FINALLY I'M GLUED TO THE IDIOT-BOX

For the last seven years of my living in Delhi, I have been very proud of the fact that I could survive all these years without a TV. I have been living in all kind of odd places, varying from hostels to PG accomodations and rented places and though at times I felt that having a TV would have been nice, but never have I felt the dire necessity of absolutely owning one. This is because I am a very outdoor person and don't stay at home much. I'm always on the go.

My day starts early with an hour's swimming after which I come home to have a good healthy breakfast, have a shower, wash up and read the newspaper. If there is something very important (like an assignment or an audition), I try to finish off that chore before I leave for office at around 12:30-ish. I start work at 1:30pm and end at 10:30pm, after which I reach back home at about 11:30-ish. After freshning up I usually read a book/magazine or write something or paint or talk on the mobile or sms-chat. During the weekends I usually catch up all the new movies in the nearby cinemas, thus contributing my loyal share to the sale of the tickets of these multiplexes or better still, go shopping till I'm totally pennyless... but then, that's when the credit-cards come handy. Weekends are also the days when I usually fix up my shoot dates or meet up with friends and cousins.

My friends and my folks got sick and tired of telling me time and again, in all these years to get myself a TV, but I wouldn't relent. My friends thought I was too stingy to buy a TV, whereas what bothered my parents was my spending all my weekends (and money) at the theatres. What nobody understood, was that I knew--if I got a TV, I'd be totally glued to it and leave everything else... and this was not my imagination... I know myself too well. So, when my father sent me a TV (from Assam), as a birthday gift last month without even letting me know till a day before it was supposed to reach here, I was not very amused. 'Cause that was a little too much. Obviously the cost of the courier must have been atleast at par (if not more) with the cost of the TV itself. But I didn't want to dissappoint him so I saved all my reasonings and debates which would not get me anywhere, anyway.

So even after I received the TV in one-piece and all intact, I was not happy or eager to put it up. It just lied around in the carton in which it was sent, in my verandah. I was too lazy or mostly reluctant to get it out of the pack as I could not decide on a place to keep it in. More than that, I did not want to be glued to it losing out on all my time dedicated to my other hobbies. So I kept ignoring it day after day.

My dad was disheartened when I came up with all kinds of excuses that ranged from 'I couldn't find a stand, and/or an electrician to put it up for me', 'its packed up too tight for me to open it single-handedly', 'the TV-stands/clips available in the neighbourhood market are too costly'. But then he suggested sending a TV-stand from Assam by courier again, and of-course the emotional blackmailing that my ma is so good with, did the trick. Last sunday, when I couldn't take it any more, and I did not have any shoot or audition or any good movie running in the theatres and most importantly, no money, I got a stand fixed on the wall and put up the TV. Finally! almost two-weeks after I received it. The cable was already in place as the last tenant who occupied the place before me, never got it disconnected when she left the place.

So, there it stands now, looking at me from its place as soon as I enter my room and as soon as I wake up, with its longing face... as if asking me to put it on and watch it... like a lover who never wants me to leave it. And I fall in its trap everyday... inspite of knowing that its a trap. Even if I don't want to, I still give my full time and attention to it... like a lover who's into a new relationship... ignoring all the old faithful friends... my books, my paints, sometimes even the newspaper, phone calls and my swimming classes, who wait for me ever so patiently, to attend to them too. And I don't like it. But I can't help it...

I don't know how much time it'll take before my TV understands that I can't be wholly and solely possessed by it and I'll need to share my time with it along with my other friends, but till then, I can't think of any way to make it and myself understand... Thanks Dad!