DHARAVAHIK DHAMAL....

THEY ARE GROWING IN NUMBER FASTER THEN AN ADOLESCENT BOY'S SHOE SIZE!!


THEY ARE MULTIPLYING AS QUICKLY AS THE WEEDS IN YOUR GARDEN..guess what they are??!
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YES!! DAILY SOAPS!! (For those who don’t know what the title means: “Dharavahik” is daily soaps in Hindis)
Think about the plethora of channels that have come up telecasting back to back daily soaps off late….gone are the days when the family would sit together to watch “HUM LOG” on doordarshan. It was the only daily soap of India on the only television channel. Over the years the television industry has grown extensively in India. It’s a radical transformation from the days of “HUM LOG” to Ekta Kapoor’s emotionally destabilizing soaps.
Oh…….Has anyone ever thought why these television serials are referred to as daily soaps? They are called so since initially when these serials started in America they were sponsored by soap manufacturers and that’s how the term “soap opera” was coined…
As far as Indian serials are concerned a number of channels like Star Plus, Sony, Zee T.V, Colors, and not to mention a number of channels in regional languages telecast a vast number of serials which have unique titles but disappointingly most of them revolve around the same circle of family drama…..oops….calling it drama would be an understatement. MELODRAMA is more like it!!
Indian soaps have definitely thought us many things!!
• The make-up and glycerin industries are definitely making huge profits!!
• The night clothes industry though is definitely suffering. I mean...Think about it….if the leading ladies and “vamps” can sleep in their oh-so-many tons weighing sarees and with the jewelry intact then why can’t we? Why spend on the night clothes unnecessarily?
• Reincarnation exists very much! A person is born and born and born again!! There’s no end to it…guess “moksha” is not something the soap directors believe in!
• A plastic surgery operation creates wonders! Hmmmm……maybe Koyna Mitra would have a better nose job done if she was a leading lady in one of the soaps instead of the films..
• The kids grow up…their kids grow up but somehow the older generation never seems to get older!! They’re the same age they were when the serial started! I guess the directors learnt a lesson from Alfred Tennyson’s “TITHONUS” and were smart enough to demand eternal youth for their characters.
• The weddings, engagements, parties, festivals and all auspicious occasions turn out to be the most inauspicious occasions at the end of the episode! Either two people get married or engaged to the wrong people, the innocent ones get arrested or someone meets with an accident which basically saps out the festive spirit.
• Any disastrous news is revealed with an even more disastrous background score, and the shock registering on the character’s face is focused on thrice!
• Either the leading lady has two and more husbands or the lead actor has more then two wives. Surprisingly these wives and husbands all live under one roof without much of a problem!!

These daily soaps have become the sole entertainers of Indian house wives. Their topics of discussion range from what happened in yesterday’s episode of “pratigya” to what they think will happen in today’s episode or what should be happening in tomorrow’s episode..Their behavior, talks and life style revolve around the leading lady of their favorite soap and somehow their husbands turn as unfaithful like the husbands in the soaps and what’s more?? The maids are apparently busy conspiring against them like their favorite leading lady’s maid!
The sarees and salwars worn by these soap actors are named after them!! Gone are the times when sarees were named on the material used to make them…these days the shops have “pratigya sarees, archana sarees and uh….well I am not familiar with more names..

One good thing though is that these soaps have definitely highlighted on the importance of feminism. Since most of them are women oriented they cover sensitive issues like child marriage, polygamy, dowry system, and other such issues which help to create awareness among house wives….

The best part is…..despite my healthy criticism on these soaps I STILL HOPE THAT these daily soaps go on as they keep the mothers and grandmothers hooked on the idiot box so much that we are spared from the “clean your room” lectures!!!!

TAKE ME TO THE OTHER SIDE....

