Rajat Kapur made a movie called Mixed Doubles a few years ago that dealt with wife / couple swapping or what in popular parlance is called Swinging! How true! Swing from one partner to another! Of course he gave it a desi touch with the couple not being able to go ahead with the whole thing on the said night. (I kinda like such desi happy endings! they keep complications out!). Around the same time I ended up watching a similar themed Hollywood movie, whose name I don't remember now! The husband there has been wanting to spice up their lives by swapping with his best friend and his wife for whom he has always had some hots! With all the begging, pleading and logical(??) reasoning the wife gets convinced.
On the D Day the hubby cannot go through with it and the wife does, if only to keep her of the bargain. The rest of the movie is about how the whole world goes topsy turvy when he has the gall to blame her for infidelity! Geez!
I wonder what makes couples want to this? In a way is it more 'honest' that closet affairs and one night stands? Whatever it is, its not a sign of a healthy relationship!
But that's not the kind of swinging I wanted to talk about! I just want to talk about the good ol' play swing aka as jhoola in Hindi and jhopala in Marathi! :D
I just LOVE the swing! I don't remember when did this fascination start, but it has never ended. I guess it was when i was in school and went to Ichalkaranji and Kolhapur for my summer vacations. Being in Bombay with hardly any parks in the vicinity, jhoola was a not a common thing! I remember the parks being full of kids in summer and having to wait endlessly to get a turn on the swing. Sometimes we had fights too if someone stayed on for too long!
Finally you got your turn. You sit gingerly on the swing as if to test its height and strength. Then you take it all the way back till your legs are straight and it's just your toes touching the ground! All set and you let go with your legs folding under! Up and above! You come down and push your legs back again to get the speed and height you desire! Take it higher than ever before and actually enjoying the feeling of your stomach turning and churning as the swing goes down from its l'il flight fighting gravity! It was your very own sasta and tikau roller coaster ride! :)
Even today I see a swing and temptation to just go and take a swing is just SO strong! I love it as I sit on one and take it higher than I ever could as a kid! The wind making my hair fly astray as my head moves back and forth with the jhoola, as if one with it! :)
There are many parks in Bangalore, but alas I am not a kid anymore. I did try at one close to our place, but the chowkidaar came running with a stick in his hand and loud whistle telling me to get off!! :( It was too embarrassing to try again. Not that it stops me from trying to grab a chance anyway!
So whenever I go to nice big colonies with a kiddy play area, i make the most of the opportunity! Hehe! Just the other day when we went to Corner House at Hotel Airline at 11pm. The place has a kiddy area outside. Everyone was sitting on jhoolas and see saws and enjoying their ice creams. M tol me to go and take a swing! :) I don't know why I said no. By the time we finished the divine Cake A Mocha both the jhoolas were empty (there was a cute couple enjoying PDA on one of the swings) and I just couldn't resist myself!
What a feeling it was! Yet again! God bless the person who invented this thing!! :p
Am hoping to teach Cubby the fun of it someday soon! Right now he just cries on swings and slides! :)
So if you see an old, fat woman going crazy on a swing, stop by and say hello! :D
22 comments:
Me too! me too! Count me in! I totally totally lvoe swings!!
The chowkidar incident happened with me too when we took Betu to Childrens park here in Delhi near India gate. I kept swinging for a while saying "Bhaiyya jhoola rukne mein time to lagega na!" :D
gosh, the things one forgets !!! airline hotel hd totally slipped my mind all these years, but when growing up we loved going there, and the parents loved taking us too. once food etc was ordered we wld be out of their hair for the entire time. loved the place before it became popular because u cld sit there for hours with no one trying to run u off !!! at that time they didnt have the corner house there, just a small parlour selling the most amazing hot chocolate fudge icecream. i can still drool thinking of this :(
/p
I love swings too. Thankfully here in the US, esp where we live there are so many parks that swings are often empty...and there is a park with swings right behind my house - so I can go swing any time. Though my problem is if I get on it, KB will want to and when I go on week days I can't run behind KG who wants to crawl or be let down and also push KB. So I just keep him happy in the slide area and avoid the swings...
And this whole swinging thing with partners - I always read about it - but I feel as if it is fiction because I have never known of anyone like that...not even hear say about a person in particular...does it happen much in India? Gosh can't imagine how they feel later when they meet casually with children etc...
OOiii maa, I almost fainted with shock before I reached the "real" blog post. It didn't seem a lot like a CubbyR-friendly post to start with... Guess you are back to using the same tactics that got you thrown out of MS. Attractive titles!
Did you mention those amazing swings we saw at Chandigarh? Now that was some solid romantic sh**. Wonder if there's a pic of that somewhere...
