The much maligned Idiot Box!

Originally Posted by Devika Menon

Dear Cheeniya Sir,

This post is definitely a double treat. One because it is a complete entertainer.. And two and most importantly this post gets you the century!!

I do not get much time to sit in front of th idiot box , so I am saved most of the time but for the news which is a must. And a recent news item in one channels gave my hubby and me a tough time. The news was about a father investing money in buying a piece of land on the moon(?).Yes thats right , the Moon, as a different gift for his daughters wedding. Now can you imagine the brigade of prospective grooms outside his house for his daughters hand . Well I guess many want to settle on the moon, they are probably done with the earth. Now the impact of this news was such that my daughter who is all excited about her b'day on 21st June very innocently announced ,'Dad, I too want a place on the moon'. My husband was trying to explain to her all the negatives factors of the moon , one being that the hair wouldnt be in place and would keep flying around like Makadi, but to no avail. Well she wants the moon.The Moon!! "Her Dad is gifting her and Dads will not gift something bad ! It will be nice to play on the moon" ,according to her.


Next it gives me a terrible complex , well i would like to look presentable most of the times but beats me how these women look so spic and span after slogging in the kitchen and getting the yummiest of dishes on the table. I cook a decent meal and by the time the table is spread ,I look like I have been hit by a hurricane!

Have you watched these ads of mosquito mats. Well these heroines are always smiling in their sleep once the mat is on.... Smiling beauties. But smiling in their sleep??. Reminds me of watching the song 'Chandan san badan ,chanchal chithvan' as a kid ,in which Nutan was smiling constantly in her sleep and asking Mom,'Mummy how come you dont sleep like her,Your mouth is open and you snore and look at her". Now I can imagine how my Mom would have been. I m now very conscious lest my daughter asks me the same.

Yes Sir this is a topic about which we can go on and on....
Lovely post , thoroughly enjoyed reading it and once again Congratulations on the great achievement!!

Love,
Your Mol

Dear Mol
That FB of yours has certainly caused me a lot of embarrassment! How can you write an FB that is a lot more interesting than the Leader Post? But you being my mol, it's ok!
That news about acquiring a piece of land in the moon is interesting! This reminds me of an incident that happened in my youth. I just happened to compare a neighbouring girl to moon in a moment of utter stupidity. I did not know that she was a student of astronomy and had watched the moon through an ameteur telescope several times. She was apparently aware of the roughness of the moon's surface and took my comparison as a great insult!

The models that cook food in TV ads walk through a magic curtain immediately after the cooking is done and behold, they become ravishingly angelic in an instant. Two things need to be deduced from this. You may slog in the kitchen producing mouth watering items to pamper the taste buds of your DH. By doing so, you win only half the battle. You must also be looking your best when you serve the food so that his appetite increases, for the food I mean! If you serve the food looking like a Tsunami victim, he'll lose his appetite and all your efforts in the kitchen will be a total waste!

Mosquito mats and sleeping beauties with a smile on their faces is a very good idea!
These mat manufacturers must add laughing gas to their formula in such a way that the Nitrous Oxide is slowly released in the night. Then it will be a night of not just smiling, but hearty laughter!
Sri

Dear Cheeniya Sir
Sorry for making you wait for my feedback. I had no idea about it never happen again. Even if it has to be one line will surely not make u wait.
What you say is right................
Too much of anything is bad...........

Originally Posted by cheeniya

Dear Aruna
At last a feedback from you! A much awaited one!
Keeping a man active through enough food is a trial and error exercise. Too little can make him hyperactive while too much might put him to sleep. Again the same quantity of food might make him very active oneday but the same might put him to sleep on a holiday.
You say that spending more time with the family is better than sitting in front of the idiot box but if the entire family sits in front of TV, the only way you can spend time with them is join them!
Sri