PIC COURTESY: HARSH KAMAT
POEM BY: GAURAVI KENI :)

Bound by the shackles of duty and tradition
I’ve lost sight of my ambition
O freedom! I can hear your call!
I can feel you desperately groping for my soul.
I yearn for you
Like a man in a desert thirsty for water
Like a homeless dweller desperate for shelter
Oh freedom! I can hear you loud and clear!
I can feel myself edging closer to you….
But I stop, I retreat…..it is duty that calls me back!
I see the fruit of my years of hard work,
My home, which I’ve woven out of love
I see my reflection
In the eyes of my children
I feel the echoing demands
In the silence of my husband, my in-laws
But alas!
Oh freedom! Your call is more authoritative than anything!
My feet drag me to the river crossing
Drag me to a new world

I will cross this river
I will see the other side
Oh freedom! When your call is answered
I will come back to my abode
I am a woman
I will always be duty’s child
But when I hear you call again….
I know, I will be waiting for the ferry
To take me to the other side…

SOLITUDE.....

PIC COURTESY: HARSH KAMAT.

POEM: GAURAVI KENI :)

Wrapped up in the arms of darkness
Oft I wait for you
Wait for the days we spent together,

I can hear the sound of your laughter
Dancing in the wind,
The feel of your hand in mine,
Your gaze, piercing right through my soul
But alas!
Emptiness envelops me
Emptiness that brings along with itself eternal wait

And I wait,
Wrapped in the arms of darkness……..

The trees seem to mock me…
The bare bench; a glaring reminder of your absence’
But somewhere in this darkness there is a ray of light!
Yes, the light of hope
Shining brightly in my heart
The light that urges me to wait
And wait for you till eternity…….

And so…..
I wait, and I wait, and I wait…..

ROAD BLUES........

“Where on Earth is the button?!!” lady 1 was asking lady 2 when I arrived at the zebra crossing on the Margao road. Lady 2 gave Lady 1 an ‘are you from planet mars’ look.
Lady 1, an old lady bundled up in a rain coat, helplessly looked at her son (or grandson) and exclaimed, “Are we ever going to cross this road?”

It was obvious from her accent that she was not an Indian. I figured out she was looking for the signalized pedestrian crossing; A pole with a button at the pedestrian crossing area which sends out an alert to the vehicles on the road to stop and let the people cross. Finally……………the fact that traffic police are substitutes for such pedestrian crossings in India dawned upon the lady’s son (or grandson). The lady definitely did not like the absence of the signal and the presence of a traffic police officer who obviously wasn’t serving the purpose of helping people cross the road.
The fact that her bright fluorescent raincoat matched the officer’s raincoat did not help.

Anyway…..I was waiting with the whole lot of people to cross the road when suddenly two versions of me: angel me and devil me popped up around my head!!
Angel me started saying, “why can’t we have a pedestrian crossing system which enables people to cross roads without the fear of becoming prey to berserk vehicles?” immediately the devil me replied, ““Just because you’ve had fun pressing those buttons in Sweden doesn’t mean you have to look down on the traffic system here! Besides, how LONG do you think those poles would last against our good old buses and trucks?”
To which the angel me quickly replied, “The traffic police officers aren’t exactly helpful. Of course they are there during the rush hours but what about the afternoons? The officers disappear in the afternoon for their lunch hour (which lasts more than an hour actually) and they aren’t present on the road at late nights too!”
With this, both of them popped off as suddenly as they had appeared!

The fact is, sometimes these traffic police officers aren’t present at the pedestrian crossing during rush hours too! Just a few days back I was standing at the same zebra crossing at 6pm in the evening. No need to mention to my fellow margao-ites what the traffic situation is at that time. A lady desperate to cross the road (yes I only meet grumbling ladies at the zebra crossing) was muttering out aloud “ho police huy aha re?”!!!! (Where is the officer?). That mystery was never solved. How we managed to cross the road is a different story.

Its about time this stopped! A road mishap will not time itself to the traffic officer’s duty hours!

PHEEEEEEEEE….The traffic police blew his whistle signaling the vehicles to stop and let us cross after what seemed like an eternity. I snapped out of my tête-à-tête with myself. Lady 1, her son (or grandson) and lady 2 and all the others including me crossed the road…………..

Just as I managed to cross the road I couldn’t help but laugh at Lady 1’s ignorance about the Indian roads…..boy, did she need a lesson on it or what! I wasn’t even done enjoying the joke when ……………….WHOOSH….
I FELL DOWN!! How?? BLAME THE POT HOLES!!!!!!
Do NOT get me started on them now………