Thursday, January 25, 2007

they didnt tell us!

agreed that some people are a bit slow on the uptake even in seemingly obvious situations... but mankind as we know it, has its ways of baffling its own understanding.

Britons are gradually waking up to the news that their kids are becoming obese. yes, in literal terms, its news for them (saw it on almost all the channels here). but that seems to be the least of their concerns... what seems to be bothering them, more than the sight of their under-11 covering the better part of the sofa, is that nobody told them their kids were growing fat! ....eh!? rather dense i should say... (no i dont mean the kids!!) one parent complains that the government is now doing nothing about it! look, my kid fed on the fast-food stores that you allowed to be erected, now he's grown out of his shorts thanks to you (huh!?) and you ought to do something about it! wow!

but people do know how to throw their weight around... news channel calls in the health minister and asks her what her ministry plans to do about this 'crisis'... and minister asks the public to be more judicious in their choice of diet and discipline their kids a bit (i heard your jaw drop... i agree. thats sacrilege in this land!) in a perfect world her answer would have been well digested but we are not there yet. tv host with all her seriousness asks if she implies she's not going to do anything about it & leave it to the poor unsuspecting parents to fend for themselves... poor poor parents! tsk tsk... they just didnt see it coming did they!

Wednesday, January 03, 2007

its the fear... yeah!

reminded of psmith at times like these... should i rate this as unusual? maybe yes. improbable? certainly not! :)

v and i making our way back from office, wait for the lifts in the tube station... and i hear some chatter around us. the tone and words being repetitive in nature draw my attention to its source... am still looking for words to describe what they were. am sure v is just as much at a loss! yes, she was blurting 'i love you' to v... does catch us off guard to say the least! we feel it prudent to remain silent spectators to the entire affair...

they were two of them, both packed with make-up... frail attempts at hiding nature's malady... feminine looking nevertheless... and it was not their hair or their dress that brought me to this gender conclusion... a fair display led me to believe so (no pun intended!). lets call these two (the persons silly!) s1 and s2...

s1: (looking at v) i love you... i really love you...

me looking totally doe eyed... first at her... as the zipper traverses its teeth to & fro and finally at her

s2: (to s1) they are scared... (more zipper movement)
s1: come on! its ok to smile!
s2: no they are angry! they are angry at us...
s1: come on! there's nothing to be angry... surely you can smile!

mind you i was pretty much tempted to smile if only i had managed to go beyond awe (and what lay behind the zipper)...

s1: they do not understand english... thats why they are not smiling! (i really liked her depth of understanding here - no pun again!!)
s2: of course they can understand english... they are in england! (hmmm... this one's logic was stronger)

but our stoic silence and ignorance seemed to convince them that we really didnt understand english! for the rest of the public these two seemed to not exist at all, but for the mother pulling her child away from them... (un)fortunately the lift journey ended, we saw the last of them and out we were on our way home... mulling over the recent incident (and thinking aloud if they accepted cards...) had heard enough about the youth of this land... saw it first hand today :)

the curious few here would wonder why we didnt take our chances... v's outlook held a lot of truth... fear of aids is the global guiding force!

the trash heap has spoken... yeah!!