So no one told you life was gonna be this way
Your job’s a joke, you’re broke, your love life’s DOA.
It’s like you’re always stuck in second gear,
When it hasn’t been your day, your week, your month, or even your year.
But, I'll be there for you, when the rain starts to pour
I'll be there for you, like I’ve been there before
I'll be there for you, coz you’re there for me too.
How many of us have grown up listening to this track as we eagerly awaited the next episode of Friends, waiting to see what Rachael Chandler Monica Ross Joey or Phoebe would do next?
I, for one, had never watched this television sitcom. It wasn’t that I didn’t watch TV. On the contrary, I was hooked on to watching television – cartoons, movies, music; I watched them all. But when it came to serials, I had ADD. I couldn’t watch them for more than a couple of episodes. Having to wait for a week before I knew what happens next would drive me nuts. And sometimes the storyline itself was absurd! They all started out fine, a nice story which captivated your interest and then it went on and on and on like chewing on a piece of old gum. I watched my mom watch a serial in which the male lead had gotten married 5 times to 5 different women and the female lead was also married 5 times, but those marriages happened between just 2 men! How could anyone subject themselves to such torture of watching such nonsense? It was just beyond me.
Then I moved into college. A daily journey of over an hour gave lots of scope for conversation. I learnt why Tulsi was always so upset (we attributed it to the fact that Baa wouldn’t die despite having 5 generations after her). I learnt about Buffy and Angel, Heroes and Prison Break. Encouraged by my friends, I finally decided there was a show that I wanted to watch. But since my mom had a serial she watched regularly at the same time slot, I was vetoed. Having to watch bits and pieces of an episode drove me nuts and I discontinued watching the series.
When I was moving to Bangalore, I was finally glad to be able to say bye to the serials my mom watched. “Good riddance to bad rubbish”, I said to myself. The first day I moved into my PG, I realized that while my mom watched two serials, this lady watched twenty! I had a sudden newfound respect for my mother. :O The TV in my PG stayed on from about 6:30 in the evening till 11:30 at night. And at prime times, she watched 2 or 3 serials simultaneously; smartly switching channels during advertisements and other boring dialogues.
Over time, I got used to the routine of the serials and didn’t give it much thought until I went for my cousin’s wedding in Mumbai and realized I was talking to my aunt about the serials that came on television and we were actually discussing the characters. Having nothing much else to do, I had ended up watching the very same serials I despised! Perturbed, I returned from that trip and decided to forget all about it. When I finally thought I’d conquered it all, it returned from beyond the grave to haunt me again.
One evening as I went with my team for snacks, I was talking to my friend about how my PG owner watched an innumerable amount of serials and how her ability to multitask was absolutely amazing; when my manager talks about this amazing serial Uttaran that his wife and he were watching. Assuming he just watched it because his wife did, I just replied saying “Yeah, aunty watches that serial too”. And then he drops the bomb “Did you watch yesterday’s episode? We had to miss it. What happened yesterday?” I was stunned. My boss wasn’t just watching the serial because his wife was, rather it seemed his wife was watching it because of him! And now, here I was bonding with my boss over serials?? Eww…
After I’d gotten over the shock of my boss’ addiction to serials, and being mercilessly teased by my friends about how I’d “bonded with the boss”, I finally justified it to myself saying not all serials are bad. There are quite a few that I have watched and loved myself, so maybe others find other serials interesting.
Having made peace with myself, I moved on. One morning when I was talking to my roommate, she said “You’re probably getting late for work” and I responded “No, Sasural Simmar ka is still going on. I still have time” (PAUSE) I realized how absurd I’d just sounded. Staying in the same place for so long had me mapping my whole daily routine to the timings of these serials! When a serial’s time slot was shifted, my whole time balance was thrown off key!
I decided I had to do something about this. “If you can’t beat ‘em, join ‘em”. So I decided I would be the one to choose which serials I watched. I downloaded some of my old favourites from the net and started a serial marathon. Being able to watch them at my own time and pace gave me a sense of satisfaction. I probably still can’t subject myself to the torture of watching some of the daily soaps that come on TV, but I know I’ve made my peace with the ghost of serials.
