It always nice to be proven wrong. To have a change of heart
or head. To hold a notion or long and then to have compelling evidence to
change it. For long we never had cable at home. That was the big pound thing and
looking at us a few friends of ours also followed suit and it did make for an
enriching life. What is that cable can add to our life. It was a wonderful life
with Jispa as she grew up withour cable.
In the new house, we bought a new TV but we still did not
want cable. We just simply connected it to the internet and through Prime and
Hotstar I thought we had it pretty much licked. I wasn’t so kicked about
Netflix. I was not a TV series kind of guy. Why would I need Netflix. Then a
friend came home and just logged me onto his plan. He had one extra login free.
Ok fair.
For the last few months I simply watched a few movies on Netflix
and I hated the experience. How many movie titles do you need to browse through
to choose the one you like? Jasmine hated me for it. I tried one series in the
House of cards, but I just couldn’t handle it for long. I get bored. And I hated
series even more. Why would I invest 10s of hours when you can get story in 3
and be done with?
This went on till on a lark I just tried a series on Netflix
called The Crown and I was hooked. It is a terrific series which perfectly sits
with my sensibility. A well-produced drama based on history. It tries to get
behind the story of the Queen of England.
Their approach is brilliant and in every episode they try and get behind
the character and help you understand their issues, motivations, fears and
pride. And since they have Churchill featured very prominently in the first ten
episodes, I was completely hooked. It brought alive the character of the man
after the war as an old and ageing politician fighting to stay with his glory
of winning the world war. The dialogues are brilliant and Jispa and I keep
clapping whenever he has his sharp wit at play.
Now I understand why people are hooked to series. One friend
had told me – a series works as he found it a waste to invest time in a movie.
A series the return is over a longer period. With The Crown, I would agree. Now
I am invested in the characters and their inner travails. I will appreciate it
much more over a period of time. And the fact that it makes for family viewing.
We all are hooked. I am now right now binge watching the live episodes and I guess
we will wait after we are done for the new episodes.
Of course the binge watching is not anywhere like what the millennials
watch. At best we can take in about 4 to 5 episodes in a day. The millennials
do the full series in one sitting, one night. It’s a killer. In any case
whatever little I binge is also possible just because I have a banged up knee
and I am forced to stay at home. My bloody bum is hurting from all the sitting I
am doing. It is painful. But I am so looking forward to my surgery.
My hope is that once the surgery is done, I will be fully
rehabilitated and I will be able to run a like a mad man again. I want to run
fast and hard and I want to take part in an obstacle course or something like that.
I know now I can be fit and fast. It’s crazy for me to be this way at 43 but I am
loving it. I never knew that I could grow older and fitter. Wah wah.
But I like that at 43 I am learning new things as a person,
as a binge watcher, as a sportsperson and as a human. Its lovely man!
