quiet. Instead I gave him a nasty stare that would have told him lots more.

As I got out of the showroom, I carefully tip toed so as to avoid the muddy puddles just when a fast indica, splashed all the muddy water over me. I was fuming. I spewed the worst words I ever knew at the driver. As I was busy cursing the driver, a man in a cart selling peanuts distracted me. Wow Peanuts were the best thing that could drive away all my depression right now, I thought.

I dug deep into my bag and found one wet and slightly torn five rupee note. I walked up to the cart and asked him for peanuts worth 5 bucks. He was happy to see me. In the rain I was his only customer. He quickly took the hot peanuts into his measurement cup and packed it into a cone with papers from an old tamil magazine. The cone had the photo of Namitha - tamil cinema's sex bomb on it. I gave him the soaked torn note. He didn't seem to mind. He took it with a smile. Seeing me buy the peanuts, a small boy and his mother on a Scooty also stopped to buy some peanuts. I felt good about it. I had brought the poor chap some business. I was his lucky charm, I thought.

I was so excited about the the peanuts. It was warm and as I was holding it in my hand, I felt like I was in heaven. I was walking on the middle of the road. Cars honked loudly behind me and threatened to splash muddy water on me. I could care less. I couldn't get more wet and more muddy. I felt like the king of the world. The aroma of the hot salted peanuts and the feeling of it cracking in my mouth made me feel like I was in a spa with rose petals and honey. With the cool wind blowing and the rain dying out, and with each peanut that cracked inside my mouth I felt high. I felt better than heaven. It was self indulgence at Rs.5.

As I walked back home, I carefully crafted a small paper boat out of the paper with Namitha's picture and let it float. The boat with Namitha didn't float for long, but my satisfaction did.

Irony of similar thoughts

A house with a swimming pool,

with a name board carved in gold

was life is what they thought.

Sacrificing their love for a limousine

didn't seem a sacrifice at all.

Life's journey made them

take different paths,

Walking on a lonely road wasn't

difficult, right from start.

Each passing day made them

regret choosing their own path.

Both felt Life would have been

better if they had killed the love

in their heart, right from the start".

Another couple watched the moon lit sky

with a sweet wind passing by,

For their house didn't have a roof.

Love had brought them together,

They had two lovely kids

And a lovely family.

Each day they had to struggle

hard to make end meets.

They yearned for a limousine and

A house with the name board carved in gold.

Both felt Life would have been

better if they had killed the love

in their heart, right from the start".

Of feminism, stupidity and randomness.

My mother calls me a zombie. Everyday I wake up at 7, sometimes 8 and the days I sleep at 5 a.m, I wake up at 8:30. I quickly get dressed up and with a blank look on my face, I leave for work. My ears are plugged with with head phones of my mp3 player and with random thoughts clouding over my head I cross the crowded roads and subways. I get back home by 7, and straight I go to sit with my computer.I read random blogs, view random videos and talk to random people. This has been my life for the past one month, my two best friends being my computer and my mp3 player.

So this weekend, I decided to break off from the zombie routine. I took my patti ( grandmother in Tamil. I detest referring to her as granny or grandmother.) for a movie she was long wanting to watch and spent time helping my mom with the Navarathri pooja. I also decided to pay some attention to one gadget I had lost touch with- The Television. After the huge tamasha Rakhi Sawanth created choosing a groom for herself, she has now decided to play mom. As I just flipped through channels, I saw this show named "Mein, Mere pati Aur Woh" ( I,My Husband and That). I wonder which parent would refer to their child as woh. This show showcases the child managing capabilities of some pseudo celebrity couples. And Rakhi Sawant cribs about the child assigned to her. She is unable to put the poor child to sleep and ends up bitching about the child. I would want to tell Mrs. Rakhi, that being a mom is not only about raising kids. Its needs a whole lot of sacrifice, patience, love, affection ,practicality and ability to handle tough situations. The women in this show showcase none of the above mentioned qualities and they are the going-to-be moms. Wasn't there a better way of gaining publicity? I guess the supreme court should bring a stand against casting such shows on national television. These shows not only portray a false image of celebrities but also tarnish the image of the many smart mothers in the country. Moreover the impact Rakhi Sawanth would have on the mind of a poor little one year old, toddler is definitely a punishable offense. On the pretext of a reality show, T.V channels are performing a different kind of child molestation.

Another funny show that I came across was called perfect bride. I wonder why this show is called the perfect bride. A woman remains a bride for a maximum of 48 hours. I wonder if the show is to search for a bride or for the most stupid woman and man in India. The main motive of this reality show is to search for the perfect bride who can adjust to the needs of the husband and mother-in-law. And here's how it goes. There are a bunch of 12 women and 12 men who are in search of a perfect partner. The men come along with their mothers who also specify their demands from their to-be Daughters-in-law. The demands are as follows: she must be pretty, she must be well mannered, she must be able to adjust to our family, she shouldn't get angry. Now the bunch of mothers in law and to-be brides are put into one house and all the grooms are put into another. Some of the girls already begin to eye some of the guys and try to act as good as possible with the particular moms. There are situations when two women eye for the same guy and cheap fights take place among the two. Among these groups of 10 men and 10 women some get eliminated. I have no clue why. In the house these women hang around in mini shorts and low neck T-shirts and the mothers- in-law seem to be pretty cool with their clothes. Most of women are in the age group of 20-24. The men are in the age group of 24-30.

The thing that makes me wonder is how could these men and women in their 20's come on national television and show the world their worthlessness. I was under the impression that the youth of this country were an ambitious lot. I wonder which company would have given these men, more than a month of leave during times of recession. And one among these men are going to be crowned as the perfect groom. While feminists in the country are fighting for women to be included in the army, and against the cheer leaders during T-20 matches, I think they should fight against such a stupid show, which shows to the world a bunch of women who's only ambition is to become some sort of pseudo daughter-in-law who publicly stalk men. At the end of it all, I had a good laugh.

The poor quality of reality shows is something that makes me cry. I miss the days when there used to be only 2 channels on the T.V. One was Doordarshan National and the other was DD metro. The most sought after shows were The world this week, Surabhi and Malgudi days. Every week, as a whole family all of us used to look forward to it. And each time I heard the song mile sur mera tumhara I run to watch it even if it was the millionth time. Its been more than five years now, that I watched a T.V show regularly with my mom,dad and patti.