Wisewebwoman, who I call WWW, has this very entertaining post No No Days in her blog.
We exchanged comment and response as follows.
Me: Every day is a no no day for me WWW! You will inevitably find me at home in my lungi and vest and quite content. The world comes to me and I am unapologetic about that life style. I find it tedious to dress up and go out!
WWW: Ramana: I doubt if you do nothing as in don’t read or talk or exercise or cook or write…..
Me: You are quite right. That would be impossible. What I do do is what we call timepass here!
That exchange triggered off this post.
There was a time when I used to travel by train to and from Bombay by train. One of the endearing memories of those trips was how one vendor used to board the train at one of the stops to sell roasted and salted peanuts by muttering to attract the attention of dozing commuters – “Timepass, timepass, chana phalli, timepass.” The chana phalli was Hindi for roasted chickpeas and peanuts. I used to be bemused by his calling that consumption as timepass.
Timepass is so commonly used by us in our everyday conversations that I cannot imagine a day when I do not use it in some conversation or the other, mostly as a response to questions on the telephone as to what I was doing.
To come back to WWW’s post, I don’t have to cook except when our help plays truant and that too now a days, I prefer to either send for something or the other from one of the restaurants that are conveniently located in our neighbourhood and who deliver at home, or less often, simply go out to one of them to eat. Since I eat only one cooked meal a day, I do not have to reheat anything unless there is a lot of leftovers from some party that we had had the previous day.
Since that one bit goes off the list, I do not work up a sweat at all over the things I do for timepass. Reading newspapers, solving crossword puzzles, internetting, reading books, watching movies on DVD, answering phone calls and chatting with the odd visitor. And most importantly, the post lunch siesta is timepass of the best kind. Time passes so fast that I really get very tired by evening and sleep very well in the night.
The only exception to the no sweat lifestyle is my exercise routine of an hour every day, but on my no no days, that one hour is usually spent on some other more important activity.
I hope that I do not get any creases on my face and manage to look after myself till I pop off, but I don’t want to live to be 95! If anything, I am ready to go now without any regrets whatsoever.