Why is the uber-lazy Cadbury 5 Star ad guy my 10-year younger near-ditto version

Even in Stone Age, nearly all (if not all) living beings had one thing in common: They had to do something to replenish their bellies to function. Those images on books and web pages, in addition to the details in the text, pretty much give us a hazy idea of how difficult it would have been for humans to make arrangements for their daily dose of nutrition. And here we are, living in 2023 which sees no exception to that basic idea of survival. Since our kindergarten days, we are asked to study hard and the Neanderthal in us takes a hush-hush birth. Some people defy, or at least seemingly try to flout those age-old practices, regardless of the foretold outcome. And for those rebels, the set of ‘Do Nothing’ 5 Star adverts has turned into an epitome of the motivation, a rare driving force that kind of makes them say the brazen but inaudible “Bruh!” and asserts the signature, “Society can’t dictate your preferences.”

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Now, as an obvious matter of fact, I was one of them. Some people say physics would have been much easier if the apple tree had fallen on the great scientist instead. When it comes to the creator of alarms, I’d say the same thing. The only difference is, although I know it would have been one of those choicest events of the millennium for ‘me and my homies’, to say the least, I am too lazy to think how the event would have unfolded.

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Now coming to my one-decade-younger self, it was difficult to trim my beard and nails, go to the barber’s once in four months after mom’s last warning for the last time, wash my hands to eat food, and whatnot. There were times when going to bed to sleep was as tiresome as going to the toilet and pee. It was hard to believe even on Sundays I had to do so much work: That one day you get after slogging your a*s for six days straight. Yes, you read that right. I did have a job even at that time.

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So I was a newbie at an organization and I still don’t have any idea how I survived there for a couple of years. The only reason I figured out after days of retrospection was something even I found to be pretty tough to swallow. Also, for someone as idle as me thinking that hard was an aberration. Now I gathered that my sluggishness might well be a bittersweet reminiscent of my boss’ early 20s. Yes, the world is full of surprises and some of us can naturally be considerate of how we have lived as a youngster. Moving on, I remember how the deadlines set for my tasks were dead on arrival and how sheepish I was while asking for extensions almost every time.?

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The advert to do nothing ranged from the likes of getting an empty queue to book a movie ticket to not giving a flying f**k to an impending storm. Now, the thing that made me wonder like crazy was how the?chashmish?guy in the ad was so well dressed while doing absolutely nothing. While?baap ka paisa?(daddy's money) wasn’t an option in my case, I choose not to take any refuge in that luxury. But again, something he did in that set of adverts that I was super envious of. I still haven't gathered the audacity of not doing something when it's asked that earnestly, the way the elderly woman and the angry driver with two pups did. Now this perhaps was attributed to a long delay from my lazy days to release an ad of that sort. Unfortunately, back then, there wasn't any source like this to get inspiration from. So the point I want to make here is- it’s not my fault. I wish I had the privilege in my early 20s to do something and then go IDGAF just like the ad guy, however filmy in real life that act might look.

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Yes, the ‘Do Nothing’ set of ads did receive a fair bit of flak in 2019 as some viewers found them to be objectionable for allegedly putting our country’s youth in a ‘lazy’ light. I indubitably respect these industrious people who work day in and day out and quite naturally expect others to work like them. But then, what about us? Someone for the first time in the history of adverts (fact-check yourself because you know how I am) thought of us and with those clips, they just took us by storm NGL.?

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Fast forward to 2023, and I dare to take the liberty to say I miss those days. Part of my mind perhaps sheds tears, quite rarely though, whenever this ad makes an entry into the stuff I am watching. Yes, these are not my theatrics by any means, since going to theatres was the prerogative of those who had?baap ka paisa?whereas someone like me would resort to?Piratebay.?Anyway, can’t thank Cadbury enough for portraying a piece of what I intrinsically was, regardless of its scale, and what I love(d) to be.