Of proper countenance...

It’s an extraordinarily rainy Sunday in Mumbai. Well, it has been water and more water all through the weekend. Of course, it being a Sunday, things are much less painful as one can comfortably lounge at home and not brave the rain at all. My activities since morning have been on similar lines – lying around joblessly, eating, cursing the Mumbai infrastructure, and aimlessly flipping through TV channels.

Here is where a news channel caught my attention. Not that there was any revelation, but it made me wonder how the news anchor was right there, looking as prim and proper as one can be, her countenance not reflecting a sign of the pathetically gloomy, and gloomily pathetic, weather outside. I do not intend to say that this is the only profession which requires your unconditional presence, but the enormous amount of pressure a news anchor must face has struck me in the past as well.

Now, I work in an industry which, most people would agree, is extremely demanding both in terms of the hours and, on more than a few occasions, the pressure as well. In office, I am used to watching Business news anchors tirelessly dole out news, interviews, analysis – all while looking good at the same time.

These are times when I cherish that, in all but a few moments, the only audience to my face is some lifeless excel sheet. Imagine the abandon my facial muscles enjoy. At most times, I can afford not to care if my eyes look groggy, or my lower lip is hanging pointlessly, or my palm has sunk too deep into my cheek. At, more or less, all times, I can, all of a sudden, decide to get up and get myself a cup of coffee.

How do the Shereens, the Sonia Shenoys, the Mitali Mukherjees look so damn perfect, all smiles, all interested in what they are saying and listening to, all the time? (Equal due to the guys too, but I choose the names I like to write!)Yes, they do have their off-screen time. But, as far as I believe, most of them hardly even have a complete Sunday off. And really, these HD screens only exaggerate the flaws – hell, I would probably see a 10-day old mosquito bite, or a lipstick gone astray by a millimeter. I do look very closely. True.

Well, limelight does come at a price. What comes for free? - The joy of typing away, lying on an untidy bed, in the most contorted of positions, with one’s laptop resting firmly on one’s belly. Happy, safe monsoon!