Originally Posted by anandchitra

Dear Sri
Hats off to you for an extraordinarily narrated piece on an object thats in most households. introduced with so much humor...Great job:)
I will not be wrong in stating that you held the readers attention from start to finish.. the only area where I got sidetracked a little was the snoring hubby and the food ..I for a moment thought did I by any chance feed my husband Oats or kollu.. why this distrubance.. but anyways I'm now back on track and paying attention to your rambling..oops:)
I am one of those characters who love to watch ads..really.. Even if I dont watch the main i never miss the advertisements. so you're saying that I can improve my family life which henceforth would be all joy and mirth and I am headed towards conjugal bliss. really!! Lets see..
The average woman who is running harried between job and house and cooking and kids would still be happy to run to washer one more time to wash the mess that dear hubby created..ooh..which world did you come from? ...as soon as our heroine sees another mess landing on her hubby's spotless clothes the din hits the roof top..after that u cannot but help watch poor hubby beating a quiet and hasty retreat.. so this is what u call conjugal bliss as each go their seperate way!
And what about your statements on toothbrush and zombie and walzing.. either the hubby should eat mountains of OATS to get that paranormal strength or wife needs to be thin like a reed not happening in my case:) But kudos for you for atleast trying.. Though I have said all the above in a lighter vein and just totally kidding (especially the OATS part:) I think you make a brilliant point onhow to bring about harmony in family while still watching the idiot box. My personal experience here would be to let the men decide WHAT to watch .. which is almost always Sports. Then they are happy.. and we get to watch the wonderful ads.. so we are happy.. And they have the remote control in their possession.. what more conjugal bliss can one as for?! Thank you idiot box:)

Dear AC
This is what I call the 'Summer Rains'! When the parched land gets a shower, I believe that from peacocks to elephants, every one goes crazy with joy! There was so much of intrigue about your absence in these columns and one out of every three FB mentioned it too. I am sure that everyone will be happy now!

Thanks a lot for your appreciation for my little work. But possibly in order to ensure that I dont run amuck with joy, you had to mention 'OATS' to sober me down! But tell me, if Kajol can be grateful that her hubby is giving her a chance again to prove what she is good at, why cant the other housewives? They are showing you the way how to be supremely happy despite getting soiled too frequently. They show you also how a dirty shirt in its process of getting sparklingly clean can foster extreme love.

AC, what you need is faith in Tooth pastes. You must earnestly believe that one brushing is enough to give you wings. When faith can move mountains, cant it move you, my dear AC? Have faith!

You are quite generous in leaving the remote in the hands of your DH. I have seen many women killing the joy of their hubbies with a flick of the remote. In such a world of unsympathetic wives, you truly are different AC! May God bless you!
Sri

Originally Posted by sudhavnarasimhan

I am still rolling in laughter Cheeniya......since this is a topic close to my heart. It brought to my mind so many anecdotes connected to the ads....

After seeing the mixie ad which is supposed to be all silent, i forced hubby to carry one from India, and what do i get , nothing silent as depicted! And Hubby glares at me everytime i switch it on as he does not want to disturb neighbors!(it is worse than my older mixie!)
Not to mention the one on Microwave where Kajol dresses up accordingly and produces Dosas or Bhendis all from microwave....and I turned and smiled lovingly at hubby and asked him Please Get me This microwave next time from India and i will do all this as Kajol portrays! And i ran from that place before he decided to retort with a suitable reply!

I do mute the latest the ad on Indian Express.....gas one......first time was okay, but it gets annoying to hear it so often! (the noise i mean yuk!)

But i love all the vodafone ones, they come up with good ones.....
Like Chithra says i too love to watch the ads.....they seem to be changing every week and so interesting....and creative and shorter and sweeter than the serials in between which are boring, irritating and not at all good for retaining Harmony in a family!
And Congrats on the 100th thread being such a hilarious one......

Dear Sudha
That mixie thing reminds me of a scene from Balachander's Sindhu Bairavi. Sivakumar will be relaxing and listening to a lilting Meera Bhajan by Lata Mangeshkar. Suddenly his wife will create a huge racket by switching on the Mixie which drowns the music in its din. A furious Sivakumar rushes to the kitchen to give a bit of his mind to his wife and the poor woman says that she was only grinding some Dhall Powder for her hubby who was going to be away in Delhi for a few days. Does that move him? No Sir!

Kajol can even fry a chicken with her fridge! Remember the story of Valluvar and Vasuki. Valluvar was eating some cold rice with butter milk when he suddenly shouted for his wife. The woman was drawing water from the well when she heard the shout. She just left the pot midway and rushed in. Did the pot fall back into the well? No, not at all. It just dangled in the air! The story doesn't end there. When she wanted to know why he called her, he said that the rice was hot and he needed her to fan it. Did she retort how cold rice could be hot? Not at all. She just took the fan and start fanning the rice and lo! the rice became steaming hot! So it is no surprise that someone like Kajol with so much of love for her hubby is able to put her microwave to uses that others cant even dream of!

That Indian Express ad was in bad taste. I remember a similar ad that Videocon released a few years back. Some people have a warped sense of humour!

