On occasion, every member of my family would watch a movie, a cartoon or any TV show together. Such times were often a result of spontaneity as against being a pre-planned event. That is pretty out of place for someone who advocates for being intentional. Thankfully, that changed as the years progressed. It became a tradition to look forward to. The kids were encouraged to join in deciding which movie to rent in the box office list. Many times, my husband would get popcorn and drinks to make it even more unforgettable.

Sometime last year, one of my younger sisters, Esther, and her adorable son came visiting for a few weeks. The same time every day, she would request that we allowed her watch an Indian series. We always obliged her; after all she was a guest in our home. Thing is, the rest of us went about doing other things, leaving her to watch the program all by herself.

All that changed one day, when my husband happened to be having dinner at the same time as when Esther was watching an episode of the series. He idly watched with her but later got fascinated by the story. They both invited me to join them. I laughed. I had watched a number of really interesting Indian movies but I had never watched a series before. The sheer thought of following a story episode after episode, was too much of a task for me. Many of the people I knew often got addicted and even anxious when following a series. I did not want to be as addicted as many were. Fortunately or unfortunately, after a couple of ‘invites’, I was sold.

My sister, my husband and I watched a couple of episodes together and in no time, the children joined in. The series ended a few weeks after we began watching. Then another very short series began to air in its place. We all watched that too. Now we had become followers. Then again, that series ended and another begun. And then another. This one was titled “Love, Oh love”. Besides the story line which I found absorbing, I began to cherish the very many meanings that accompanied watching the series. That specific TV time became more significant for me and every single member of my family. Sometimes, to make it even more interesting, we would record several episodes of the series for a week and then binge watch.

At as the time of this post, we have watched 81 episodes of the series. 1 hour of consistent family TV time has translated to us bonding in no small measure – we now have more frequent pep talks, engaging conversations, tête-à-têtes and many more opportunities for fun, sharing and learning.