Teenology

:) a failed attempt to look like a
teen

Watching a teenage relative, talking on the phone reminds me nothing of my own teenage years. It’s not because there have been too many years between now and those days to remember nor have I reached that stage when childhood memories start looking like images from the previous birth. Sadly or not, I had what teens of today would call a ‘not happening’ teen. I still am not sure if anything should have happened to call it a happening period but by today’s standards it did lack the rush. I see these miniature adults talking like they know everything about dynamics of human relationships which even us adults struggle to understand, with lemonade and a TV remote in their hands and I feel guilty of thinking the same way when I was at this stage.

Yes, I missed being in a brawl or confusions. Speaking of confusions, I had my own demons to kill before I could venture out. I have to admit that I am still socially challenged and at that time lacked the will to have friends. The very limited social contact I had was due to my friends’ inability to understand that I was just not my thing to socialise (it was pre-Facebook era). I fear, after saying this, I may be reprimanded from every nook and corner of the earth that my friends infest now.

Abnormalities abound. I never wanted to have a moustache like my dad (for the simple reason that he never kept one) or enjoy the freedom of a motorbike or sweating it out out in the football field or the annual sports day. I think being content was a crime I still get punished for.

I never had freckles nor a teenage crush. I am happy about the first one but the second one had its reasons. An all-boys' educational system where I spent almost of my teen kept chances of a contact with the fairer sex close to naught. Falling for the brotherhood never occurred to me. Although I should mention here, I have no reservations against people who choose to have it the easy way. And also I have no reservations against reservation for these brothers and sisters. The other option was to fall for your teachers. I have heard people talking about some of their favourite teachers in such lurid passionate details that could put the Bard to shame. Of course, I had my favourites. Two of them got married to each other. Luckily, there were no heart burns. I can’t remember longing for my teachers of the previous class. Good riddance won’t be an apt term here because usually the situation got worse every time I came close to take a sigh of relief.

I will sharel more from this portion of my life once I’m ready to humiliate myself further on the cyber space.

Cable TV

The greatest revolution in my teen world was the arrival of cable TV. My sister and I would often try to get a glimpse of what our neighbours were watching on their TV. I don't know if my big b had the same longingness as by that age we were living very different lives and barely knew or care what the other one did. Anyway, after months of curious spying into the living rooms of our front door neighbour and getting to know that there was world beyond Doordarshan, we got our first cable connection.

- to be continued...