Illogical Mannerisms..!

Cool Saturday night.Its drizzling outside. I’m alone at home, there is a power failure and I lit a candle in the living room. Sitting comfortably on the couch ,legs stretched enough to accommodate the laptop,I notice the candle shining in the darkness,the flame waving in tune with the cool winds blowing outside...and it reminds me of..….. Florence Nightingale.. ? is it diffusing the ambience of an ever so romantic candlelight dinner.. or are the beams outshining even the celestial beauty of the moonlight, which has been faintly dimmed out by the dark monsoon clouds….?.oh ! are the shadows of the living room objects framing beautiful kaleidoscopic patterns from the beams scattered by the tiny wick of the wax clad candle stand..?..? sorry guys…. When rain falls..I do not get such weird thoughts. I am not that supremely imaginative being. I am just wishing if we could get one emergency lamp like the one we had back at my hometown. And yeah, I am also thinking where the umpteen street dogs next to our apartment would sleep tonight, as its raining heavily now.

Last week, we’d been to the movie, ‘Bhagyadevatha’. I would suggest all Mallus who live outside Kerala to watch this movie, as every scene unfolds picturesque Kuttanad and typical Kerala food. The urge to rush home and book tickets for a vacation at home would be irrepressible after the movie gets over. Visual treat as that one was, the movie has quality, theme, music, good storyline, not-so-brilliant but reasonable plot and granted, you wouldn’t have to wail over the ticket money, cos its worth the watch. Bhagyadevatha had me even shed some tears towards the end…but no! Don’t jump into conclusions that it is a tragedy movie…There is a highly sensitive water works working diligently beneath my eye, 24 X 7.

Tears are my problem..tear glands are probably malfunctioning. I am NOT trying to say that I am very angelic, innocent, and soft hearted. I had seen 6 year olds laughing and leaving the theatre after the movie was over, but I was trying very hard to wipe my tears, cos if anyone had caught me whining and wiping my eyes, it would be the topic of discussion (read humiliation) at family getogethers, and I would be made fun of for the next 150 years. Even today, the Malayalam movie ‘Friends’ was telecasted in Surya. However when I switched on the TV the movie was about to get over, and Mukesh was on his way to Jayaram’s home in Army costumes. Now the melodrama begins and towards the end I find my eyes welled up, shit!! I saw it just for around 10 minutes..and to hell with my tears.

Laughter is another problem for me. Once I catch it, it becomes an enormously difficult task for me to stop. I had one of my tuition-mate guys back at high school pleading with me ,’ Anita, I really want to tell you something… I don’t know if it is hasty, I thought a lot about it… I’d been brooding over it during study hours..and finally, let me tell you, coming up to you to tell this sure takes a lot of guts…” Me : ‘ Whats it?’ He: ‘ *silence*.. don’t laugh like that during class hours..it scares me and most of the guys here’.

Let’s take the example of the Malayalam movie , ‘Godfather’. I am not ashamed to call it one of my favorite movies ever, even though when asked about favorite movies to my friends they usually reply ‘ Die Hard’, ‘Schindler’s List’, ‘Quantum of Solace’ , ‘Matrix’and other hi-fi stuff. Its true that I don’t watch English movies, mainly because I cant concentrate on them. Recently I even tried watching ‘matrix’, but in five minutes I was alarmed at how much the nails on my toes had grown, then I found myself filing my nails, applying nailpolish , and …*snore*. Yeah English movies help me realize when it is time the floor has to be mopped or to go for a pedicure.
Coming back to Godfather, my family remembers me most when it is telecasted on tv. I have seen that movie around 476523 times. But each time, the jokes are fresh and timely, and I laugh like crazy. My Mom has never found an answer as to what is there to laugh so much. Even she knows it scene my scene, dialogue by dialogue.

Now tears and laughter..in short, emotions are in their extremes for me. I wish there was a knob somewhere where I could adjust the sensitivity levels. “Oh, these theatres are so unkept and dusty” followed by a fake sneeze and obviously-practised-with-ease-cough is my usual and most frequent monologue, which happens after every movie, which probably gives an explanation to my friends and family to the redness in the eye …yup the water works is sure getting me embarrassed all the way… Guess I am born with such illogical mannerisms. If I try to change it, would it still be me?