Postulate

Does everybody in India keep their headlights on high beams permanently, because they've been taught "high" is always better than "low"? Exam grades, grooms' height, sons-in-law's pay scales, sons' houses - why, even cholesterol, blood pressure, and blood sugar - the higher they are, more sympathetic the nods and noises you elicit from listeners. 

id est

Lookie how long its been!





Much like in real life, when meeting friends that I haven't met for a loooong time and have no clue about what's going on in their lives, I'll pretend that the hiatus never happened and pick the threads right up without it being awkward at all (!)*





So there's this Facebook thing called terribly tiny tales, which is a terribly interesting concept. The premise is that stories should be "tweet sized", so presumably around 140 characters long, I think (not being the most prolific of twatters)



And if you've read this blog earlier, I have dabbled in stories, but this seemed interesting. Just how short can a story be to be effective? A thirukkural length story perhaps.


And the best part of all this is that there's not much room to say anything, apart from the essentials. But what I deem essential, with my opinions and my outlook, might not be effective for everybody. Take this, for example, something to convey a couple's desperation to meet:





"They shared a love for foie gras,

  but met at McDonalds."




"He met her at McDonalds;

 they ordered the salad."




What would I expect the story to convey? That they had a taste for the finer things in life, but still met at McDonalds. This would necessarily imply that people who like foie gras do not like McDonalds. Is that true? I couldn't possibly say. The second example demands that people see the irony in going to McDonalds for a salad. Am I just a bit rubbish at concision? Or generally rubbish? 





If I had a 140 character limit, what'd that be like?

"Mangalyam Tantunanena...", he mumbled, repeating after the vadhiyar, amidst the cacophony, as he fingered the silver cross around his neck.




"Rombo chellama irundhutta, she might be reluctant to awaken in the mornings. you should give her some time..", he said, handing the keys over
"

Better, if only marginally. Creates a context and all. Eh? But quite a lot longer than 140 characters. 

Around here's where you're probably expecting a conclusion to this post. Unfortunately, I couldn't be bothered, so there's none. Life is stern and life is earnest and you can't always get what you want. I felt like a burrito today but couldn't have one. 



* (!) is what the BBC marks sarcasm in its subtitles. If its good enough for the beeb, its good enough for me. 

Postulate

People who are always in a hurry on the road - tooting incessantly and flashing their headlights and generally making obnoxious prats out of themselves - They almost always seem to be in cars that were acquired with a head-over-heart decision, with one purpose in mind: to get them from A to B, sometimes even C. I'm sure they do it admirably, but like I've pointed out in the past, they're little more than household appliances.

I wonder, then, if they're in a raging hurry because they're reminded of the joy they could have had if they'd put their priorities right and decided that whilst getting to B is important, it's also important to enjoy the drive there. C'est, don't they say, la vie?