~nm - hehe!! next time i will also sue the same trick!! only thing is he wont understand what i am saying! :p
cp - awwww! you really miss bangalore so much even now!! funnily i have never eaten at Airport Hotel! by the look of it from outside it doesnt even look as if its still functional! but it apparently is! so will try eating there one of these days!! :)
noon - well you can someday soon hopefully!! all three of you in a row!!! :D
and yeah the whole partner swapping is indeed weird! even i havent met any real life couples like that! how would you know even if you have! though i am quite sure it happens in India too! its one of those things some people might actually think is uber cool to do!! :(
V - thrown out of MS??!! i walked out!! helloo!! and Cubby doesnt have to read everything i write!! :p
yeah those jhoolas in Chandigarh wear awesome! the asli ones! long rope from a huge tree top! and sardar couples swinging together! bloody brilliant, i say!!
cheers!
abha
Loved the title and the intro! ;)Unfortunately, I suffer from severe vertigo and swings are not my cup of tea/coffee/numbu paani :(
wow! I love swings too.The moment we come across one, my hubby points it out to me. He has even taken a video of me swinging ( on a swing!), once in France. Just recently I came across a BIG swing at the beach resort we had been to and made full use of it. I really love them since my childhood and I really liked the way you have described the way we swing on it.....
I love the swings too. But I feel it is a gross injustice to use the kids' swings with my present weight. So, I gracefully stay away from it, and there is no chowkidar threatening me, as simple as that.
As far as Mixed Doubles is concerned, Konkana Sen, the reluctant wife does end up doing her bit with Rajat, and that is exactly what makes the husband pissed off. Though this one ended at their starting off with the mundane daily activities next morning and leaving it to the viewer's imagination as to how their relationship will proceed from there on.
MM - awwwww! thats too bad! that means no roller coasters either??!! shucks! ok! i am just being mean!! dont matter really! :)
aargee - loong time, then see!! :) arre waah you have international swinging experience!! :D which beach resort?? tell tell! me will also go!!
manpreet - oh trust me!! those swings are quite strong!! or so i like to tell meself!! :p
and does Konkona Sen go ahead?? no finally they just end up talking, right?! maybe i have forgotten!!
cheers!
abha
Ooh I love swings where you can swing- not the other one. I just cannot fathom swings of the other kind .
What old fat woman? Where? Didnt see her when we met.
Anyway, I will never ever dare to get my butt on a swing. What if the entire contraption collapses on me? The humiliation.
mamamia sweetheart.. i loveee swingsss n i always used to like totally respect those unique kids who could get over the bar, twirl all the way above and come back to position. never tried it though :(
heeee,, small kids cry on swings cos it does get a lil' nauseating.. but once they really start enjoying it, well no way we can them outta the play area!!
well, when i do spot ya, i'l come down n we shall go for a swing.. (not with our respective husbands though.. nahhhhh.. i'm not as pretty as konkana sen;)- nutin to worry ;););))
lots of love to cubby!:):)
EL - glad to know me not the only one! for noth... loving swings and finding the other kind unfathomable!! :)
Kiran - geez!! YOU have the gall to call yourself fat and try and reassure me i am not!! hehe!! the day i get as thin as you, me will be very happy and hop even on baby swings!! :p
RRRjane - in any case cubby is too small!! he shall enjoy it someday!! :)
as for you not being as pretty as konkona, well, M aint no Rajat Kapur either!! and me, i am NOT at all like Koel puri!! so we are all safe!! hehe!
Cheers!
abha
Not seen Mixed Doubles but swingers club does sound interesting lol!
I love swings as well... in fact I love all the rides. I am the most enthusiastic one when we go to any of these parks... In HongKong my hubby and kids sat and watched while I went up and down on that great drop hehehe...
But yes, swings are the best, sast and tikau :D
WIAN - next time you come to bangalore, lets go Wonder la and keep going up and down on the roller coasters!
cheers!
abha
The tantalizing title was so misleading Abha.
Che! Kya expect kiya aur kya mila!! Jhoola!!
Oh and you are tagged :)
I think we all get tempted by the jhullas na. I remember when I was a kid, my parents made it a point to take us to the park every weekend. I loved those days.
And now, we are searching for a park, which is clean, devoid of drunken people, canoodling couples and unemployed tanagers just lounging around. And most important, enough swings for the hundreds and hundreds of kids who come there.
sometimes I wish we were in US, at least they had good parks nearby. That’s what I think, don’t know...
sasta and tikau roller coaster ride! :)
My my....its hilarious!!!
But beware as vidooshak correctly said not a CubbyR friendly post indeed.
LOL on the swingers connection! I love swinging.. the jhoola.. I meant.. I am not supposed to sit on one here either, but if the park is empty and not many people around, I do end up swinging..
LOL on ~nm's comment..
lucy - i am a chhote bacche ki sharif maa!! what did ya expect!! will take up the secretive tag soon! :D
lijy - just ignore all those silly people and let jason enjoy at the park!! :) hope you find a betta park soon!
faiyaz - cubby friendly post... well it will be at some age!! so its okie! hehe!!
ddmom - hehe! its more fun when you do something you are NOT supposed to, aint it??!! :p
cheers!
abha
Did a double take when I saw the title and the first para :) Was wondering what shocker you were going to come up with. Have just been drooling over Cute Cubby's pics from your older posts...
poppin M - did ya think dekh ke toh kaafi simple aur boring type ki lagi thi!! hehe!! and now that you have seen Cubby i guess you wont mind if he has roving eyes for Poppin??!! hehe!
cheers!
abha
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