And thanks a lot for your good wishes!
Sri

My dad knows that the best way to iritiate me, when I join with him to watch TV with the remote in his hand he mutes it when there are advertisements. I really get annoyed when there is a advt which i see for the first time and would not be able to hear.
We hone similar interest in most things excerpt for few. One among them is the perception of his about ads and of mine.
I am person who never miss advertisements. I like it just because it dosent have pathos as part of it. I would say I watch a few serials just because they host one of the wonderful advertisements.
Sometimes advertisements make us think in different dimensions and makes us more creative in our thought.
Some advertisements make me puzzled on what they really want to convey as they show case their creativity and confuse my little brain. Like the latest Indian express advt(If any of the ILites can explain it is highly appreciated). I would say the noise in that advt really irritates me from the second time I saw it.

As you all said about vodafone, I really have a long list of products. I always wait for the new advt of SBI, Fevicol and so on...

Cheers,

Originally Posted by svrlax

My dad knows that the best way to iritiate me, when I join with him to watch TV with the remote in his hand he mutes it when there are advertisements. I really get annoyed when there is a advt which i see for the first time and would not be able to hear.
We hone similar interest in most things excerpt for few. One among them is the perception of his about ads and of mine.
I am person who never miss advertisements. I like it just because it dosent have pathos as part of it. I would say I watch a few serials just because they host one of the wonderful advertisements.
Sometimes advertisements make us think in different dimensions and makes us more creative in our thought.
Some advertisements make me puzzled on what they really want to convey as they show case their creativity and confuse my little brain. Like the latest Indian express advt(If any of the ILites can explain it is highly appreciated). I would say the noise in that advt really irritates me from the second time I saw it.

As you all said about vodafone, I really have a long list of products. I always wait for the new advt of SBI, Fevicol and so on...

Cheers,

Dear Lax
Watching ads on TV is like window shopping! I guess as one gets older, the interest in window shopping wanes. That might be the reason why your dad is not enthu about these ads.
You are right about the creative ads that make us think. In fact, watching these ads help us to develop parallel thinking. Some of them are too creative that we dont get the message in the first viewing. Some of them are adorable like the puppie licking stamps in the Vodafone ad. Some are very funny and I find the ads with a sense of humour very interesting.
That Indian Express ad has just been explained by Sudha Narasimhan. They say No gas and produce a lot of gas in that ad! Some ads are hair-splittingly complicated which explains my premature baldness at 65!
Sri

Dear Sri,
You ooze humour with your phrase
my premature baldness at 65!

It is very similar to my statement
Once I crossed sixty, grey hair started!

But Usha Didi's Dhatri advt is very enjoyable, the way she stresses on "strong", strongly!!
Love,
Chithra.
Now don't ask me why I call Usha didi, whether I claim to be younger than her......
she is better known by that name now, thats all!

Hello Cheeniya sir,

I don't consider you or Chithra Madam as elderly- I often feel you both are younger than the youngest in IL. Have you forgotten one of your earlier posts about being young in mind always- moreover what about the new usages like naughty at forty- naughtier at fifty-naughtiest at sixty- I do not know what to write further for the seventies, eighties etc......

Coming to TVs, I did not know that you are also a TV. I have been teased endlessly for having those initials by my classmates right from II Std. As you are also a TV, instead of three cheers, it is .......guess how many?

Regards,

Abha.

Dear Abha,
Don't grope for words about the new usages like for seventies, eighties etc!!
When we reach the same, you will get suitable words!!

Ony because his initials bear the name of the "much maligned idiot box", Cheeniya is disturbed & has started defending the same!!
Can't you read between the lines, my dear Abha??
Love,
Chithra.

Originally Posted by abhatv

Hello Cheeniya sir,

I don't consider you or Chithra Madam as elderly- I often feel you both are younger than the youngest in IL. Have you forgotten one of your earlier posts about being young in mind always- moreover what about the new usages like naughty at forty- naughtier at fifty-naughtiest at sixty- I do not know what to write further for the seventies, eighties etc......

Coming to TVs, I did not know that you are also a TV. I have been teased endlessly for having those initials by my classmates right from II Std. As you are also a TV, instead of three cheers, it is .......guess how many?

Regards,

Abha.

Dear Cheeniya sir,

A great Hilarious post.

Welcome to AC, without naradhi indha thread kallai kattadhu...........like without oats & kollu people's creativity takes a back seat.

I just love ads. During my younger days also.... I used to go to movies (as there was no idiot box) just to see the ad shown there. Now IB has taken that role. Though I do not have that much of time to stay glued to IB, but I enjoy the ads like airtel, johnson & Johnson baby products and their babies tooooooooo cute.

If the wife feeds her hubby some energy giving food stuff, he should display his sudden surge of energy by lifting his wife off her feet and do a waltz or two while the enraptured kids clap their hands joyfully

.

Poor my dh, if he attempt to do something like this he will start having a slip disc and what not......