Moody gives Sue Sharma a chance to go abroad (satire)

Moody is seldom in any dilemma. He is always one step ahead of others and has mastered the art of always being in the limelight. But, there comes a time in the life of every man when he finds himself at the crossroads and has to make a judicious decision.
Therefore it came to pass that he called in his elite group of most trusted lieutenants and announced his decision. ‘I think Sue Sharma will be the best choice,’ he said.
Sue Sharma appeared surprised while Jet Lee and Nitty Gadcurry exchanged glances and Baba Someday looked at Ranee-ji and Uma-ji and shrugged his shoulders.
‘Yes,’ Moody clarified. ‘I will be busy with my tours to the states because my voice can win over the people from there into our camp. I want to see lotuses flourish everywhere.’

‘And – Sue Sharma-ji will make the trips to follow up the latest development on the port in Iran and also have talks with the leaders behind the bamboo curtain on terrorism, right?’ Jet Lee asked.
‘Yes,’ Moody said. ‘Only – Sue-ji must wear something that does not hurt the feelings of our hosts. They are very conservative, especially with their attire.’
‘The women there cover their body from head to toe with their unique dress. And – the cover must include the hair also.’
‘I know,’ Sue Sharma said. ‘I’ll never wear anything that will harm our interests. I, like all of us here, want good relation with everybody. I will be a brand ambassador for our country and will always have an eye open for business potentials.’
‘Yes – keep in mind our buzzwords,’ Moody reminded. ‘Skill, digital, swatchh, make - and, it all has to do with our country. We want to shed all the earlier tags and prosper.’
‘Don’t worry,’ Sue assured. ‘I know the tricks of the trade.’
‘The bamboo curtain people are two faced,’ Moody cautioned. ‘They lost out on the bullet train and are trying to twist our arm on the terrorism affair.’
‘I will take care of that,’ Sue smiled. ‘I can put a spoke in their plans to market their cheap decorative garlands this Diwali.’
‘Yes,’ Baba Someday was all ears. ‘I have set up a separate factory to manufacture those multicolored garlands and the products will hit the markets before Diwali. I can easily ease out foreign competition.’
When Sue Sharma left the chamber, she was in high spirits. At last she was getting some sort of recognition. Probably her boss was tired of spending his days and nights cooped up in the aircraft on the tarmac. (to be continued …)


Image courtesy wikimediacommons.org

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TV and close association with Gods and festivals

Indians are a God fearing lot and, no matter how liberal we may project ourselves to be, the fact remains that we are still haunted by superstition. We still have full faith in God and know that he will always stand by our side and deliver us from all evil. That is why the set on practically every TV serial will have a space devoted to God.
This in-house temple will be a place where all family members will assemble – not just to pray on regular festivals but also to pray for a death-bed member of the family to recover. He (or she) might have been involved in a serious head on collision on the road. The accident would have been engineered by a member of the family who is not on good terms with the victim or who feels he has been wronged.

The spot of red on the forehead of the victim would signify the seriousness of the injury. And, the prayer sessions in front of God would prove that God can perform miracles, doctors are not really necessary. Once in a while, the prayer venue would shift to an outside temple – or even a temple in the premises of the hospital.
So much so for praying to God on selfish motives. There are other occasions to pray and celebrate and that is during festival times and, in the Indian calendar, there is no shortage of festivals.
Regular and large scale festivals mean Dussera, Diwali, Holi, and Ganesh festival and others include kite festival, karwa chauth etcetera. And then, there are the marriage rituals right from the pre wedding song and dances to the actual marriage ceremonies. On these occasions, the stars of the glittering world of TV grab the chance to showcase latest fashion trends and the online business of the products soars.
That is what TV is all about – enjoy and let others enjoy, let business flourish, let there be smiles on people’s faces. As an ad of a popular two-wheeler goes – why should boys have all the fun? Let the fun not be restricted to only a few. (to be continued …)
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School days – Diwali and Kali puja

This is another great festival of Bengalis where Goddess Kali is worshipped - it is also the Laxmi Puja or worship of the Goddess of Wealth and New Year for some communities. Hence, there is a festive air all around with shops selling varieties of sweets while other shops sold firecrackers of various types.
In those days there was no restriction of the decibel levels of firecrackers and, hence, there would be packets of low decibel levels for use by us children and the higher decibel ones apart from rockets were meant for the college going ones and the elders.
We children had to be content with sparklers, charkis, tubris and other such innocent combinations.
Of course, the lightings of houses during Diwali used to make the occasion more attractive - there would be tiny earthen lamps which would be lit in the evenings and oil in them would be replenished at regular intervals to ensure that the wick did not burn out.
Some households would install garlands made up of tiny colored electric bulbs – these would be set to glow at pre-determined intervals thereby adding to the charm. (to be continued …)