CHRIS N TELL.. IS HUGGING BUGGING? PART 2

LOCALE2:
At the CUPPA (Our coffeehouse)- with FIZZA, TOBY, VODKA and ME(Mocha)

MOCHA: So girls what do you think of hugs and kisses?
TOBY: The first thing that comes to mind when you talk of kisses are obviously those little, ymmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmy, delicious, mouth-watering, tongue tickling Hershey’s Kisses Chocolates. Every little bite-sized chocolate is like a rung in the ladder to heaven. (And she looks so dazed)

VODKA: For a minuter, you got me there. I really thought we were finally getting to see the real, romantic side inside you, accompanied by a detailed explanation of delicate little kisses. Alas! Anyways, I absolutely adore Hershey’s Kisses, but those wouldn’t be the first on my mind when I think of ‘hugs and kisses’. Hugs and kisses could only epitomize the feelings associated with the one man I truly love. …
FIZZA: And that is?????
VODKA: Ma dad ofcourse. No man or even woman for that matter has made me want to feel like kissing or hugging. Ofcourse, do read into what I just said. No man has, that is, up till now. However, I’m not saying that I would really mind if there is that someone who could stand on par with, if not top Dad.[;)]

FIZZA: Aww… Do you need a hug now? I think you deserve one(very characteristic of Fizza, who loves hugging people at the slightest hint of a chance).
VODKA: Hmm, Sure- but not before you tell us what hugs and kisses bring to your mind. (Vodka has strong escapist tendencies).
FIZZA: Hugs and kisses are absolutely essential physical expressions of love. Holding hands, small pecks and hugs are important contributors to a good relationship. So I think of ma best friends, most recent crushes [;)], mom and dad when I think of hugs and kisses. So Mocha, you the only one left. (Fizza goes hugs Vodka to substantiate her point by going over and hugging a slightly reluctant Vodka)

MOCHA: Am I the only one who thinks hugs and kisses are the best means of foreplay?
TOBY/VODKA/FIZZA: YES!!! (Everyone rolling eyes)
VODKA: Hugs n Kisses would also probably call to mind major scandalizing kisses made public- like the Shilpa Shetty- Richard Gere lip lock and the infamous Mika-Rakhi kiss that totally grossed us out.
TOBY: Yeah, the Shahid-Kareena mms and from a local standpoint, the Nayantara-Simbu kisses as well. Do you notice a disturbing trend there??
MOCHA: Absolutely wonderful PR that literally licks the stinking floor to garner great, yet pathetically cheap publicity.
FIZZA: That’s the big, bad, banging media in your face people! …..

Toby, Vodka n Fizza leave after a while, not before exchanging banal gossip and Huge HUGS!

I think to myself: Hugs and kisses evoke mixed feelings in most people. Whilst most of us love to luxuriate in hugging and kissing among near and dear ones, I wonder how many people are actually comfortable about themselves or others doing the same publicly.

No matter how broad-minded our mind spaces get, or how many ‘sex and the city’ sitcoms we savagely indulge in- when we have either a lesbian couple cooing in a nearby diwan at ‘Mocha’(a popular Chennai hangout) or a gorgeous couple hugging/pawing/petting each other to glory, squirming in our seats is a slam dunk!

These coupling sights not only lead us to ‘making big eyes’ at each other, but also provide for perfect gossip-fodder to friends, friends of friends and to the world at large.

In reality, are we intimated by the openness and sheer indifference of these extremely open people? Do we talk about a Shilpa Shetty-Richard Gere kiss or about that gorgeous couple eating out of each other’s hands (literally) because it is such a hyped up thing, a thing that family/society bars us from doing, a thing we CAN NEVER do?

Are there any double standards involved here? In truth, while we graciously and extravagantly scorn at public displays of affection/ scandalizing actions involving celebrities, do we need all that adrenaline pumping hype to save us from our droning, mundane lives? Is the media feeding us those extravagant doses of the Ash-Abhi wedding because we’re ‘loving it’? Ofcourse!
Movies, Entertainment Channels, Magazines all echo the same thought. The masala is the perfect accomplice for those rising TRP’s and sky rocketing sales. How else would a Deccan Chronicle hold a candle to the revered, seasoned news daily like ‘The Hindu’, and sell like hot cakes simultaneously. Are the Mirchi Masala entertainment mills scoring brownie points with the mass at large, in spite of spewing controversies alongside?
Ultimately, everyone is making hay while the sun shines-the media is like Jack who mounted the mercurial TRP’s and circulation beanstalk, the celebrities and ‘reality show heroes’ are gorging on the tremendous publicity, and we aren’t even a few inches behind. We keep the rumor mills abuzz and bask in all the hype. We are probably what keep all the hugging and kissing flying high.

