A Steamy Conversation

Well.. It was a hectic day. So naturally, the next day, am at my gym, fixed an appointment for steam bath. I havent had steam bath before, so this was my maiden attempt. I did google about the experience and do's and don'ts. But nothing went into this blockhead and hence, i went there, with a blank canvas mind.

"Sir. You can use the steam facility now", said the gym instructor. I went in, and only thing i knew was to wear towel only while in a steam room, and i did so. It was as if the entire fog of kodaikanal had decended in the Madras heat. I could only see the two spotlights from floor. So I did not know what to do, I could not see anything, and was standing like a lamp post in the room.

I managed to find the seating area, and sat down. Not knowing what to do, i started chanting the god's name, squatting in the seat. I must have dozed off, cuz I felt a hand touching me. I awoke with a rude shock, and saw a person standing there. This conversation happened after that.

Me: Whoa dude! Who are you?

Him: *smiles*  Would you believe if i told you i was god?

Me: Heck no! God is not a physical embodiment. He/She is just an unknown power, given an appearance for people to believe. God's a metaphor. A fictitious superhero. A..

I was interrupted by him. Not exactly did he tell me to stop. But i heard a voice in my mind asking me to stop.

I did....

Then i realized. Maybe this IS God. Maybe he is not fake. Maybe he exists. A lot of maybes came through my mind, interrupted again by a short cough.

Him: So... You do have a lot of questions, right? a few doubts? a lot of 'Maybes'?

Me: *gulp* Err.. how do you know that?

Him: I just happen to. For am the god. Or so they say.  So ask. Get your doubts cleared!

Me: Wait a minute. Are you a Hindu god or a Muslim god?

I almost slap myself after that question. What nonsense?  I'm an Idiot.  
Of course he is a Hindu god. That's why he appears to me like in the Vitalacharya films, with smoke (steam) effect.

Him: Lol!

Me: What?

Him: Of course you're an Idiot. I'm not religious. Don't try to categorize me. Try categorizing your wardrobe first.

Me: Thanks. You were the last person i had expected in my life to acknowledge that! I was expecting, based on my past decisions, that god would be saying this when and if i meet him after my death. Didnt expect it so soon.
Hey.. Wait a minute. Am i dead?

Him: Of course not, stupid.. You're inside a damn steam room. Not inside the boiling oil kadaai... Just a small sleep and you think you're dead? This is my facepalm moment, dude.

I sheepishly grin. But what about the answers for all my maybe's?

As I was lost in thoughts, i woke up suddenly. Only to realise it was a dream.

Or, was it? 

                                                                      ...To be continued

The truth about Phobias!

Sometimes, there's this Four letter word that drives even the bravest insane! It changes leadership, makes people spend more money, makes them spend less money as well, based on which side of it they are. Yes. Its called FEAR.

Though it may sound scary, the greeks called it PHOBIA, so as to reduce Phobophobia(Fear of phobias). Wikipedia tells me that 

A phobia (from the Greek: φόβος, Phóbos, meaning "fear" or "morbid fear") is, when used in the context of clinical psychology, a type of anxiety disorder, usually defined as a persistent fear of an object or situation in which the sufferer commits to great lengths in avoiding, typically disproportional to the actual danger posed, often being recognized as irrational. In the event the phobia cannot be avoided entirely the sufferer will endure the situation or object with marked distress and significant interference in social or occupational activities.^[1]

Interesting. In simpler terms, its a situation where a constant fear exists in a person's mind, which makes them do anything to avoid that fear facing situation. And many make money out of this phenomenon. In movies, for example, local vendors are afraid of thugs, hence give the bribe that they ask for! Though this might be related to an insecure feeling among the vendors, there is fear nevertheless.

Now what causes a phobia?

As i roamed around the streets of google, i did found a couple of places which gave me a decent insight into this issue. I suffer from Acrophobia and Tachophobia,  And since there's no specific term for "Fear of Amusement Parks", i rather mention it as it is. And its these things that made me roam around, in the first place. More of my fears later Lets first see what i found out about phobias: 

There are various factors which lead to the phobia arising. One such factor is Life experience, where an incident in the life of a person may reflect in his hatred towards the incident later on. One more crucial information is that if a child loves his/her parents, the parent's hatred/fear can trigger the initial stage of phobia. Even in that stage, the child does not fear like thier parent. But a personal experience of the parent's fear faced by the child, alone can develop the phobia. And some studies claim the linking of Gene inheritence as a resaon for a particular phobia.

