Another Drug On the Block
I’ve grown up watching Pakistani drama serials. During my childhood, I was introduced to the senselessly edited (eighteen different camera angles for one reaction shot? C’mon!), utterly unrealistic (she’s dead! No, she’s alive! No, she’s been reincarnated! She’s left the show! Wait, she’s come back. Wait, that’s not her, that’s some other actress. Oh! She had a plastic surgery done, get it? Get it?) and OTT Indian soap operas. And what was surprising was that they never seemed to stop running, and even better, all the people ran with them and never seemed to get tired of watching them. But the biggest and most addictive discovery – for me - was that of English drama serials. I never knew they made dramas in English that had seasons... and that they had a gap of a real season before their next season began.
A friend of mine introduced me to the culture of American TV shows… right before my Board exams. Bad timing, right? I watched two or three episodes of a science fiction serial daily. I found myself unable to control the urge to watch more; it was my new drug and I needed a daily hit to be able to go through the days. So I ended up watching the whole first season of that serial within a week. The desire to know what was going to happen next kept me glued to the screen at the cost of my studies (damn you, cliffhangers!) THAT was the effect of this drug. (I still got good marks, though).
That was my first serial. But as time passed, I started discovering all kinds of genres which included comedy, drama, action, thriller and science-fiction dominating the choice. And what’s fascinating is that these serials cater to people of every age group. English serials have everything for everyone; children having their own picks to choose from while teenagers and pre-adults dominate this seasonal culture.
The TV channels that air these seasons are not available on Pakistani cable, usually. But worry not; the pirate ships sail to us through the Internet and unload their treasures on various websites, which stream these serials online, or can be downloaded. Also, the pirates have their various outlets here in the form of DVD stores. Thus I’m sure that the pocket-money of many high-school and university students is bound to end up in the pockets of these pirates when they buy Prison Break, Vampire Diaries, Heroes, Gossip Girl, Kyle XY and all the cult shows that seem to gobble up our time, and mind too.
Not that I’m complaining.
They are awesome, juicy, thrilling, give adrenaline rushes, are addictive and make our day. Our lives are incomplete without them. And when we don’t watch them, we’re stuck with the thoughts of the mystery they hold, the curiosity to find out what’s in the next episode and the next one… and the next one, and this train of questions and thoughts never seems to end. They have become a part of our lives. We cry with these characters, we laugh with them, their sorrow is ours and their happiness gives us bliss (a very superficial one, but still). And besides, we HAVE to pass our time somehow, so what better way is there than to know what’s going to happen to our favorite characters?
Besides, their lives are way better than those characters in Indian soaps who die and leave their vengeful, mean, and tacky relatives (that our old aunties love) behind, but a few days later it turns out that it was actually a look-alike that died and the relatives try to get the real one murdered too.
Too much plotting spoils the plot, I say. So for those of you addicted to Indian soaps, cross over to the Western side. It’s a guilty pleasure, sure, but we love these shows nonetheless.
A friend of mine introduced me to the culture of American TV shows… right before my Board exams. Bad timing, right? I watched two or three episodes of a science fiction serial daily. I found myself unable to control the urge to watch more; it was my new drug and I needed a daily hit to be able to go through the days. So I ended up watching the whole first season of that serial within a week. The desire to know what was going to happen next kept me glued to the screen at the cost of my studies (damn you, cliffhangers!) THAT was the effect of this drug. (I still got good marks, though).
That was my first serial. But as time passed, I started discovering all kinds of genres which included comedy, drama, action, thriller and science-fiction dominating the choice. And what’s fascinating is that these serials cater to people of every age group. English serials have everything for everyone; children having their own picks to choose from while teenagers and pre-adults dominate this seasonal culture.
The TV channels that air these seasons are not available on Pakistani cable, usually. But worry not; the pirate ships sail to us through the Internet and unload their treasures on various websites, which stream these serials online, or can be downloaded. Also, the pirates have their various outlets here in the form of DVD stores. Thus I’m sure that the pocket-money of many high-school and university students is bound to end up in the pockets of these pirates when they buy Prison Break, Vampire Diaries, Heroes, Gossip Girl, Kyle XY and all the cult shows that seem to gobble up our time, and mind too.
Not that I’m complaining.
They are awesome, juicy, thrilling, give adrenaline rushes, are addictive and make our day. Our lives are incomplete without them. And when we don’t watch them, we’re stuck with the thoughts of the mystery they hold, the curiosity to find out what’s in the next episode and the next one… and the next one, and this train of questions and thoughts never seems to end. They have become a part of our lives. We cry with these characters, we laugh with them, their sorrow is ours and their happiness gives us bliss (a very superficial one, but still). And besides, we HAVE to pass our time somehow, so what better way is there than to know what’s going to happen to our favorite characters?
Besides, their lives are way better than those characters in Indian soaps who die and leave their vengeful, mean, and tacky relatives (that our old aunties love) behind, but a few days later it turns out that it was actually a look-alike that died and the relatives try to get the real one murdered too.
Too much plotting spoils the plot, I say. So for those of you addicted to Indian soaps, cross over to the Western side. It’s a guilty pleasure, sure, but we love these shows nonetheless.