For Jane…

‘Come back tomorrow evening…’

But I was not reassured. I remembered the fox. One runs the risk of crying a bit if one allows oneself to be tamed…

(The Little Prince)

I am getting married in six months… and I don’t want to. And its not because my boyfriend is not great. I just don’t think I am cut out for marriage. When I think of what life would be post wedding, I inevitably think about the arguments, the disagreements, how he would change from being a person who tries to self-improve to somebody who would give up trying and fall into a routine. I don’t have a problem with commitment, I never did. But deep down inside I am convinced that marriage take away more from us than it promises to give.

Over an year into the relationship and I can already see how some of the things he claimed to believe in are changing. I can already see patterns in his behavior that, despite his mostly accommodating attitude, seem to exude a hint of being stubborn just for the heck of it. I can also see how he has gotten used to having me in his life. I think most people stop walking that extra mile when they take their relationship for granted. Its humanly impossible to remain as excited about something as one is when things are just starting out. But I also know I am not the kind of person who can deal with somebody who refuses to make things work because he chooses to be stubborn about it.

But I guess things have reached a point where it is impossible to back out. I also know that things between us have reached a point where if I walk away, he wouldn’t put in too much effort into making me stay. This is not to say that there’s something wrong with him. I guess its just not as exciting as it used to be. And somehow I don’t think its the right approach to starting a new life with somebody. Its too negative to start with.

Save the Internet | Rock the Vote

Why are some of the best American television shows so visibly annoying and behind their times?

Prison Break

This is where it all started. When you’re sitting in company, it becomes exceedingly difficult to maintain a conversation if people around you start discussing tv shows you have no idea of. But more importantly, I had grown tired of being told that I ‘Must-Watch’ this show. So, around 2-3 months ago, I borrowed my friend’s Prison Break DVDs to catch up with what I had apparently been missing. Around 8-10 episodes down the line, a pattern began to emerge in the way the show had been put together, the characters became exceedingly annoying, and I couldn’t help but curse myself for having agreed to watch the show. Here’s how it works: you put together loads of characters, all struggling to survive in a prison, or a city, or a hospital (tick what’s applicable), besides the main central plot all the characters have their own little stories going on which are completely independent of each other (this also helps in ensuring the main story progresses at a glatial pace by providing a million distarctions that eventually get sorted out anyway) but influence their actions towards the main plot, good guys are made to look bad and bad guys are made to look good, all the characters believe things should be done their way so instead of quietly working on escaping from the prison, there are ego clashes all over which serves as yet another distraction from the main plot. All the characters are given strict instructions to maintain minimum dialogues so as to leave ample room for misunderstandings and miscommunications. Again, this helps to keep us from thinking about the main plot. There’s very little talking amongst the characters, most are just thinking out loud in their heads, and the rest are too busy either fighting their own battles or staring hard at one of the other characters in an attempt to scare them! Lincoln Burrows, the brain behind the escape, is prone to helping people irrespective of the trauma it causes him (and us!). In one of the episodes, somebody also mentioned how he had been going to a shrink so as to help him with this ‘problem’. Indeed it is a problem. Because, there were millions of instances in the show where all he really needed to do was to quietly walk away without sticking his butt into other people’s affairs, but Lincoln being Lincoln, he is made to go back, walk right back into trouble, just so that the script writers are able to introduce a few more distractions and issues which keep us occupied enough to forget about the main plot! Sick I say! By the end of this one, I was tired of all the characters and their immense ability to attract problems, their undying faith and dedication towards their egos, and their absolute conviction to leave everything unanswered so that the rest of characters can feel free to draw their own conclusions. Everyone in the show, though shown to be working together, is actually absolutely unaware of what’s going on, what needs to be done and where they want to be. Please, please people! TALK to each other, and occasionally finish your sentences so that the other person understands your motives! But then, how would the plot be stretched to at least 4 seasons?!

24

The first thing I noticed and probably even loved about the show was that everyone was in the loop as to what was happening, the situation was very well co-ordinated and the information exchange was accurate. Which meant that we could stick to the plot without having to worry about all the rest of the side crap stories. However, the most annoying thing about this show was Kim Bauer. She is whiny, annoying, stupid, very stupid, and just plain irritating. She is more of a distarction to Jack than anything else. She doesn’t understand a thing but pretends to have answers to everything. Anyway, point being, that I hate her. The fact that she is a blond seems to re-iterate the age old ‘myth’. However, I was happy to see that all the characters had cell phones on them which meant, things were communicated as they happened. No side stories after Prison Break please!!

Heroes

Everything that I’ve said about Prison Break, also goes for Heroes. I find it hard to imagine that these people with special powers, wouldn’t want to exchange telephone numbers and stay in touch! All of them seem to be operating independently, which like I said earlier, gives enough time to the creators to introduce as many distractions as humanly possible in one life!

House MD

By far the best show I’ve seen on television. Thank god for House!

One of my friends like to play the tit-for-tat card pretty often. I’ve been around her long enough to accurately predict when she is likely to try and ‘return the favor’. On most occasions, she has no real reason to believe she was misled, or cheated or maybe just made to feel as if life was unfair. She still chooses to strike back, perhaps because in her twisted head, she feels she was wronged. So for instance, if I cancel our gym trip on any particular day (irrespective of how valid my reason might be), it is almost inevitable that she would do the same the very next day. And the excuse is almost always work related. To me it just seems a bit odd as to how it is uniquely timed to coincide with the day I opt to drop out. As a result, we don’t go to the gym on two consecutive days, which in turn, completely screws with our work out routine and goals. By now its reached a state where I can accurately predict what’s coming. She seems to have this constant need to have the last word in almost everything, and even during the most mundane of conversations, when the issue has long been dead, it keeps playing on her mind till she is able to establish that she was right all along.

I have, several times, thought of bringing this up with her, of discussing this habit she seems to have. I am, at a certain level, quite convinced that we probably wouldn’t stay in touch once we move on with our lives. And I know the exact reason why I wouldn’t want to. This habit that she has, can be very annoying especially because I see her almost everyday!

Back when I was young, it was so much easier to talk to friends and tell them just exactly how you felt and then everything would magically get resolved and we’d all go back to being BFFs. With age, that essence of true friendship seems to get lost somewhere. People tend to internalise too much without feeling the need to come out in the open with how they really feel about something. They draw their own conclusions and keep disagreements and points of conflicts bottled up inside. Most of us, by the time we hit 25, acquire a certain rigidity of thought which only gets more fixed with time. Our experiences with other people, always advise us to be careful of what we say. Societal set ups dictate we maintain a certain level of decency in the manner we behave. There remains little room for introspection. Most friendships become a matter of convenience, because, well, lets face it, how many of us have the time to meet friends when all they want to do is ‘complain’ and point out our ‘drawbacks’? We keep ‘friends’ on the basis of their ability to accept us as we truly are. Which is also probably why, most of our friendships, the last bastion of purity in human emotions, seem fleeting and rather superficial, if I may.