Becoming Page 3 or The Lure of Capitalism

On Saturday when I woke up, a pain seared through my body. Perhaps the weeks of stress was finally telling its story. It was tough to just pull myself out of the bed even as the sun shone through the blinds.

It has been few tough weeks. But then that’s where the fun lies too. Anyway that’s not the point. The point is that all along I had thought that it’s the prerogative of the individual to choose what is best for him or her. The societal pressures often cloud this power to choose and sometimes you get caught up in the shroud of the image you have created for yourself, not managing to break out of it.

To simplify my personal tastes, I have segmented my choices into simply two - class and mass. For example, in choice of food, I am classy. In choice of clothes, I’m not even mass-y, rather I should admit I am rather messy.

So when I woke up and looked longingly at the book I was reading on Friday night, unable to reach for it, I thought. And I felt like Stephen Hawking. The difference being he thinks about Strings, I think about Jelly Beans. Well you get the drift. So after thinking for a while, I remembered what was there in the refrigerator and thus was able to pull myself out.

As I walked along with my cycle, (of course I couldn’t make myself ride it) I thought of what my body needs. And I realized that it hasn’t been pampered for a long time now. What I really needed was a Pehelwaan from Western UP, but since Mumbai does not take kindly to the type these days, I decided to look for alternative options.

Now my association with Page 3 is through the kind acquaintance of Miss TG and Ms. SM. 10 years from today, I am sure they will be on Page 3s of TOI. My misguided fashion sense often tries to get back on track with their kind advice. Anyway as I spoke to T about my condition she suggested that I go to a massage parlour and rattled off 20 names with suggestions. So under the afternoon sun my flatmate and I left with Didi cheekily commenting that she would not fly down to bail me out if I was caught in some shady place.

When I was a child, the right to massage my head was only with one gentleman. He had the rights over the heads of three generations of our family. I think his spirit conspires with my grandad’s spirit to ensure that whenever a massage is concerned I always get slotted to another man. Frankly, I don’t mind. But somehow, I clearly do not understand how people can go off to sleep while undergoing a massage. I could hear people snoring away to glory.

And as I closed my eyes and thought, I realized why Capitalism would win in short term over Marxism and Spirituality. Capitalism doesn’t deny you life’s pleasures; it doesn’t ask you to make sacrifices. It only makes you ask for more and work towards that more. Only when we realize that more is never enough then we look towards finding our inner spirituality.

On a complete different note, a very close friend called it quits from his day to day boring and high paying job. Nitin is going for his PhD and I feel so proud of him. It takes a lot of gut to move out of your comfort zone and he did it with so much ease.

My First Tag

Sanketh made me do this and I don’t think I am forgiving my quiz partner very easily for this. I don’t like tags. It means two things to me. Either I’m putting up a private conversation for public scrutiny or I have nothing to say and so I am borrowing ideas. I guess this will be my first and last tag for a long time to come. So in the true rebellious spirit, I shall disobey the last part of the Rules of the Game and shall not tag anyone. You are however free to pick it up.

Rules of the game: Check if your name is at the end of this blog post. If so, type out a similar blog copy-pasting these rules. After that, list down 10 random things about yourself (that many do not know) and then tag 5 more people who have to do the same.

So here are the 10 things that first come to my mind. Half of them may not even be applicable in the long run. Anyway…

1. I love sitting alone on the boulevard along Marine Drive. I do it often. It just feels to be the only place in Mumbai where time is allowed to stop and go no further.

2. I love sunsets and have seldom seen the sun rise. While dad attributes it to laziness, I attribute it to choice.

3. I love Superhero and Rock Band T shirts. I believe they are timeless and can be worn by anyone anytime. Most people I know don’t think so.

4. I love experimenting with food. If I am not conscious about my meal partners, I order the most exotic sounding dish on the menu. Last night I had ordered Chilli Idli and Maramari.

5. I have never been able to gift someone a book I have not read myself. It seems so unfair that someone else will read the book before me.

6. I love walking down the streets of a city with a camera in my hand. I really miss my SLR.

7. I love drives but I hate driving on city roads. Last time I drove in Mumbai, I managed to touch forty kms/hr and B promised to himself to never hand over the keys to me.

8. I hate cell phones. I had not carried one till Jan 2005. I think it’s one of the main reasons why people do not meet each other more often these days. You’re always a call away.

9. I actually dislike blogging. In fact, if I had been able to afford a dark-room in my house and digital cameras had not been invented, I would have spared you the pain of reading through this.

10. I have become a really nagging and irritating environmentalist lately. I have threatened someone when they refused to pull down the car window and switch off the AC

So there goes.

Oh by the way, in case you are buying this year’s Manorama Year Book, look in Page 514 :)