Remember those sundays ... when there used to be no one on the streets between 9 am to 11 am ...? When the rest of the week passed in eager anticipation.. waiting for those precious 2 hours of the sunday morning ? .. when it was a matter of pride among your friends, if you could discuss what happened in those 2 hours , in a greater detail than others ? ..... yess am talking about those days when we were kids ... and sundays had only 1 meaning ... TV Serials .. Mowgli-Jungle Book, Tailspin, Chandrakanta, Mahabharata n Ramayana .. to name a few memorable ones . And also there were other equally attractive ones like Circus, Byomkesh Bakshi, Malgudi Days n even .. as I just remembered ... Tehkikaat !!! I must say, they were a big part of my growing up ... and I seriously do not miss those Marks or Those Homeworks, which I often had to sacrifice for them (although mom-dad rarely knew about this).
Over the years, I grew up (well thats obvious isnt it !!! )...rather we all grew up (this is referring to my dear friends with whom I grew up).... and the defination of a "Sunday" changed with time. There were no more discussions about the previous days tele-soaps on monday mornings or at the play ground. Well, probably because there was nothing worthy to be discussed !! As we grew up , our good old "Sunday Friends" said good-bye one by one. And with that, came the end of what I call "the age of entertaining, sweet, informative and sensible" TV-soaps.
Probably the society was changing fast then ... probably the viewers no more wanted to see the cartoon character of a little boy dancing around with a bunch of monkies, or even a 50+ private investigator fighting crime! And as you know with the entertainment industry.. you get what you want...
So then started the age of Never-ending family dramas.. filled with crime , sex , extra-marital sex , pre-marital sex, unfaithfulness, disloyalty !! Some years back , I was shocked to see even a rape scene in a Family type TV Soap !!! (dont think i was watching it .. i was surfing channels when it came up).....
As if the increasing TRP ratings of these soaps were not enough to indicate what we as a society wanted. Therefore we started giving signals in reality.
Cases of extramarital sex , honour killings, murders due to unfaithful behavior, illicit affairs, suicides due to illicit affairs, murder by inlaws n vice versa ...... and recently the killing of ones own child or murdering a disillusioned wife's lover ... increased, and thanks to the media ... these were highly glorified.
All these past 2-3 years I have always wondered, how these stupid serials, which mostly show the negative aspects of life, could do so well !!!! But then I realised : If you go 10-15 years back, I am sure you would hardly find such incidents happening in a regular basis, both on and off the TV screen. But as I said, the incidence of such incidents have multiplied over the years. And today , every other Tele-Soap have some element of these... and why not ... there are more viewers to take such drama than ever before !!!
God Knows where are we heading ...... but sometime I sincerely wish the days of Mowgli, Chandrakanta or Swami (Malgudi Days) come back again ....
( http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/Love_sex_top_murder_motives_in_cities/articleshow/3067492.cms)
Friday, May 23, 2008
Wednesday, April 30, 2008
En-Light-enment
It was 8pm last Thursday , while driving back home from work ,I suddenly found an unknown warning light blinking on my dashboard. After a closer look I realized, it was something to do with the brake lights ...... and true to my guess .. found my left brake light at the back kept sleeping , when it was supposed to wake up as i apply my brakes. Now this was a serious issue (although it may sound funny to people who are used to driving back home), because I didn't want any stupid cop to stop me for "visibility violation". Hence decided to have a look once I reach home.
At this point its worth mentioning that ...., when in Durgapur my dad used to drive a Premier Padmini. And minor issues like a fused light , low battery, short spark plugs etc (which were in plenty) .... were taken care of by him inside our small garage itself. So years of experience as my dad's assistant, gave me some idea about these issues in a car.
But this time it was different , I was a little apprehensive to try my tricks on my new Toyota Camry....... after all it wasn't a Padmini !! But as they say ... old habits die hard ... so my Indian roots overcame my "american apprehension" .. and I started working on the brake light .....
