The Critic Me
“Make yourself comfortable, you may read some magazines lying there” Aarti said pointing towards a shelf before she disappeared in her room. The book shelf had few dozen of novels, many biographies of famous personalities & entrepreneurs and too many magazines & newspaper articles stacked in files, seemed almost like a mini library. I wondered how people read. I picked one book, checked the name, author’s name, saw its thickness & then put it back in place. I kept repeating the same until my gaze fall on a book with a Maroon cover page. I opened the book & with that I reached a page; the header of which declared “April 29, 2011”. The pen inside served as book mark. I realized that it’s a Daily Diary. I had heard that many people write diary but I never knew that Aarti is one of them. Though I never like reading other people’s personal notes and diaries, still I went ahead and started reading her diary.
April 29, 2011
Dear
Diary,
It was
another usual day at office, not so unique. I was stuck with all those meetings
& calls, this that & what not, just another hectic day! But today, I am
here not to discuss about all that professional Jargon, in fact I wanted to
share my experience of knowing a species of people whom I came to come across
through certain fascinating incidents. Today, I came across the special ability
of people who manages to find gaffe in anything & everything
around. I was so amazed at the remarkable flair that certain people
are blessed with, to observe & identify each boo-boo in whatever topics
that comes across them. Their vast knowledge on each & every theme, be it
Movie or TV commercial, fashion or media, Bollywood or Sports, politician or
whatever, these people have so much of extended knowledge of each & every
arena that they can put forth their expert comments on any of them. These
people are also known as “Critics”.
It
first happened today during lunch hours. While I was having lunch with my
colleagues, some of whom were watching TV with awesome delight, listening to
music & also enjoying Pizza at the same time, that was ordered specially
from Domino’s with a motive of Team building. Someone complained of
not ordering from Pizza Hut, “It could have been better if it was ordered
“Deep Dish” with extra cheese at least” someone else added. I was sitting
facing my back towards the 31-inch LCD screen, so I couldn’t enjoy like others.
Suddenly I heard something from some of my team mates that attracted my
attention towards the LCD screen “What sort of crap is this? I don’t understand
what these people wanted to convey?” I didn’t understand what he was referring
to so I turned back to check out the same. He was passing his connoisseur
comments on one of the TV commercial that I missed to watch but the next
commercial that was currently playing definitely left a smile on my face in
which a guy polishing his shoes asked his wife “Aaj Khane main kya hai?” in
reply to which she replied cutely “Karela” & then the guy asked “Meethe main
kya hai?” I was just amazed with the simplicity of the commercial &
moreover the ad promoted “Dairy Milk” of which I am a huge fan since always. I
decided to get a Dairy Milk after lunch & then I concentrated
back on my lunch. I was amazed with the creativity of the production team
behind the commercial that how smoothly they conveyed their message to the
target customers & promote the product sales & why not, they are
remunerated in millions for their extra ordinary creative skills.
Few moments later, another expert comment
sounded, this time someone commented to the extra pounds on the belly of the
girl in an Item number. I wondered of those so called perfectionists, who are
blessed with exceptional ability to identify even minute error in anything, these
people were strong observers. I felt bad of being just an ordinary
human though I personally felt that the girl was quite fit & well in shape.
Moreover she had already proven her worth to be there, where she was today. She
stands out of millions of people & moreover she has something that people
could talk about of her. Millions of public watch her, listen to what she says,
and reads about her; almost following her religiously. But no, I might be
wrong, I thought. These “Critics” had a better understanding of the subject so
I felt like saying
nothing.
We had just finished our lunch when Pavitra, a
charming intelligent Bengali team mate asked me something in Bengali “tumi Coke
khaabe?” She unintentionally spoke in Bengali, her mother tongue but she wasn’t
aware that she could be the next target to the “Critics Panel” She repeated her
words in English this time asking everyone if anyone wanted to have her share
of coke but it was too late & sets of question started surrounding her from
nowhere. “How can be Coke (a drinkable item) be “Khaabe” & why not be it
“Peebe?” Someone else asked “Why do you Bengalis use the word “Khaabe” for
every eatables & drinkables as well?” The next question was even more
typical to be answered “Why is it “Roshogolla” in bengali which is simply
“Rasgulla” in Hindi?” Pavitra was an intellectual with extremely calm attitude,
she simply replied “It has nothing to do with non-Bengalis & you are no one
to raise question to culture, language or religion of anyone. I may list out
myriad of errors in everybody here, in your religion, your state, your language
etc etc.. but my ethics don’t let me do so, I rather enjoy finding pleasure in
anything good & appreciating the same”, her face still reflecting smile.
The “Critic Panel” was speech less then. I was in awe of her that how an
ordinary girl has put these experts in silence. These people who were gifted to
judge anybody to everybody, their knowledge in every discipline, were
speechless today & they had no answers to this ordinary girl.
One more such incident happened while I was checking
my personal mails. I received a mail form one of my old college friend who
informed me that she has started blogging, that sounded pretty interesting to
me & I appreciated her efforts of writing. While reading her mail I got a
chance to discover one more “Critic”. One of her article condemned one of the
latest movie, another article of her talked about SRK’s performance in “My Name
is Khan”. With that it reminded me of certain other write-ups that I had read,
each one of which expressed their comments, sometimes complimenting in a rare
case.
I am glad that I am not blessed with such special
abilities of finding errors & to not behaving like a “Critic”. I enjoy
anything good happening around & feel like appreciating it every time. I am
happy to be what I am.
Aarti
“Yash!!!
How dare you touch my diary? Don’t you have any personal ethics? You must know
that you are not supposed to read anybody’s personal diary” Aarti’s words
breezed through my ears from nowhere & the next moment she snatched the
diary from my hand. I held the expression of a seven year old guy caught
red-handed by his mother having orange ice stick at the road side vendor. I
tried convincing her but instead she threw a gruesome look to me. I tried to
defend myself “I... I was just… I didn’t read anything… please listen to me….”
But I forgot the fact that girls are never programmed to listen, she said “just
shut up OK”
“Hey
listen to me dear, I am sorry… Can I see my sweetheart smiling?” I said holding
both of my ear-lobes.
“Just Go
to Hell” she said with a witty face laying emphasis on the last word.
“We’ll
go together honey. I’ll follow whereever you go” I took the diary from her
hand, put it back on the shelf & added “Now would you let me to take you to
The Hell?”
“What?”
“Ya, I
have a better idea for today’s outing, lets booze at “The Hell” , it’s a nice
pub in Sector 19 market”
She said
smiling “You are a Dog, a Bastard, I am not going anywhere with you” Both of us
smiled & we walked together to have a splendid day
ahead.
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