So, let us keep those gossip mills spinning enough silk for a million kancheepuram saris! Each of us is an indomitable stockholder of a million dollar ‘lip smacking’ industry. Let us play the blame game, mollycoddle the hype and marry into the vicious circle- for we can not but help being a part of the ‘vicious circle’.

Every hug we exchange forms a circle. We kiss with rounded, pursed lips. Hence, living in vicious circles would not be bad after all.

POLITICALLY INCORRECT..

CHRIS (KISS) N TELL! IS HUGGING BUGGING?

Prologue:

1) How are we here today?? Procreation and making babies over the centuries would be the appropriate answer to that. However, a greater proportion of two people (or more ;)) do not jump the gun and jump into bed without the initial hugging and kissing.
2) So most babies are born as a progressive assimilation of all those hugs and kisses.

3)Conversely, do hugs and kisses between people of the opposite sexes ultimately lead to the bed/ babies.


So my first real post: Hugs n kisses!

Rocksta just exited CUPPA for his guitar lessons. He also leaves me deep-seated in the Carol Bolton Sofa and my funny, fuzzy thoughts, after our ‘Over a cuppa coffee’ conversation about the steamy Richard Gere-Shilpa Shetty kiss/hug.

THE CUPPA CONVERSATION TODAY:

'DO HUGS AND KISSES BETWEEN PEOPLE OF THE OPPOSITE SEX HAVE A NEGATIVE CONNOTATION IN SOUTH ASIAN COUNTRIES? '

Lets talk about it at various locales, with contributions from various people.

LOCALE 1: April 2007-

Event: Parachute jump, Normandy, France.
Purpose: Fund-raising for the victims of the devastating earthquake that struck Pakistan in October 2005.
Main People involved: Ms. Nilofer Bakhtiar, Pakistan’s Tourism Minister & Frenchman-Plane pilot.
Problem posed: Ms. Nilofer after the jump hugged her French plane pilot, pictures of the ‘hug’/ ‘pat’ were splashed across Pakistani newspapers thereby, and the Islamic clerics at Islamabad's Red Mosque were enraged and issued a Fatwa against hugs and Nilofer Bakhtiar, along with an edict, asking her to be dismissed from her post.

This is what she said:
Abt parajumping:
“I did it for a good cause. I did not have any practice of parajumping. I thought it was brave on my part. In fact I am very proud of what I did, and if given the chance would do it again.”
Abt the hug:
‘It was just a pat -because he (FRENCH plane pilot) felt so proud of me, I felt very happy also because it was affectionate and very encouraging."



My rendition of the interpretation of the above Para by the die hard clerics:
WAT SHE SAID: "I did it for a good cause"
WAT THEY UNDERSTOOD:"She did it for a great cause- for spitting on Pakistani morals/religious sentiments. "

WAT SHE SAID:"I did not have any practice of parajumping."

WAT THEY UNDERTOOD:“She did not have any practice of jumping- only leaping into white skinned stranger’s embraces.”

WAT SHE SAID: ''I thought it was brave on my part.''
WAT THEY UNDERSTOOD:“She thought it was very brave on her part- very well, we hope she would be even braver when slapped with an edict(legal command), requiring her to be dismissed from her position as minister.”

WAT SHE SAID: "In fact I am very proud of what I did, and if given the chance would do it again.”
WAT THEY UNDERSTOOD:“Infact, she is so proud after having done the ‘parajumping fall’ that she totally reverses the famous saying ‘pride comes before the fall.”
(hahaha- gud 1 ryte;))

WAT SHE SAID: "It was just a pat.''
WAT THEY UNDERSTOOD: “It was just a pat eh??? Well we have a brain-teaser for you: What’s the hairline difference between a pat and a hug???? The answer- Nilofer Bakhtiar ofcourse. On second thoughts, that’s a huge difference, she’s quite a big woman.”

WAT SHE SAID: ''I felt very happy also because it was affectionate and very encouraging."

WAT THEY UNDERSTOOD: “Finally we know how very happy she really must have felt after all the ‘affection’ that was showered upon her. And what an encouragement to the nation- every time u want to help earthquake victims, all you have 2 do is fall into a French Pilot’s arms(oops sorry, fall from his plane, from near his COCKPIT) and give him a BIGGGG HUGGG after(oops PAT).”

So that was locale 1- how Hugging in hugged in Pakistan. Locale 2 will kiss you soon.

Do comment on my take on what the Islamic clerics read into Nilofer’s lines!!!