I would like to meet the person who has invented break-time in the TV world. I’d send him/her flowers or maybe just go up to them and give a congratulatory pat on the back. It is one of the best things that ever happened to the TV, since TV.

 For without breaks – the dish on the stove would have got burnt for lack of stirring for the past 10 whole minutes. If not for them – family members would have never caught up with each other’s day and stealthily change the channel to the one of their choice. Thanks to breaks you get tomorrow’s preview of your favourite serial and you can better plan your allegiances to the dance contest or the talent show. I personally found it most useful whenever I watch horror movies alone at night. It is nail-biting moment when the heroine is backing up against the wall pensively looking to her left and right. Suddenly the white eyeballed vampire juts his long sharp nails through the wall and around her neck. At the precise moment, your screams and her screams are muffled mercifully in the happy jingle of the coy wife who simply loves her husband’s irresistible inner wear.

Breaks are life savers – you get just the optimum time to get your heartbeat back to normal, make that long pending visit to the nearest rest room and get that bowl of popcorn for company for which they claim the ad was made in the first place. By extension – break-time gets ingrained into all spheres of life – showing how well rounded and applicable the concept is. At office, you don’t have to remind yourself to look far, near, up and down to counter that dry eye. Your body gets so used to the “break after 10 minutes” routine that you automatically get up, stretch your self, chat with your colleague across the cubicle wall and go back to your computer refreshed.

Even your friendly neighbourhood Bai signs off her day with a “See you same time, same place, after the break.” And you are rest assured that she will indeed turn up the next day. You can return missed calls, open the door for hubby waiting outside, paint your nails, water half the plants – the possibilities are endless. In fact, there’s cooperation from all quarters assisting you in the endeavor.

 There’s the story of this beggar who was about to knock at the door for a little meal. He was advised thus - “Wait for the break. You are more likely to get something from the lady of the house”. Needless to say he was suitably given the break-fast he wanted.

Filed under: Slice of Life