Monday, December 22, 2008

-25C

It was the mid nineties, and as I was creeping up from meekness to hit the point of I know everything, my mind was seduced by one of the most romantic tunes of the decade, churned out by AR Rahman. The heroine draped in a beautiful saree, in typical South Indian style, coupled with the beautiful Kashmir background, all in glittering white snow, lent a sensuous touch to the whole romantic moment. The song and the settings went on to become a rage. Every young lad wanted to be the hero, and obviously, the lasses yearned to be loved in such an environment. It was all beautiful, and life was certainly more so. My heart and mind were reverberating with When will I experience such a moment in the snow?

Fast forward the situation by fifteen years, and I can only think of one thing, What the hell are they doing dancing around in that snow. She is just draped in a saree, and the hero is wearing a sweater; the clothes, no way sufficient by any means. Forget the romance, forget the song and dance sequence, all that I can conjure at that instant is to flee as quickly as possible, and find the nearest shelter. I no more care about such a romantic setup, and forget seduction, only dread, awe and terror can strike the romantic couple. In the current cinematic setup, and with the economic slowdown, the heroines reveal more than what they conceal. Maybe it has got to do with the textile industry too being hit by the slump, and our great directors are taking advantage of the situation. So, in such a case, it becomes hard to take your eyes away from the heroine and examine the surroundings. That's a discussion maybe I should take up on my blog some other time.

Last week was terror personified. It was as though each day was having a competition with the previous, as to which one is going to win the battle of the sub zero temperatures. The temperature was falling like the NASDAQ, the peak being well below zero. In such a scenario, I dread even to think about the troughs. Added to the traumatic effect of the abysmally low centigrade, one has to cope up with the outrageously painful wind chill factor. Imagine, at a temperature of -20 degree Celsius, one has to bear the speedy winds at about 10 or 15 miles an hour. It is worse in Chicago, and on east coast, all the more. On Sunday, I just had to park my car, climb about twenty steps from my parking spot, and get into the house. My hands had frozen, and as soon as I got home, I felt as if I was experiencing the warm effects of the sauna without even raising the temperature of the heater. The feeling of staying outdoors was equivalent to being locked in the freezer compartment of the refrigerator, with the chillness factor magnified by five times. One of the worst moments, according to me, is to walk down to your car in the morning, and as your jeans makes contact with the chillness of the seat inside the car, it is as though, you are paying for your sins, in fifty births before this and fifty after this. Traumatic, truly traumatic!

Anyway, being in the mid-west or the east, you have to get used to this, as all of us cannot experience the warmth of the steady west coast weather. For the time being, let me forget all this, and expose myself to the snowy romantic song that I was referring to, Pudhu vellai mazhai, from Roja. Let me soak the effect, minus the snow, of course!!!

PS: Happy holidays!

16 comments:

  1. Bay Area rocks baby! But yeah everything is karma. If I were to be in ur place, I would have packed my bags and moved back to Bangalore :D

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  2. Dude, don't get so excited :-) There is a very thin line between Bay Area and Kansas City now :-)rrr....ecess...ion :-)

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  3. hehehe i like ur comment :)...anyways i also had that tamanna of dancing int he snow with a chiffon saree..but after being here for the past 3 years, and especially facing the MO and MA winters, all tamanna is over!!! I would rather stick to coat and thermals :)

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  4. How in the world do you get a response so quickly? I am sure even the feeds are not generated yet!

    I am cocooned in winter wear!!! It is dreadful!!!Dancing in the snow will always be a requiem for a dream :-)

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  5. Oh man, thats crazy.. my sympathies with you..yes, its a pity that our actors have to bear all this for a few romantic shots, but then they get paid like hell !!
    hope it gets warmer soon and yes, happy hols !

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  6. This place is the best bet in any case, be it recession or no recession. U very well know that.

    --Prasad

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  7. Hey Praveen, hilarious writeup! I too always dreamt of seeing white winters and cozy fireplaces. Unfortunately (or fortunately) Houston rarely snows, so I think I'll heed your warning and stay put for sometime :-)

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  8. hehe...and I was complaining sitting in bay area, at three degrees!! Wow, its outrageously cold out there!! Anyway, do your Christmas shopping for wool, and stay home! :) Happy Holidays!!!

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  9. Suchitra,
    Wish it gets warmer :-), and yeah, really don't care about the actors for all the money they make for all the junk :-)

    Bay Area Fanatic,
    Agreed, now, don't rub it in :-)

    Sowmya,
    Hail Houston :-) Don't come anywhere north and east :-)Just focus on the west!

    Lakshmi,
    Three degrees, Oh man! Are you living in a desert by any chance? :-) Don't ever call that cold :-)

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  10. I am just a very smart person who is always on her toes :P

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  11. make a trip sometime to my place in Michigan too....You definitely will equate KC to Bangalore then....hahaha....My folks back home in Mumbai get all excited when they see pictures of snow n more and want to visit me exclusively during the winter just for the snow factor but little do they know that there are several bonus features in store too if they do decide to take the winter trip to Michigan.

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  12. we are better off i guess in south cal we have rains today and some sun - but well, i dont envy you

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  13. Abhishek,
    Hahha, I can imagine how bad it must be in Michigan :-) Good luck, and keep yourself warm!!! Right now, I have come to the windy city, Chicago. Let's see how the next two days pan out!

    Maddy sir
    Southern California is pretty cool :-) Hardly the weather changes there, so it doesn't matter whether you are in the middle of summer or winter!!!

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  14. We oldies looked at the film 'Junglee' and marvelled at the snow in the romantic song (I think it was chaahe koi mujhe junglee kahe), little realising that most of it was salt in the studios.
    I had my first taste of snow in 1973 in Manchester and loved it, white and pristine all over - till it started melting, slush and dirty it was then.

    I don't remember it being as cold as you describe, so it must have pretty mild then.

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  15. Raji mami, well more than the snow, it is the after effects of the snow that is really pathetic. Slushy and dirty, huh!!!

    1973 :-)
    That's well before I was born :-)

    Anyways, have a good new year!!!

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  16. excellent writeup...:)

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