Changing times

It's funny how things that change invariably stay the same. Yes, I know, someone said it before me and better than I did, but you know what I mean. I have another cliche for you: everything must come to an end. Relationships, books, television shows, even life. They all, some day, finish at some logical point, explained or not, and either fade away softly, get cut off before you know what is happening or stop with a lot of fanfare and hoo-ha attached. Which is the best route to take, I cannot say, but it will all, inevitably, take that road to where you cannot, will not or do not want to follow. I like knowing when things end and sometimes that happens to my satisfaction; other times, things end without all the bows tied neatly and that never fails to irritate me, because then they have a nasty habit of rearing their ugly heads again just when I least expect them to, making my nasty memories and guilts surface when they really do not need to.

Eh? What am I talking about? Well, nothing personal, really, no references to the past or even any sort of deep philosophising. Actually, this is all about my television watching. The only Hindi soap opera that I watched with any degree of intelligence has just come to an end and the heroine faded gently into the night with her enormous family smiling gamely and bonding determinedly. I am sure a lot of the actors will be seen again soon in other soaps, new or old, and some of them are already playing significant roles on various other dramas. It is a strange feeling, that, to see the same people again and again as you surf through what your cable operator beams into your home, and you wonder what this person from that other soap opera is doing in this one. Confusion, almost as bad as the characters and the soaps themselves!

The soap I watched was called Kahaani Ghar Ghar Ki. It starred a very pious and good woman called Parvati, who had to live through all sorts of problems and survived them all, along with some time jumps (or generation leaps, as they are called), and wore the same fabulously fake jewels, the same gorgeous saris and the same beatific smile right through. She cried a lot, she got angry a lot and she gave a lot of speeches, while the rest of her clan lived, died, was reborn (or maybe never died at all, just ended a contract and came back with another face courtesy 'plastic surgery'), liked her, hated her, tried to destroy her...ad infinitum, ad nauseum. Fun and games was had by all and at the end, when it had all degenerated (or should that read 'disintegrated'?) into a farce, with Parvati being silly and OTT and the actress completely enjoying the whole act, the family finally came together and said their farewells. It was, of course, very funny to see that only a few members of the clan were present, with some favourite characters conspicuous by their absence.

What is even funnier is the way that the producers inserted a teaser into the last scene of the soap opera. A lamp that Parvati floats downstream is picked up by a new face...and that should lead into a new set of people with new angsts and dramas. What fun!