Channel sprinting

 
Often while sitting mute and watching TV with The Love Of My Life (a term borrowed from Jennifer Stewart) I am reminded of the experience akin to my childhood when watching tiny slides through a camera- microscope, my sis would rush me through the scenes- a hippo against a blue sky, a scenic Himalayan valley, a lotus pond and a roaring waterfall with giant sprays of foam rising from the sides. When I would set it aside in anger, my head would reel for a good 30 seconds before I got my bearings right.
Thanks to the remote and the nimble fingers of the LOML, I am forced to relive that childhood memory, night after night, as we sit watching the events in the world unfold- Robert Downey Jr transforming into Iron Man - Emraan Hashmi serenading Prachi Desai in Peeloon- Prannoy Roy dissecting the behavior of rowdy Congress MLAs- Sreeram singing his lungs out in Indian Idol and Akshara's mother-in-law's twitchy smile. 
The day we got our new TV home I was secretly pleased coz I felt we would be able to get a theatre-like experience right at home. No more queues for popcorn, smelly upholstery and the disappointment of non-reclining chairs when you paid in full. We would save a neat amount, I thought.
Little did I know what I was in for.
This urge to constantly change channels as though you are sprinting at high speed through the maze of the TV seems born of the desire to do so much more, in so little time.
Now if only they'd invent an App to clone us to finish the millions of tasks that a homemaker does, in half the time!