Am I too old for Crushes??

I am currently reading 'White Teeth' by Zadies Smith. Ms. Smith is much celebrated writer and this was her debut novel which found much favor among the literary circle. I had picked her second book ‘On Beauty’ around a year back and started reading it, leaving it midway – not because it was boring or something, it’s just that I think I was not in the right frame of mind.

The first thing that strikes you about her is her uncanny beauty, dark piercing eyes, high cheekbones, and that caramel complexion thanks to her interracial parentage. Another striking thing about her is that her first novel White Teeth came when she was only twenty five. In today’s age, where anyone who knows how to string a few words together, and becomes an aspiring writer , I feel it’s a really big feat to get yourself published and get all that laurels.

I haven’t finished White Teeth and thereby I can’t write a formal review of the book ( Futile excercise I think, the book was published eight years ago). So why am I writing about her?? It’s because the book White Teeth- which was described as an Interracial tour the force, and which I thought would have to be dealing with Carrabian and English culture or amalgamation of it- is chiefly based on two couples: Bangladeshi couple and Jamaican English couple. I am close to half way through the book, and I can safely say that the main protagonists are Bangladeshi couple, unlike what I had surmised in the beginning.

Mian Samad and Alsana are two very unlike people and they share very few things other than their country of origin and the fact that they are married to each other. Now, coming to why I am writing about the book is a confession that I want to make.

Midway through the book, I realized how peculiar it is that the book is mirroring my feelings at present time. In the book, Mian Samad at the age of fifty seven is gripped by an intense infatuation- a desire which goes wrong against his faith, his standing, his age and his marital status- towards the music teacher of his twin sons in school. He repeatedly gets sexually aroused by mere thought of the teacher who he has met only for a few minutes in a PTA meeting. He can’t let her thought go, he is hard all the time and masturbation not being halal ( I don’t know the veracity of this) is in a continual ethical dilemma to do it.

Now, I have a very hot colleague of mine who I have recently started interacting more than I should. Though, I don’t find him super-intelligent ( a must for keeping me hooked to an individual), his easy manners, affability and good looks keep me interested in him. And to top it, this guy has six packs ( Never seen those but from the looks of his formal clothes I can make out a lot more than just his packs) with a great body. (Only minus point is he is shorter than me by two inches). Normally, I don’t like any competition to be close to me but this time I don’t care that much if he has better physique than me. ( I am not in a bad shape myself! Wink, wink).

One thing that keeps me intrigued is how or why this guy is single. He is good looking, intelligent, articulate, earns well, and has gone to good colleges. Not to mention, he has great fashion sense, h takes care of himself well. Is he a new age metrosexual male or I am reading too much here?? For Chrissake, he is a hot blooded punju who don’t give a damn about having new flings every fortnight!!

So, I don’t think I many have to explain how my situation is similar to Mian Samad and what’s keeping me awake/ disturbed/ aroused/ intrigued this entire weekend. In fact, I think this whole thing was reinforced in some way when I read it in the book and started imagining myself to write a similar novel in future with great deal of masala thrown in. I can call it ‘White Sheets”. I know that’s cheesy. But, aren’t wet dreams are made of ‘white sheets’ and ‘White teeth’

P.S: I wanted to do a post about comparing language style of British vs American authors; in fact, comparing Jhumpa Lahiri and Zadie Smith. I am not even remotely an authority on the subject of linguistics, nevertheless I think it will be an interesting post.