I owe this song to Stephen Sen, an old friend from college. I never tired of hearing him sing it so seriously while we around him will be cracking up. He has been kind enough to send me the lyrics as best as he can remember and I managed to track down another version of the same sung by the Ozarks, and completed it. The song is sung in a waltzish kind of meter and the ... signifies a significant pause to let the person imagine the next word. Stephen Sen take a bow.
There was a young farmer who lived by the pool.
A handsome young farmer who played with his....
marbles in springtime with the lady next door.
You could tell by her movements that she was a ....
charming young lady who walked like a duck.
She said she had found out a new way to ....
educate her children to sew and to knit,
the handsome young farmer, he pulled at her...
horses and carriages to go for a hunt
While the charming young lady was washing her...
linen in buckets and laying them on the grass
And if you don’t like this story you can kiss my…
Daughter in the parlor she’s winding the clock
And tying gay ribbons all around her…
Pussy cat, pusst cat and same as before
If you don’t like my story I’ll tell it no more.
Friday, January 18, 2008
Monday, January 07, 2008
Thursday, January 03, 2008
Normal is boring
Everyone has a muse. It could be as simple as a movie that changed your life, or a song that sang your life with its words.
For me it was a wristband. And one that I consumed large amounts of aerated drinks to get. 7up to be precise.
Circa 1989, Venue: Ambala.
The object of my desire was a 'Fido Didi' wristband. Newly launched because 7up was newly launched too. It took me 7 sittings in 7 weeks (my pocketmoney was meager, I was in 9th standard after all) to save up the money to get myself a 'Fido Dido', self strapping wristband. And I had to wait 2 weeks to get it.
It was an unassuming little band of metal covered with plastic, that wrapped itself around your wrist (magical in the Rajiv Gandhi era of India), when you hit your wrist with it. And the thing that influenced me the most was the slogan that said (headline - for the rest of you who've been corrupted by advertising) "Normal is boring".
I took it as a mission statement. The rest of my life has been a quest to support that line on a wristband. And I thank it for what I become. (Or blame it, depending on which part of the fence you sit on).
After all, what chance has a Mallu boy, born in Rohtak to a Cop, brought up by Jats, who studied for most of his life in Haryana, (Excluding a few years in Lawrence, Sanawar) to make it to "St. Stephen's " in Delhi and finally in a dog-eat-dog world like advertising, to make it to where I am today.
Am I showing off?
Maybe I have a right to. Raise your hands, you who changed 12 schools, had no friends, was lonely enough to climb trees for entertainment, didn't have a 'He-Man' toy until college where he bought it so he could set his mind at rest, had too look up 'vela' and 'arbit' in dictionaries that didn't have it, just to speak the lingo, and had to pretend that his torn jeans were 'fashionable'. (Luckily they were)
I love Fido Dido. I still believe 'Normal is boring'. And I have 7up to thank for it.
Thought I hate the shitty thing.
For me it was a wristband. And one that I consumed large amounts of aerated drinks to get. 7up to be precise.
Circa 1989, Venue: Ambala.
The object of my desire was a 'Fido Didi' wristband. Newly launched because 7up was newly launched too. It took me 7 sittings in 7 weeks (my pocketmoney was meager, I was in 9th standard after all) to save up the money to get myself a 'Fido Dido', self strapping wristband. And I had to wait 2 weeks to get it.
It was an unassuming little band of metal covered with plastic, that wrapped itself around your wrist (magical in the Rajiv Gandhi era of India), when you hit your wrist with it. And the thing that influenced me the most was the slogan that said (headline - for the rest of you who've been corrupted by advertising) "Normal is boring".
I took it as a mission statement. The rest of my life has been a quest to support that line on a wristband. And I thank it for what I become. (Or blame it, depending on which part of the fence you sit on).
After all, what chance has a Mallu boy, born in Rohtak to a Cop, brought up by Jats, who studied for most of his life in Haryana, (Excluding a few years in Lawrence, Sanawar) to make it to "St. Stephen's " in Delhi and finally in a dog-eat-dog world like advertising, to make it to where I am today.
Am I showing off?
Maybe I have a right to. Raise your hands, you who changed 12 schools, had no friends, was lonely enough to climb trees for entertainment, didn't have a 'He-Man' toy until college where he bought it so he could set his mind at rest, had too look up 'vela' and 'arbit' in dictionaries that didn't have it, just to speak the lingo, and had to pretend that his torn jeans were 'fashionable'. (Luckily they were)
I love Fido Dido. I still believe 'Normal is boring'. And I have 7up to thank for it.
Thought I hate the shitty thing.
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