I Feel Smart After Watching TV

And my father would laugh like a hyena then snort in derision like a mad elephant.

Television is famously notorious as the "idiot box" and at times I have felt my brain cells die after watching TV. But not everything on TV's bad. And I want to enlighten you on a couple of show, and the reasons why, I love television.

Let me also say that none of the programmes I'll talk about are Indian.

BBC One's Sherlock
Love it!

This is an intelligent, no-nonsense, British production which puts Sherlock Holmes and James Watson in modern London with wacky and seemingly unsolvable crimes. In the portrayal of the characters, and in the stories, it is very close to the books. As a fan of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's works, I have to say that this series is as good as the books and short stories. 

I didn't enjoy the Harry Potter or Narnia movies as much as the books. The reason I liked Peter Jackson's "Return of the King" was because the last novel was giving me so much sleep that I never managed to finish Sam's boring narration of his marital life in the very end. (Plus, I was reading the Lord of the Rings trilogy in the middle of my 10th Board exams!) Let's just say Jackson won the last round of the LoTR versus Tolkien for me. The other two books are better than the movies. 

Most other books usually win too. In the case of Sherlock though, there's NOTHING that I don't like and love. The best thing about the series is that it always surprises and shocks you. Which is why when you figure out things in the end, you feel smart. :) Or at least you want to feel so.

The camera is smart, editing is tight, acting is superb and the interwoven stories make it one of the best things ever made. Each episode is as long as a full-length movie and there is NEVER a dull moment. It's just a very very interesting maze of surprises and smartness. I liked Martin Freeman's work before seeing him as Watson, and I'd seen Jude Law's version before this. I was sceptical of Freeman as the trusty Watson because I'd only seen him as a good comic actor. And come on, Jude Law! But he blew me away! And Benedict Cumberbatch! He knocks Robert Downey Jr.'s performance right out of the grounds! The madness, the snide remarks, the plain disregard for people is better portrayed here than in the two Sherlock Holmes movies.

The ONLY downside is, they don't make enough of these in a year. Because each episode is almost an hour and a half long each, they release only 3 episodes each year. And after 6 episodes in two years, I can't wait for 2013 already! I'm at the point of memorizing each dialogue, really!

MasterChef Australia

When you hear "reality TV", you expect cursing, cursing, and a lot of bleeping. Not this. This one makes me smile :)

I know, "smile", right? No other program which involves people under pressure, judges and a big prize should make you smile. People end up cursing and bleeping under pressure and there's always a lot of crying, wailing and blaming someone or the other. This series though, is polite. And I think these three are the only gentlemen judges there ever are going to be!

Watching MasterChef Australia is a delight. The contestants are relatable people with relatable dreams and real enough problems in the way. They need the money and their dreams to succeed. And you want each and every one of them to win. Because they remind you of you.

In two seasons of the show that were aired in India, there was never a curse word, nor a bleep-moment. And I was shocked and repulsed when I attempted to watch Gordon Ramsey's MasterChef America. He just kills my brain cells and blasts my ear drums. I couldn't watch even 5 minutes of the American version. Through the Australian series, I learned more about Australia and a couple of English words. And oh, I also learned some table manners :)

There should be more such shows and movies on TV which cater to the masses (or a set of them) and are worth every penny put into making them. We have smart writers in our country, so why aren't we making smarter TV? Why do we spend years and lakhs of rupees on the bitching of mothers-in-laws of the country? Why do we make regressive television time and again? I used to enjoy Kaun Banega Crorepati till they involved contestants' stories into it. I mean, come on, I used to watch the show just to increase my general knowledge, not cry for some poor bloke and his hardships. We have the saas-bahu serials for crying, don't we!

If you think there are more shows or movies that should find a mention here, that make you smarter and makes your parents shut up by its pure awesomeness, leave a comment. (30 Rock, The Daily Show with Jon Stewart, Psych, Batman animated series, Dexter's Laboratory....to name a few.) My dad didn't open his mouth once during Sherlock and both my parents are addicted to MasterChef because they don't flinch at each bleep sound as there is none! The bleeps are one reason why I stopped subscribing to MTV, etc., and prefer to download any explicit series, then watch it under the cover of darkness.

More smart TV, I say! That should be a fundamental right.

