Sunday, October 16, 2005

Not for all the chocolate in the world...

So said Charlie Bucket! I was somewhere inside the chocolate factory when he said this. This... `one liner' snapped me back. If I had been a girl I would be head over heels over Johnny Depp by now, however, I must say this about little Charlie. That boy has magic in his eyes. Ah! But now, about the movie. It's a little gem, and of course, it is about chocolate. Loads of it in fact.

Chocolate flows, chocolate flows,
Drowning in sweet all sad and lows,
Better than many people on this planet,
Ummm on my tongue, 'tis the best it can ever get.


Okay, okay I admit it! The `Ummm' inspiration is from Preity Zinta (Ummmm ;o) ). So now, Durga Puja is over, and soon it will be time for Diwali and then it will be Christmas! This is the better half of the year. Loads of holidays. I, however, had a funny start to the festive season this year.

I was in my hostel room. I had just emerged from the bath, my hair smelling divine from the `Ultra Doux Olive Oil & Lemon' shampoo. Actually, it is part of Y's recipe to get my hair to grow back. I do not know what good it is doing to my follicles but it smells yummy! I was in front of the mirror, with the world looking distinctly foggy through my wet glasses. I groped around and located my handkerchief. I took off my specs, and began to wipe it dry, just when it went - SNAP! Right then the world went right out of focus. The spectacle frame had broken in two. I am all blurry eyed without my glasses, so it was quite out of the question to search for the spare pair in such a condition. I called home and that confirmed my worst fears - I had left the spare pair at home! Leaving behind the screaming (and very worried) parents on the phone, I decided to brave the outside world.

The mess seemed all silvery - almost out of Dumbledore's pensieve. The sambar vadas were missing their hole from in-between. Breakfast tasted the same, but looked a whole lot different. Then I walked to work. I could see coloured shadows everywhere - people, cars, trees and after a few hands distance the world disappeared into a medley of mad watercolours. I reached the office. Y, U, V and S seemed most sympathetic, though I could hear the occasional chuckle every now and then. The computer was out of visual bounds of course. I just ordered Y to accompany me to the optician because I would not be able to see the spectacle frame without the specs! What a Catch 22! Y was quite accommodating and agreed to accompany me.

We took an auto. Delhi roads seemed a lot a less crowded and more colourful. It looked as if it had rained just now. I could not see people's faces, the car's number plates, the occasional wandering cow, the crowd spilling out of the DTC bus, the dust covered trees and rows upon rows of shops. I could only hear life. Oh and it lived. It lived right there, all around me, through me, with me. It was some experience - those fuzzy ten minutes. I got to see a very big picture, which I might have never seen otherwise. I also saw the big picture in my own life right then and there. Above and beyond all the people who were crammed into it. I got the courage to let go. I raised my hands and I surrendered. There are things in my life, I realized, which I will never be able to control. I think we are supposed to be thankful for that or else all of us would be control freaks with a lot of frazzled nerves.

I got my new frame. I also got a couple of very pinchy `new-pinches' from S! It looks exactly like the old one. But amidst this entire hullabaloo, I now I have an inkling of what I am capable of. I will never again, give up on me. Not for all the chocolate in the world...

Still an extra bar of chocolate never hurt anyone. So, if someone wants to be generous and give me some, I am up for it. Always and anywhere!

15 comments:

  1. i just got a new pair of glasses recently and it looks just like my old one too! don't know why i buy the same things over again. my sis on the other hand bought something totally different and she's looking cool! sigh! am i getting older or wiser??

    btw, all that talk of chocolate reminds me, YOUOWEMEACHOCOLATEEXCESS! u can send it to me instead of having to suffer my company! :D cudya? wudya?

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  2. @sonia: Nopes! It doesn't work that way. If you want your Chocolate Excess you have to *ahem* grace the occasion in person. :D

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  3. therez 'nother 'new pinch' coming ur way (from me :))

    still waiting for 'Charlie n the choco factory' to b released here in Hyd ***sigh***

    meanwhile I dun mind some chocolates either...got some?????

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  4. Shubho Bijoya! And let me ask at the risk of sounding foolish...but has the movie already released??

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  5. @swathi: Ooouch! Chocolates...errr ... what chocolates? :D

    @sangita: Howdy! Nice to hav you here.

    @ab: Shubho Bijoya! No it has not. I got to watch it courtesy a DVD borrowed from a friend. But I want to catch it on the big screen too. Will have to con somebody to take me ;o) errr... are you in a generous mood?

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  6. Looking at the word with a different, or rather, without a frame...nice!

    If u find some chocs, send some my way too plz...

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  7. All we need is Love...but a little chocolate here & there doesnt hurt ;-)

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  8. "Dumps all the TWIX in the world in FR's lap"

    HERRREEEEE!!!

    arrey and WHAT on earth were you doing scrubbing at your glasses SO HARD!! eeks!!

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  9. @mirage: You are most welcome to try some :o)

    @nomad: No it doesn't hurt at all ;)

    @grafx: Arre! Here I am trying to woo all the nice ladies with an acute supply of chocolate and look what you just did! ;) But I'll keep all those Twix'es... Thank You! :P
    Ofcourse I was scrubbing them softly... but I guess my soft hands are not everybody's forte... the glasses just cudn't take it anymore. :D

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  10. thats ok.. :).. you know me by now.. and you know how i am with chocolate :P

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  11. @grafx: I know you? I do, I do! :D

    @rapz: :o) Cholket!

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  12. hmm have you seen willy wonka and the choco factory! i haven't seen this new movie but if it's better than the first, it's prolly darn good!

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  13. @arbit: Hi n Welcome to da blog! No I haven't seen Willy Wonka ... and I haven't read the book either (which is nearly blasphemous). But Charlie and the Chocolate Factory is a good movie.

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