My strange Youtube weekend!

I am not known for being an idiot box addict, especially when I am in a situation where my roommate moved out and took the TV along with her and I havent bothered to think of buying a new one. It was Saturday afternoon and for some reason I thought of catching up on the latest in Indian television on Youtube. I was thinking more on the lines of bollywood gossip, some popular music videos or interesting interviews but my poor search abilities brought me in front of a serial called 'Choona hai Aasman' on Star One. The name sounded cliched and in spite of holding a preconceived notion of soaps on such channels, I clicked on the Play button.

It was the first episode on October 18th 2007 - the typical introduction episode where the heroine spoke of her family and dreams and the hero's entry was blown out of proportion. I thought of criticisms throughout the half hour and had a laugh at many scenes. The episode got over and Youtube innocently flashed the immediate next episode. Without thinking twice and with very little effort of my fingers, I played the next one and thought of extending my laughter for another few minutes. I repeated this gesture and the next time I looked at the time, it was 2 hours down the day! I looked at the mess in my apartment and the list of to dos for the weekend, but it was only Saturday and things could wait. I kept watching the same serial one after the other, ignoring phone calls and my hunger.

I had some commitments on Saturday night so I reluctantly went out, but the moment I was home, I started watching the serial again. I pretty much did the same thing on Sunday and this time the to do lists were simply ignored by my mind since there were no more excuses I could come up with. I was so captivated by Choona hai Aasman that I finally fell asleep at 2:30am on Sunday night after completing the last episode in December. Today on the first work day of the week, when lack of sleep is killing my motivation to work, I just want to rewind on why I gave up everything to spend my entire weekend on something I never thought of. Here are some possible reasons:-

1. Youtube's marketing strategy worked with me. When the next episode was right in front of me and was only a click away, why would I ever stop?!
2. The serial had a different theme. It was about airforce and not a love story.
3. The heroine's character was not that of a woman who cries and makes sacrifices like in all Indian soaps. She signified courage, determination, will power and a never say die attitude. Also, the hero was unbelievably good looking!
4. The whole concept of not having to watch any ads and not waiting till next day to reveal the suspense of the previous episode was the first I had experienced.
5. Addiction can come in forms other than cigarettes and alcohol.