Mega Serials - Hell with them!

I was working on my computer this afternoon in the living room, while the TV was on and there was a Tamil serial going on. Though I wasn't concentrating on what was happening there, a little of it did hit my brain. Nothing else can annoy anyone so much. If the channel is changed during an ad break, the same kind of a different serial is telecast in another channel.

What annoyed me so much about the whole serial concept is that a simple situation is exaggerated to a level that you can never imagine - and that simple situation is usually a family problem or a relationship problem. I would appreciate them, if they were suggesting solutions to these problems, but I don't think that ever happens. All they do is blow up the whole situation, have dialogues that boosts the ego of all the characters involved and not only make it emotional, but also magnify each person's emotions. It's comparatively fine if a lighter moment is exaggerated, but you can never tolerate the way a bad situation is portrayed - everybody crying, complimented by heavy, loud and sad music. Intolerable is the so-called romantic scenes they have - you would literally feel like puking on seeing them. To top it all, rarely an actor acts naturally. They would have a look of surprise or shock throughout.

Since everything is prolonged and dragging, the people who watch it, literally go into it and start identifying themselves with one of the characters, without analyzing if that character's actions are sane or not. And the worst part is, they don't have even a slightest idea that the serials have influenced them so much that all their thoughts, words and actions are connected to one serial or the other.

Movies also influence people, but since they have only a couple of hours to tell you a whole story, things are rarely as intense and you would know the climax in a  couple of hours, and not a couple of years.

I don't even support anyone who argues saying these serials generate huge employment opportunities. The whole serial concept thrives on using the weakness of the people, and any employment opportunity generated hence, is surely not healthy.

You try telling these heavy mega serial watchers to stop watching, all you get in return is one of those serial dialogues.

Please, please, please, stop watching these things. If you are bored, spend your time usefully by sleeping.

Charity begins at home - really???

If this means that without satisfying the wants of the people at your own house/family, there is no point in helping others outside, I wouldn’t really support it.

Whose wants are limited? They are always never-ending.

Consider this situation. I work five days a week, 9 hours a day(plus 3 hours for commuting to work). By the time I’m back home, I’m all exhausted and I have the time only to eat and sleep. Weekends are all that I have to do whatever I feel like doing - from shopping to hanging out with friends, from cooking elaborate meals at home to spending quality time with the family, and its obvious that 2 days per week isn’t enough for all this. So when do I have the time for outside charity, when 2 days per week isn’t enough to satisfy me, my own family and friends?

I can never think beyond my home, if I go with “Charity begins at home”.

There should always be a balance between the time you spend for charity at home, and outside. I would say irrespective of whether you can satisfy the people at home or not, dedicate at-least half a day out of the 2 days for outside charity, thereby balancing both.

So, make sure that charity begins at home, but doesn’t end there!

Learning music

Finally, enrolled in Carnatic music lessons today. I was forced to learn from mom when young. I did learn the basics, but wasn't patient enough to go through each step of proper learning. I used to hear my friends at school sing something, and I would want my mom to teach me the same stuff. As the academic stress increased, I had to give up on learning music, of-course, I wasn't much interested too.

A couple of months ago, I suddenly developed interest in learning music. I thought that since I already knew the basics, I'd straight away learn some songs, so its eay that way.

I had my first class this morning and met my Guru. As I started talking to her, I knew that there was more than music that I had to learn from her.

She wakes up at 4am, does her exercise, after bath, recites slogams and cooks. She also has a very healty diet. She's done with everything by 8.30am, leaves home between 9-10am, and its almost 8pm by the time she returns. She says, music is her passion and stress-buster and hence, despite working throughout the day for several years doing the same work, she has never felt bored or tired. She loves what she does and looks forward to everyday. When I was still wondering how old she might be, she herself said she was 68, after my wrong guess that she was 60. Wow! I can't even imagine being like her when I am that old.

When she can be so active and enthusiastic for her age, I thought how much more active should I be.

She told me, that I'd better learn the basics again, so I can sing anything with ease. She also said, nothing comes easy. If you want to be a good singer, you have to go the hard way.

Well, I did buy her idea.