For the longest of time (read seven years), I managed to keep aloof of the euphoria that is GoT. Despite friends, cousins and family imploring me to watch ‘just one-episode to get hooked’, I held out for as long as I could.
Until, the summer of 2018, that is- when I found myself ‘out-of-action’ and basically bundled onto a bed for a couple of months. It was troublesome for me, having a leg encased in an uncomfortable and itchy cast, perched up on pillows, sitting/lying and watching the world go by… without me.
And that’s when I bit the bullet as it were, and watched that very first episode of season 1. As Bran says in the end to Jon, I too think I was exactly where I was supposed to be- watching it! 🙂 Before I realized, I was waiting for winter too (quite literally, it was a hot summer, after all).
My life got engulfed by the lovable Starks, the scheming Lannisters, the Stallion worshiper Dothrakis, the Targaryens, Castle Black, the un-dead White Walkers and the heads of numerous Lords and Graces flying in the air. Quite gory, one would say, but, hey, all is fair in love and the ‘Iron Throne’. 😉
GoT of course didn’t change my life in any way but provided terrific entertainment when I needed it the most. The fantasy-political drama with witty and cunning characters of RR Martin was my escape, a holiday of a sort, right from my bed.
There is a plethora of good TV series out there. However, it was Breaking Bad (2008-2013) that first broke all records for the greatest television of all time. One of the first series that I binge watched, it was hard not to sympathise with the high-school chemistry teacher turned meth maker Walter White (dying of lung cancer). Cooking meth from an RV ‘The Krystal ship’ along with his student Jesse, the trajectory of Walter going from a meek teacher to being Heisenberg, a drug producer was bewitching. I used to be riveted to the edge of my seat every time his DEA brother-in-law Hank, the local gangs or the cartels came calling him.
And then, Game of Thrones. Ironically, after eight seasons, there is no throne left to sit on. Very much like in my life where nothing is permanent. Not the lowliest of the lows or the highest of the highs- everything is fluid and transient.
It is, alas time to bid adieu to the kingdom of Westeros.
But, here is another summer, full of unending possibilities.
-Tamanna S. Mehdi
Here and There