Why I Support Cottage Industries But Can't Friggin' Afford Them

I support and (insert heart symbol) cottage industries. They're a great way to help communities and local craftsmen, along with preserving art and heritage. Handicrafts are what India and most local communities world over made a living off of. They are windows and doors to our rich, unique, and innumerable cultures. Each handicraft item carries the soul of the creator because you know that some unnamed person's sweat, blood and love went into it.

Which is also why handicrafts and cottage industry items are so expensive!

I am one of those persons who can rock a Batman-print T-shirt with geeky gracefulness and on other occasions, slaughter Indian manners in a salwar kameez. I don't have a particular liking for any type of clothing. Just that I like to wear clothes, sometimes I don't, and I sometimes like buying new clothes. I also like donating my old clothes because I feel my love flowing through it. Each cloth is a story of moments spent in it. Each item in my wardrobe carries wishes, experiences, hopes and comments from the public.

And yes, this article is now veering toward the direction of clothing and this is where some people will switch off. But I assure you there'll be talk of BOOBS! SEX! PORN!

Kidding. That's just me throwing random words. There'll be no talk of the above capitalized words further on in the article.

Going back to handwoven hand-stitched clothes, there's nothing more than a fitted kurta to accentuate my breasts. (Oops!) Girly girls have always told me this and so have my mother and father, but in not such a blatant way. Yes, I've been blessed with good assets. Yes, I kill their "effect" when I hide them under a loose T-shirt. And yes, I get scolded for the same.

Thing is though, I can't always afford to buy or stitch kurtas from materials which are handloom. They cost a bomb. For example, I was in the market looking for a plain white kurta. I looked at a couple of places. I started in W and discovered that the one there cost over Rs.1200. (No freaking way!!) I went to a local shop in Lajpat Nagar's Central Market and the seller showed one for Rs.290. This may not have been pure cotton and was machine-produced in most likely a dingy shop. I went to another store which specialises in Chikan work kurtas, tops, salwars, pajamas, etc. They showed me a couple of options starting from Rs.450 onwards.

Now, like all good etiquettes that mothers pass on to daughters, my mother passed on the love of pearls and Chikan to me. I love anything that is adorned with Chikan craft, and it's one of the few girly indulgences of mine.

But here's a question I should pose to you now before I go babbling more about my love for Chikan. Which kurta would you opt for, and they're all equally beautiful kurtas but with different prices? Would you go for brand, or the cheapest, or for something that carries an old craft tradition of hand stitched perfection and grace?

If you want to know what I opted for, prepare for a lesson in my love for Chikan work! No, I'm kidding.

The reason I went for the not-so-cheap but not-so-expensive-either Chikan kurta is because I can afford to indulge in it right now. When I was in college, I wasn't supporting my love for handicrafts outrightly so because I simply couldn't afford to. I'd be seen wearing Rs.100 machine-printed and made in dingy sweatshop kurtas because I needed to save money. That's how I did my math back then. Now I do it differently with plastic cards of greed.

What I'm trying to say is that, I love all things handicraft and would love nothing more than to support local artisans and rural communities and villages which support such crafts still. There are patrons and buyers too, but there are techniques of art which are very remote and hard to accomplish. And the latter are slowly dying.

When I go to state emporiums and trade fairs, in the Kerala stalls at least, I notice a lot of kasavu saris and clothes (cotton saris with golden borders which are a trademark of Kerala). I'm sure there are more tribal clothing which should also be displayed. Well, where are they? Why aren't their crafts and jewellery displayed? Actually, where are the tribals in Kerala?

Each question poses more questions: Have I made it large? Not a large peg but a large enough problem to be discussed and worked upon? There's nothing more satisfying than to get people uneasy about the problems we face and how best to solve them. Of course, there are a lot more questions and issues in the handicrafts industry which I haven't even touched upon yet: the middleman, the plight of workers, labour wages, working conditions, state's role in supporting them, funds for cottage industries, whether the profits/benefits are reaching the artisans, where to get more artisans from, where to find patronage.... Like I said, loads of questions, so little words, so less time.

If there's anything that you do to support cottage industries your own way, please let me know. If there's anything that pissed you off in the above, thank you, and drop a comment or let me know. I hope I gave you something to think about though.