Friday, September 16, 2005

Subtlety and some memories

Last weekend i was bored of browsing esp had a gnawing feeling that i'll be the victim of a carpal tunnel.So i flipped through channels and all i foundinteresting was was the ashes final test.I was watching it alone at home and it brought back memories when watching cricket had rated very up there in life.Books , Music ,Flowers ,Cricket that was what life was about.I am not very very comfortable being known as an avid cricket watcher in my current circle unlike then simply because everyone acts one esp its become to be thought of as a fad as if women have started watching cricket only after Mandira discovered it.
I loved to watch it with my Dad since i was a kid and was crazy about it though never played itmuch being an indoor kid.even now when he calls if there is a match on and he's travelling he always calls me to come to the phone to get the score.I very much enjoyed it and was fortunate enough to have a friendwho played at the state level.She kinda ensured that i knew what was inswing , outswing , flipper etc were.What fun we had during the 1996 world cup...some of the best times of my life.
Those days news always was to be read from the last page...it still is if i have time to go through the newspaper.In those days we had that enjoyable Indian express or Statesman and enjoyed Pradeep Magazine and others columns.
Now to discuss cricket is like a show off and so i try to keep off it.Why even my mom hated it.She drove me many a time to tears by her obsessive hatred of what she thought was a terrible game enjoyed too much by people who wanted to do nothing .i.e my dad n me.Now my mom is cool about it as its socially trendy ....now when i dont have the time to stay home and watch it.It feels cruel.
Well thats all past ...what got me into this flashback mode was this Ashes broadcast was it was on ESPN ..the commentators were simply talking about the game...none of the flashy nonsense you have to put up with(God i have to mute the TV while watching India playand to think there was a time i used to say quiet please let me enjoy the commentary too.)

Gilchrist was out just before lunch and so decently the relay ended saying " see you in 35 minutes after lunch" and that triggered off all my memories of how it used to be before Sidhu and co ganged up and we have beauties , contests and what not.In a way i guess it may be the way we indians are..our love for drama, melas and over the board gaiety.

We indians sure know how to make the world rock our way.Its like we tell the world sell what you want to us but package it the way we want.

MTV is now worse than Indian music channels in airing only hindi flopmovie full songs and trailers of hindi movies.In our college days you'd be lucky to catch a hindi song on it.Pizzas we made them stoop and bring variety to their bland fare.....forced them to invent tandoori/tikka and what not flavor.
There are numerous examples of organizations being forced to change their strategyto cater to us the land of maharajahs and what not where you have to go overboard for everything ...humor or sentiment.You just have to watch our advertising to know this best.

Subtle is not a word Indians like i guess sadly.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

"Subtle is not a word Indians like i guess sadly" aah.. so true. Most of the things abt media nowadays leaves a bland taste but there are a few notable exceptions. We have to be satisfied with these few instances. With 1/5th of the earths population here, the media will stoop down to any level to woo the indian masses. Btw try to read the articles on cricket and tennis by "Nirmal Shekar" of "The Hindu". I just love his style of writing.