“Soft kitty, warm kitty, little ball of fur,
Happy kitty, sleepy kitty,
Purpurpurpurpur...”

Well, the Sheldon-maniacs would be humming to this melody in their minds as they read it. Whenever I find myself in the middle of a crisis or a mood swing, this comes to my rescue. While my mom would have wanted me to enchant the Gayatri Mantra, but I simply tell myself, “Keep calm and sing soft kitty.”

“Keep calm and be merry.”

“Keep calm and rejoice.”

Oh, seeing these one liners we all would have pictured the vivid hued Tudor Crown posters in our minds which are a rage these days. All thanks to the social networking websites and the unprecedented prowess of internet which boosts and popularises everything and anything. The catchy ‘Keep Calm’ one liners have become a favourite with the X-generation often adding to their knack of repartee. 
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For those of you who believe that it is a recent innovation, think again. The ‘Keep calm’ posters date back to 1939 which were used by the British administration at the time of World War II to raise the morale of British public with the ongoing social and political unrest and upheaval at that time. Though, it is true that these posters could not gather the popularity half as much as it enjoys today and thus, remain lesser known to people, owing to the kind of havoc and turmoil breeding at that time; lack of medium is just an added factor.

Some years after World War II, these posters were as dead as dodo and people became oblivious of them but as we often see that things from the past often make a comeback though not necessarily in the same frame or set up.  Unlike the time when it was used to spread messages of peace and deliverance and aimed to work as morale boosters, today they find their abode in much simpler and casual context with multitude companies using them as punch lines to promote their goods and services.

Today, with the commercialization and commodification trend hitting the world, we have all kinds of merchandise available at the click of a button. Also, exclusive Keep Calm apps on Google play itself a testimony to the popularity of these posters and slogans in various media and innumerable parodies and imitations. Myriad websites, production houses and printing agencies provide assistance in this process. Messages on these goods such as mugs, t-shirts, boxes etc range from cute to political, from art to sports, popular culture and what not.

 With this beautiful evening capturing my heart, as I stand in my balcony sipping hot cappuccino,  and enjoying the lovely weather, I voyage back to reality with my mother’s call who says “Don’t keep calm, do some kaam.”  and I rush back to my books, laughing at her humored remark.




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