Grounded

Grandmothers ooze of wisdom. It seems to be why they were created in the first place, and this week one of my grandmothers just did what she was due. She is not technically my grandmother, in fact she is more of an aunt, but somehow she has this grandmotherly halo around her. Her name is being withheld for the simple reason that she is quite well-versed in arms and ammunitions. Now, i was talking to grandma about something and suddenly the topic turned to "Friends" (Oh yeah, this grandma watches "Friends" .. Even have a have a nagging suspicion that she watches "Sex and The City") and started off with the characters. As time went on, the conversation, for lack of a better subject, just kept going deeper and deeper into the show with things like why ross's first son was called ben, and who exactly is joey's brother in law and stuff like that.

Suddenly grandma straightened up and went silent as if grandpa had got her by the throat for taling with unknown strangers. And then she asked "what is the difference between folks watching 'kahani ghar ghar ki' and 'kahin kisi roz' and us ??". In the silence of cyber-space, the echo was resonating. The hi-flier in me got shot right through the head and was grounded, grounded for life, because frankly, there seems to be no difference.

When folks at home watch 'metti oli' (itz to complicated to translate, i swear), I ask them if 'gopi' and 'viji' are re-conciled with a sly smile that translates into english as "christ, i cant believe you guys are watching this". Whenver a gang of friends is bored, the topic eventually turns to how folks are so uncool at home watching 'chiththee' ('aunt'), how funny it is that they spend hours together wondering if 'annamalai' (just a proper noun, so chill) and her brother would ever get reconciled and before the wink of an eyelid immediately delves into frasier and seinfeld. So how different is a radio psychiatrist's life experiences different from a father with five daughters ?? Hmm, someone from the crowd says "Seinfeld is quality entertainment". Oh yeah, quality entertainment allright. But then, one of the most misused words in entertainment is quality. My grandmother (this one is my real grandmother, doesnt specialise in arms and ammunitions, but in chinna vengaya sambar (stew) and pagakka poriyal (bitter gourd fry)) thinks the lives of five girls battling out in contemporary settings ('edhirneechal'(to swim against the current)) is quality entertainment. Mom seems to think quality is anything benchmarked by a balachander serial. Managers think that quality is something that is just one step above what anyone can humanly achieve. (now, for "anonymous" management graduates, let me add "maybe not all managers" .. fine :-) ??).

In essence, quality is this really undefinable guy in one hand and possibly the only-individually-definable guy on other. Finally, that leaves most of us with one choice, if we still want to laugh at all those "Aadugiraan Kannan" (Lord Krishna Dances) fans, stop discussing about friends and seinfeld and curb your enthusiasm and what not coz we are as bad, if not worse. If we cant live without sarah jessica parker and debra messing, let the old folks have fun watching what they please, without our smart-aleck jokes. If this is extremely difficult, then take the easier way out, buy a dictionary without the word "hypocrisy" in it. Peace.