W is for Watching TV/Streaming Platforms

Who doesn’t like watching the telly, Netflix, Amazon Prime or any of the other streaming platforms? It’s a popular pastime, especially now during the lockdown. People always called the TV the idiot box, but over time, the quality of the shows have improved dramatically and there is content for every kind of sensibility out there.

I’m not an inveterate TV watcher, but my mom simply cannot do without the TV to de-stress. Her favourite shows, as are mine, include Two Broke Girls, Mike and Molly, The Big Bang Theory, Superstore and other comedies.

On Netflix, I’ve enjoyed Sacred Games, Atypical, Sex Education, and other shows. On Amazon Prime, I’ve mostly watched movies. I’ve also watched a couple of Man vs. wild shows featuring our PM and another starring Rajnikanth.

There is a show for every kind of mood and every kind of person. I don’t consume much news on TV and rely on online publications to get my news. My dad watches Christiane Amanpour’s show and also a lot of the news channels. He also listens to old Tamil music and watches both Hollywood and Kollywood films. In particular, he enjoys the James Bond franchise, Indiana Jones franchise and other popular cinema.

One needs to take a break from screens though. The 20-second rule is a good one to follow. Every 20 minutes, you get up and walk around for 20 seconds. As they say, sitting is the new smoking. It’s also not a great idea to watch TV in bed. The ergonomics of your seating arrangements should be thought through.

Nowadays, they are telecasting all the old content from DD and the early days of liberalisation, like Ramayana, Mahabharata and The Wonder Years. Some shows never go out style and there is always an audience for them. What are the shows that you watch?

Comments

How hobbies can enrich one’s life

Everybody needs a hobby. Some people are naturally more predisposed to boredom. These are the creative ones that if encouraged and nurtured can go on to change the world. But before they save the world, they need to save themselves. As the saying goes, no one can pour out of an empty cup. Many artists and creative folk are prone to listlessness and depression. They need hobbies to keep them afloat in choppy seas and help them tide over challenges. Sometimes, they are prone to dark moods and anger, too. The only way to heal is through staying engaged creatively. What will help is to stay amidst verdant surroundings in a peaceful place with few disturbances so that one can delve into one’s artistic self and draw from the wellspring of creativity that lies within. It must be tapped because unless one uses it, one loses it. It’s just like one’s grey cells. It needs regular honing and application. Creative people owe it to themselves, if not to the world, to try to create, even through th...

N is for 'newspaper clipping collection'

People have collected newspaper clippings over the years and stuck them onto their scrapbooks. My dad cuts out a newspaper clipping, of say, a book review, and keeps it inside the book in question. My dad tells me an anecdote of the time he was a student in IIT and one of the boys he met during an inter-university student leader’s conference had a huge collection of newspaper clippings on Kamaraj. The boy had collected news clippings of every news item pertaining to the Tamil political leader and arranged them chronologically in his scrapbook. Others collect pictures of strange UFO sightings, criminal cases covered in the media, favourite cooking recipes, pictures of touristy places and music festivals. I’ve not been in the habit of collecting newspaper clippings, and now with print editions rapidly folding up, it doesn’t seem like a good time to start. I just add sites I want to go through later to my Bookmarks. These days, people do online scrapbooking. I’m plann...

H is for 'Horseriding'

Yes, this( horseriding) is a hobby, too, albeit for the rich and famous. Tourists visiting hill stations can go horseback riding with guides leading the way. Children can ride small ponies in beaches, as I have done as a child. The last time I sat on a pony was when I was about ten years old. At least that’s the last time that comes to mind. Here’s a picture of me with a pony in Kashmir. My parents and I were tourists visiting J&K in the 80s. A simple Google search throws up a list of results for horse riding schools in Chennai alone. Talking of horses, the scene from the movie Godfather comes to mind, when a beloved racehorse Khartoum is found dead and its head severed on the bed as a threat from Marlon Brando’s character. A lot of ‘Westerns’ in Hollywood couldn’t have been made without horses. More recently, the film ‘The War Horse’ was made. In Indian movies, the heroine on horseback or riding a horsedrawn carriage ( li...

AshTalksHobbies

Search This Blog