Long ago, actually not that long as it appears to be, when we used to darshan limited access from door at doordarshan, probably that’s why the name. Anyways remember the times when movie flicks used to come on Saturdays right after the evergreen Bikram Betaal series and we managed to finish our work in time to fit the time slot for the movie. How much we hated the one interval in which evening news flashed as headline show as kids and how much the elders wanted to catch the news as if they’ll change the world. And on Sundays remember Rama Sagar conquering the Tv world with his mythological Ramayana and Mahabharata lightening our moods when our TV sets got switched on and how we got berserk when we realized that there was no power and our morchas against the electricity departments if the power cut time clashed with the ‘Hey Sita’ dialogue delivery of Arun Govil. Well, those were the days when we all sat happy in our living rooms with one TV set with or without the remote.
Today Rama Sagar has been replaced by the queen of Indian Television, Ekta Kapoor and so the time slot. In most of the houses in India dinner is served before Tulsi Virani does to her family. And not only women, lots of men are also glued to the TV sets when these soaps are on. Once my cousin’s son came out in the living room screaming that her sister had eaten poison and she will die soon. My cousin panicked and rushed to their room. The girl’s nose was bleeding because of the summer heat and this young chap misinterpreted the situation because an instance from these soaps occurred to his mind. The irony of these soaps is that they are all the same and yet got different TRPs. A slap from the heroine to the vamp character and she will destroy the whole family and families yet to come.
Talking about the NEWS which used to be information from North, East, West and South has now become Noon time Evening time Wake up time and Sleep time, literally talking all the times. Prashant fell in the dig whole of 60 ft as the news broke on IBN7 and next moment on Aajtak but this time 62 ft and in an hour’s time prayers being sent to the family through sms costing only Rs 6. Even if there is no news these channels will create one like which tie PM would be wearing and why on Republic Day, to keep it going for 24 hours but then only it’ll be 24/7.
Music channels keep playing the same videos again and again but then they have to pay the vjs. Access to movie channels is great but then the charm of sitting in the theatre and going out for a meal afterwards is lost.
Though today cable system has changed our lives in a good way too but we have lost on the quality time spent with each other. Husband and Wife coming home from work want to catch up with the stock markets on CNBC rather with each other lives.
Well I am just a human being and like others I am never satisfied. Though given so much choice, more than 50 channels to watch, I am sitting in my room flipping the channels with the remote thinking about those good days.