Monday, April 05, 2010

Commercials - Does Anyone Love Them?

I often think about what I miss most about India/Madras. Obviously, I miss my immediate family. I also miss my extended family - aunts, uncles, cousins and most recently my darling nephew. And I miss Thamizh - hearing it all around me and seeing it on billboards. I would be amiss if I didn't mention the food - the wholesome goodness filled homemade food and the various restaurants that serve a wide variety of Indian food. I am officially sick of the crap that is served at most Indian restaurants (and yet I keep going back, because sometimes the heart wants what it wants) The movies - there seems to be a slew of good Thamizh/Hindi movies these days and I hate having to drive over 100 miles to see it in a theater.

The above paragraph should not come as a surprise to anyone, coz God knows I have written about this several times in this blog. Lately I have come to realize that I miss something that I never thought I would miss - I miss the ads on TV. I always believe that however long I live in the United States, I would never fit in completely, because a lot of cultural references from their childhood would just go right off my head. And I think advertisements are big part of that. Though I had given up on Indian programming while in India and lived entirely on sitcoms, it feels like I have severed all my ties with Madras. I spend a lot of time hunting for new ads on Youtube. I feel that it might help to have some Tam channels at home. But again, I have no interest in watching any serials, I am not a music lover, I hate star interviews of any kind (except when Kamal Hassan is interviewed) and the lesser said about Indian reality TV the better. So S (rightly) feels that it is not a good idea to pay double of what we pay to Dish Tv to have Sun TV and Vijay TV! Besides S dislikes these channels more than I could ever do and I don't forsee him budging from his stance, unless my parents or V Athai visits. Hmm, maybe it is time for someone to visit. :-)

I know that I always give an impression about missing India and absolutely hating it here. While I do miss India, it's not that I am having a bad time here. I guess it's a case of the grass being greener the other side. I am sure I will have plenty to complain when I do eventually move back. So till that time, lay back and listen to my gentle rants about this topic :-)

Also I would love to hear about your favorite ads. Drop in a comment (with a YouTube link if possible) Thanks everyone - you guys are the best!

9 comments:

Ram said...

No Links... Just nice to see the variations played here.

Nice.. What else do you miss? Colors.. Any time doctor visits.. Soothing words.. every day common simple challenges that we experience back home... :)

kaushik said...

Trust me, you would not want to see the new ads...I see trillions of them during the IPL and all of them are as cringe-worthy as the commentary.

Sometimes you are better off living in your memories :)

Sandeep said...

I used to love this one -
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4WIOkYrir04

Harini said...

Tell me abt it...I am also strangely missing our old ads nowadays ...Wat abt the bru filter coffee ad..Rem tat? I think the reason I miss old ads are because they remind me of my childhood and madras!

Harini said...

P.S: You spelt Commercials wrong in your title!

janani said...

@Naren - Yes, miss all those and more. Most of all I miss being surrounded by family!

@Kaushik - I didn't say the ads were good! ;-) Yeah, I have built up Madras so much in my mind, I think I am going to be in a shock when I move back :-)

@S - Yeah, I had a feel you would pick this one! :-) Babes, we should move back to Madras and you can actually drive this bike.

@H - Yeah, even if the ads are not good, it sort of brings us closer home. Like the bad Chandrika soap ads. :-))

And yeah, I've changed the title - was too lazy to do it and was hoping noboday noticed :-)

Unknown said...

it should come as no surprise that we would miss the ads of the old...we are a nation permanently smitten by the brief snaps of promises that these give about...on another note i know for a fact there were suggestions to Satyam cinemas to keep screening a jewellery ad by Shriya...go figure.

and of course you know the prize winning cartoon.." the national anthem will be continued after a short commercial break"..mera bharat mahan

Kaarthik said...

Every now and then you want to know if you were a freak or if you're normal :)

My guess is you're normal, but that's just a guess.

My daughter's favorites :-
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OcI-BvPniBM

The entire series of http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cGqndA5F3i8

She likes almost all the ADs which feature kids

Ram said...

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