The journey started smoothly ... open the hood .. remove the mat .. unscrew the access screws .. and unplug the sensor clip ..... and then .. there u r ... u can actually c the bulbs ...!!!!!! That was exciting .. coz here i was saving around $ 50 !!.. good enough for 5 crates of Guiness !!! But soon my excitement faded away .... and thats because .. I could only get a glimpse of the bulbs .. but could not reach either of them ....
But despite this, I was happy with my effort and contended with the fact that it was nothing to do with the circuits .. and just a fused bulb (which i could see)... I called it a day .. with a Guiness anyways.
By now you must be wondering why am I writing these things ? Well, so here comes the interesting part. ..... Next day , morning , the first think I did was, take my car to the local Toyota Showroom / Dealer, where they made me wait for 2 hrs (since I didn't have an appointment !!!!!! ) and then a smart looking guy .. in those "pit stop" attire, came to fix the problem . I will try and dramatize it .. (although I dont remember the exact dialogues... )
Toyota Guy (TG) : Hello sir ! how may I help you today ?
Me : I have this warning light .. blah blah ... seems to be my back brake light .. blah blah .. seems like the bulb is fused.. i tried .. blah blah .....
TG : Sir , it is dangerous to play with the complicated machinery of your car without proper training. I advice you to please come to us directly, next time there is any problem .
Me : OK !!!!!!!!!!! ( @#%@#$%@#$%#@$)
TG : Why don't you have a seat (pointing towards a chair at the corner, inside the workshop)?
so I sat and watched ......
He started by opening the dashboard first ... looking for any fucked up wire (sorry for the language ! .. thats an expression of my frustration) ... then ..something in the engine !!!!! next it was the circuitry at the back ... accessed from the boot !! ..... AND then .. finally ... after about 1 hr 10 mins ........
TG : Sir , its a simple fused bulb .. I well get that fixed for you right away !!!
Me : Thank you soooooo much !! I knew you guys are trained to do this .. I shouldnt have played with the " complicated machinary " ( .... stupid ass !!!)
and finally THE Bill .... $180 ( $40 new bulb , $ 80 labour charge , $ 60 for some "loose wiring replacement"... which I never knew existed !! )
.. No Wonder .. 70 % of USAs intellectual force consist of foreigners ! .. BUT STILL THEY CAN FIGHT A WAR IN IRAQ WITHOUT A REASON !!!
.. Thank God .. it wasn't a starting problem !!!
At this point its worth mentioning that ...., when in Durgapur my dad used to drive a Premier Padmini. And minor issues like a fused light , low battery, short spark plugs etc (which were in plenty) .... were taken care of by him inside our small garage itself. So years of experience as my dad's assistant, gave me some idea about these issues in a car.
But this time it was different , I was a little apprehensive to try my tricks on my new Toyota Camry....... after all it wasn't a Padmini !! But as they say ... old habits die hard ... so my Indian roots overcame my "american apprehension" .. and I started working on the brake light .....
The journey started smoothly ... open the hood .. remove the mat .. unscrew the access screws .. and unplug the sensor clip ..... and then .. there u r ... u can actually c the bulbs ...!!!!!! That was exciting .. coz here i was saving around $ 50 !!.. good enough for 5 crates of Guiness !!! But soon my excitement faded away .... and thats because .. I could only get a glimpse of the bulbs .. but could not reach either of them ....
But despite this, I was happy with my effort and contended with the fact that it was nothing to do with the circuits .. and just a fused bulb (which i could see)... I called it a day .. with a Guiness anyways.
By now you must be wondering why am I writing these things ? Well, so here comes the interesting part. ..... Next day , morning , the first think I did was, take my car to the local Toyota Showroom / Dealer, where they made me wait for 2 hrs (since I didn't have an appointment !!!!!! ) and then a smart looking guy .. in those "pit stop" attire, came to fix the problem . I will try and dramatize it .. (although I dont remember the exact dialogues... )
Toyota Guy (TG) : Hello sir ! how may I help you today ?
