At an impressionable age, I had watched Amitabh and Zeenat taking a romantic gondola ride through the canals of Venice, singing the famous romantic song, Do lafzon ki hain… Since then, my younger self considered Venice to be the epitome of romance.
As I haven’t been able to visit Venice, I decided to bring the place to me. I bought a jigsaw puzzle of a scenic Venice sunset. Simple.
Puzzles and books bring to you the places you cannot go.
It took me around 3-4 hours to complete the puzzle, as many of the tiny pieces are just splashes of colour in red, yellow, green, blue, violet, pink, and orange. Identifying the shapes of colour blobs was time-consuming.
Since the job of a puzzle is to puzzle you, you play with that definite understanding; nevertheless, after watching a YouTube video I chanced upon, it seemed that the LoP’s attempt to draw an analogy between the PM and a magician in the recent LS session was more baffling. Mr Gandhi’s beating-around-the-bush way of building up his arguments on the government’s intent regarding the Women’s Reservation Bill seemed entertaining to many present there.
While the leaders are entertained in Parliament from time to time, a daily dose of entertainment comes to me from across my balcony in the form of the man in boxer shorts, lounging (sometimes, tossing and turning) on the balcony, soaking up some Vitamin D. By the size of his paunch and his saggy chests, which are visible when he sits upright, he seems to be in his late 60s.
By no means should my describing his body provoke you to think that I seek pleasure in body-shaming someone. Not at all. At the same time, it can’t be expected of me to close my eyes to the reality unfolding every summer morning in front of my eyes while I water my plants. This would be like asking many of you to stop gazing at the body of a scantily dressed female performer, dancing to the tune of an item song with provocative lyrics in many Bollywood movies.
Does it ring any bells?
Indisputably, objectification of women in advertisements, movies, and music videos passed off as entertainment has been normalized to such an extent that it seamlessly fits like a piece of a puzzle into the so-called cultured-society framework.
While certain concepts central to patriarchal society are acceptable to most, significant concepts like sexuality education that can help society become safe and truly progressive are brushed under the carpet. Generally, by both adult genders.
Recently, I happened to watch a solo drama exploring varied themes like child abuse, innocence, relationships, bullying, and so on. The space, accommodating a small group of around 40-50 people, had an adult audience across generations. Most of them looked bewildered after the show, as they were ignorant of the content. Sophistication brought them to the show to get entertained, but they left feeling disillusioned. Presumably. The expressions on their faces looked like the multi-coloured pieces of my puzzle scattered across my dining table. Disorganized and chaotic.
A thought-provoking show that it was, I came home to the tiny pieces of my puzzle lying haywire. Once again, I interlocked them into a coherent image of the Venetian sunset before a good night’s sleep.
*****
Teenager 1: Consulting a therapist or AI?
Teenager 2: Take a guess.