Le Weekend - Cartoon Nostalgia et Indian Adventures

My sister unearthed a childhood treasure yesterday, from one of the many boxes of 'either unfiled goodies or stuff thats too useless for the house but that cant possibly be thrown away because in a couple of thousand light-years it may come in handy' in the garage.
A tape of "The Flintstones" that my Grandad had made for her when we were little.

And so, inevitably, Saturday was spent in the lounge watching episode after episode of the Hannah-Barbera classic, with the fire going, as outside it drizzled away. Hannah-Barbera cartoons are so great! The Flintstones, The Jetsons, Scooby-Doo, Topcat...and those are just some of the best. Its really creative how they can entertain adults and children alike, especially The Flintstones, having mature plot-lines sublty wrapped up in hilarious cartoonery.

My favourite cartoon of all time however, is Tom & Jerry, its a classic, no explanation needed. I watched it when i was 5, and i'll watch it when im 50.


So anyway, that was Saturday...
Today im in Watford at my cousins house. We've come here for the Navratri festival, will be going tonight.
Most of the morning flew by with mundane stuff like:
- getting up and ready
- eating
- getting here

After a gorgeous lunch of my mum and aunt's finest Indian cuisine (a variety of curries, basmati rice, hot buttery chappatis, lentil soup and home-made yoghurt), we went to a religious/social thing held by relatives from my mums, mums side of the family (as a pose to mums dads, or dads mums or dads dads side - Indian families are generally very large and close-knit. p.s. i stress 'generally').

Im always up for meeting people and sociallising but this event was a little testing:

- arrive and at first see no one your generation there

- greet various uncles and aunties (both actual and the people you just call uncles and aunties even though you hardly know them, just because your parents know them and thats just what we Indians do)

- go around the room doing this in a robotic fashion until you spot a cousin (and by cousin i mean cousin or cousin of cousin or parents cousins children - like i said, large families)

- spend 5 mins 'catching-up' until you run out of things to say

- move on to next cousin and repeat

- spot cousin that is generally interested in you and vice versa, talk, exchange numbers, vow to keep in contact from now on

- take up position in a corner or side of room

- sit and wait for boredom to set in

I always try my best to start conversations and keep them going but when people lack the ability to say anything more then "Hi, how are you? / Long time no see. / So what are you doing?" its just pointless.

So then there i am sitting on the side and i over-hear distant cousin X taunt distant cousin Y with "Haha! your wearing a bindi *stick tongue out* I havent got one"

How immature is that, ok fair enough if they were 5, but they are both in their 20s. I think people who are ashamed of their culture are really pathetic. And plus, bindis are really beautiful.

Okay, rant over. So, apres-ca, come back home (well, my cousins house, aka home number 2 - again, like i said, close-knit) and am forced to watch the Eastenders omnibus.

However, i actually enjoyed watching it. I stopped tuning in to the lives of the Albert Squarians slowly as the plot lines fizzled away into utter crap (NB - some may argue they still are) after Phil and Grant left but thought the cross fire with Chrissy, Peggy and Jonnny that ended Friday nights episode was hilarious. And im so glad the Mitchells are coming back. (Oops - sorry if you didnt know). So im going to start watching again. Maybe.

Anyway, i've gotta get ready for tonight,

Au revoir et merci,

Azuric