Coming back to mine, i always had fear of heights and speed, for the same reason. Necrophobia. I had an experience of falling off from a vehicle during childhood, and falling off from my cycle when i first tried to learn it. And the fear of heights is because of fear of falling down if i slip and fall. A sense of insecurity in the second one, maybe. But why is that i really do not like the "Adrenaline Rush"? I can personally cite it to the genetics in the family where Arts and Science were given more important than adventure.

Anyway, guess i should stop with this as Sesquipedalophobic people might have already stopped reading this! :P

The elongated bubble gum....

We've all seen cows chewing something always.. Sometimes it used to amuse me so much .... :)

Guess it has inspired a few to make use of that technique to their lives- Yes! The MEGA SERIAL MANIA.... Or MSM in Short....


Picture this:

The strong willed, Kind Hearted, "good for good- evil for evil" character, pleasant looking, always sari clad lady with simple looks happens to be the lead character( a.k.a Protagonist) while her in law happens to be the world's most cruellest creature, defeating Hitler, Mussolini and the like!! The Protagonist wins the heart of all in the family she lives, except the in laws, and they seem to be having no other job than planning to degrade and insult her! But she, with the simple and great mind, overcomes ALL Difficulties, and tries to enlighten her in laws till the end.

Not to forget the Husband! He turns good, then bad, then again good and this goes on! :D

Oh yea! The ennumerable thugs threatening the protagonist and her "Good natured" mates, their boss, some idiot roped in to perform something Called Comedy, the list goes on!


Ever heard of Prime Slots? Well.... The "time zone" within which these serials run( or, kill) is known as prime slots...

A typical Slot would start at 10:30 in the morning( It was twelve before, and slowly, like the waves of sea, it rose to 10:30) and run till 2:30 ( or even 3) .

Thus, if one wants to know what happened in one particular Episode of a Serial, Then all He / She( yes! Some men folk watch it too.. :D The retired gentlemen have no other job!) can start from the morning.. At the end of the day, He / She would've gained what is called the MSU ( Mega Serial Understanding).. This would result in them predicting what'll happen in the next episode! Some clever ( and totally jobless) people would actually go to an extend of predicting the next episode of a serial in a different channel, as well, Which can be referred to as MSU-X(Mega Serial Understanding-eXtreme). And probably the best among them as far as i can remember is The Long Spelt Short Word - Junoon. (Co incidentally, Though the name had Noon, it was aired in the Night! :P) Oh my god! The title song itslef stretched the name so much ( Junoooooon , Junooooon, Junooooon,* IN BackGround, high pitched voice Sings / Screams *JUNOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOONNNNN!!!!!)

And those days were even worse.. DD did a great job of TRANSLATING the Holy Hindi Teleserials, by dubbing them in regional languages( Pidivaaadham, Pidivaadham, Pidivaadham PIDIVAAADHAM!!!!)[Thats the tamil lyric of Junooooon!]

20-20 is well known to many... But heard of 10-20? Well... For all those "Serial"ly Challenged, 10-20 refers to the "Time Management" of these "Serial" Killers!

Yes! Ten minutes of Content that revolves around the Story (IF ANY) (Title song/ End Song excluded) and the remaining Twenty minutes around advertisements!

I wonder why the high pitched "Hohohohoo Hohohohoo" and "Aaaaaaa" are considered as *Background music* of the Serials? What do they gain by Shouting like this? Gosh.....


And the TRP's [Target Rating Point] seem to have more value than MRP's !! Probably Wikipedia can explain better than me! :D

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Target_Rating_Point

But then, there were quiet a handful of good ones worth watching , Like Sea Hawks that introduced the Chocolate hero Madhavan, Sivamayam that incorporated a mysterious story of the 18 Siddhars helping good people , And the more recent Enge Brahmanan, which was brilliantly explained by Cho.Ramaswamy, Editor of Thuqlaq Magazine and author of ennumerable Books based on hinduism, dealt with the religious Rituals and why they were formed..

Those By Naga had a greater impact and brilliant storyline, and was practically incorporated into a thin fictious storyline, giving a belief....(And Relief!)

And i personally love the Chidambara Ragasiyam as it dealt with the Naadi josyam, or Palmistry, one of the most ancient forms of astrology...
Not to forget Rudraveenai, another best, i feel, that deals with the Quest of an Ambal Upasagar searching for a priceless Rudraveena

So to conclude, all i request is to stop Silly Themes, as they actually create a hell lot of problems in real lives of many families... Children learn bad things more easily now, and i think, Mega Serials contribute to the Psychological disturbance in a child's thought process... And i feel its just a waste of time watching these Mega S(aw)erials! Instead, reading a good book, or something useful can be done, is what i feel....



Once again, i've succeeded in Giving a random set of facts and thoughts in this "not-so-orderly" entry!

Comments welcome!!
:D