Me : I have this warning light .. blah blah ... seems to be my back brake light .. blah blah .. seems like the bulb is fused.. i tried .. blah blah .....
TG : Sir , it is dangerous to play with the complicated machinery of your car without proper training. I advice you to please come to us directly, next time there is any problem .
Me : OK !!!!!!!!!!! ( @#%@#$%@#$%#@$)
TG : Why don't you have a seat (pointing towards a chair at the corner, inside the workshop)?
so I sat and watched ......
He started by opening the dashboard first ... looking for any fucked up wire (sorry for the language ! .. thats an expression of my frustration) ... then ..something in the engine !!!!! next it was the circuitry at the back ... accessed from the boot !! ..... AND then .. finally ... after about 1 hr 10 mins ........
TG : Sir , its a simple fused bulb .. I well get that fixed for you right away !!!
Me : Thank you soooooo much !! I knew you guys are trained to do this .. I shouldnt have played with the " complicated machinary " ( .... stupid ass !!!)
and finally THE Bill .... $180 ( $40 new bulb , $ 80 labour charge , $ 60 for some "loose wiring replacement"... which I never knew existed !! )
.. No Wonder .. 70 % of USAs intellectual force consist of foreigners ! .. BUT STILL THEY CAN FIGHT A WAR IN IRAQ WITHOUT A REASON !!!
.. Thank God .. it wasn't a starting problem !!!
Thursday, March 6, 2008
Contact / No Contact
The other day I was wondering how I have changed !! I remember in my bachelor days (READ BSc DAYS ), I could spend hours on the fone talking (rather as we call "Bhat mere") with a lot of people .. some friends some just colleagues , some seniors some juniors. Rather I would love to call up people and knock them , when I realised that I am loosing contact with them !
Naturally when I count the number of people who were in my "circle of friends / acquintences / senior / junior / non-of the above etc etc etc " in knew then .... I find that the number has dwindled gradually over the years.
But ask me if am worried about this .... and I will say , I feel better now !!
I feel its human nature ... as you undergo the transition from school ... to college .. to professional life ... you tend to "loose "people on the way .. rather the better word is " select". You select those who you know , can be there for long .. those who wont mind if you don't call or talk to them for days !! After all its not possible to maintain a huge number of people in your "good contact list" when you are professionally occupied. Now-a-days I don't even feel like calling up or even contacting people online, just for socialising (although i have to do it sometime for reasons which are complicated ). Thats because I am happy with my small circle of friends ...... Its correct that "good things come in small packages"
Disclaimer : Blogging for me , is just a way to express my ideas/views and feelings, and not to impress anyone with unfathomable language and classical English. So if you expected this to be a literary gem , then am sorry for the disappointment.
AND this post is not meant to offend anyone.
Naturally when I count the number of people who were in my "circle of friends / acquintences / senior / junior / non-of the above etc etc etc " in knew then .... I find that the number has dwindled gradually over the years.
But ask me if am worried about this .... and I will say , I feel better now !!
I feel its human nature ... as you undergo the transition from school ... to college .. to professional life ... you tend to "loose "people on the way .. rather the better word is " select". You select those who you know , can be there for long .. those who wont mind if you don't call or talk to them for days !! After all its not possible to maintain a huge number of people in your "good contact list" when you are professionally occupied. Now-a-days I don't even feel like calling up or even contacting people online, just for socialising (although i have to do it sometime for reasons which are complicated ). Thats because I am happy with my small circle of friends ...... Its correct that "good things come in small packages"
Disclaimer : Blogging for me , is just a way to express my ideas/views and feelings, and not to impress anyone with unfathomable language and classical English. So if you expected this to be a literary gem , then am sorry for the disappointment.
AND this post is not meant to offend anyone.
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