DesiDabba - Boss, Thoda Sa Roomani Ho Jaye

My wife is the smartest person I know. And every weekday, she faithfully records The Bold and the Beautiful on our DVR and watches it in batches once or twice a week. And while it is true that you should allow every woman her mysteries, this was one puzzle that I felt was worth solving.

I run across this in India as well. Whenever I’m visiting friends and relatives, conversation eventually veers to B&B and how hot “Ridge” is. Who was this guy? I asked myself. My wife told me a little bit about Ridge Forrester.

Apparently he was in Australia recently, punching out his daughter’s boyfriend which caused him to suffer a broken engagement with Brooke because Brooke was said boyfriend’s mother. Once (of many times) that Ridge was married to Brooke he had to abandon her when his previous wife, Taylor, returned back from the dead after having been kept captive against her wishes by Kabir Bedi who managed to fool everyone by keeping her under the influence of a mysterious jadibooti although Ridge must have known because he once dug up her grave to find an empty casket. (Yes, yes, I triple checked that – it’s all true.) Good call, Ridge. The stepson-daughter romance would have ended up in some pretty awkward family dinners.

Wow! I thought. A show that encompasses drama, romance, marital issues, medicine and horror! It must be watched! Turns out Ridge is quite an interesting character. Played by 58 year old actor Ronn Moss, he comes across as a grizzled playboy. He shows up often seemingly dazed and speaks in very measured tones – even when he is pissed, which is quite often. He walks with an exaggerated swagger of the shoulders and often tries to capture a range of emotions by partially opening his mouth.

When I ask fans of the show why they chose to watch something of such choppy quality, they will often tell me that they’ve had watched it for so many years that this was like an extended family to them. “We stay up at night thinking about their problems and how they can be solved” they tell me.

This moved me – no, sincerely. As humans, we have such an ability to reach out and form bonds even if it is with moving images on screen.

So the next time I see my wife watching B&B, in the spirit of looking at the glass half full (something I’m not good at), I remind myself of her generous capacity to extend her love. And that even makes Ridge Forrester in the background tolerable.

The Bold and the Beautiful airs on Star World at 3pm on weekdays.