It took six years for my grandparents to get a landline phone. Four years for my grand dad to get a TV.
My mother tells me there used to be one car- a Fiat- in our neighborhood. And two TVs. There used to be this fascination with the television; the 2 houses with TVs got frequent visitors. After the four years of wait, when the TV finally arrived in our home- black and white mind you- my mom and her sisters used to sit around watching programming as insipid and vapid as Krishi Darshan- which was and still is basically a ‘How To’ TV show for farmers. For half an hour, just switch on Door Darshan for a change; it really hasn’t changed much.
On an average day, I worry about maybe sixteen things in total- on average at least two at one time. The Stock Market. My investments. Home Loan EMIs. My next stint. My current stint. My career. Where my life is going. My current novel. My future novel(s). Delhi traffic. How my illnesses seem to be getting more and more vicious.
I order a watch online and it reaches me in two days flat. Cash on delivery.
I wish I did not have a smartphone. No laptop. No watch.
I wish I could watch Krishi Darshan on TV.
I wish the damn watch took six years to reach me.
I wish I had a landline phone and a black & white TV and a scooter and a house in a small forgotten sleepy neighborhood and I wish I was twenty years ago.
