From DD to Set Max

I was born in the era of the television. My childhood exactly matched with the rise of Indian television. The earliest memories of dinner time and evening tiffin can not be complete without the trademark doordarshan montage. Mile sur mera tumhara, malgudi days, chandrakanta, mahabharat,jungle book,vikram aur vethal, chitrahaar, rangoli, surabhi. Apart from all the mythological and historical stories heard from paati, amma and appa, these television serials have been my sole source of understanding what I belong to and what has gone past in the making of the country that I am so proud to be a part of now. Till date there is no mythological series that can compare with Mahabharath and no travel show that equals, let alone surpass, surabhi. Sunday mornings were never sunday mornings if not for rangoli, chandrakanta and mogli. Ofcourse shakthimaan joined the bandwagon later on. And all those good old commercials...dhoodh dhoodh, the earliest ads of dairy milk, female child education, bajaj, amul..my god! I dont understand why it is hard to find such feel-good commercials in today's time. Everything is glamourised or fit for adult viewership only.
Then with the globalisation came the array of private channels. I can still remember the first graphic theme song for sun tv. As it is I was a slow eater (still am). But my dinner time started becoming dinner night with television programs. "Idhu ungal sun tv-yin tamizh malai"! was the catch phrase during school days. Evening 7.00-7.30 will be a K.Balachander's teleserial. Then half an hour of home work with Ek minute running on Zee TV. The 8.00 hour slot is for news and then 'neengal ketta padal', 'chitrahaar' or 'pepsi ungal choice' will follow. Homework typically stays less than half done and then half an hour of some hasty work to make sure something is done for the following day. This was my typical primary school day routine. Ofcourse, days when an ODI is scheduled that will take precedence over these vernacular features.



In the beginning, Star plus was primarily an English channel. Then with increasing viewership, in the evening slots alone Hindi programs were being telecast and then it grew into a full-fledged hindi channel. However I started following star only with the legendary KBC. Prior to that the only program I remember is tu tu mein mein. And then started all these K sagas and in parallel chithi, metti oli, alaigal and kolangal (which btw is still airing!) took turns and kept us tied to the living room. My four years away from home during undergrad had taken a toll on my television viewership. Due to peer pressure of being able to watch only languages which everybody could understand, Hindi and English (rarely) channels were only preferred. K serials and the supposedly reality talent shows prevailed. However I kept patronising vernacular teleserials by constantly asking my mom what the current status of the plot was. And not once did I feel like I missed something when I resumed watching them during the semester holidays.
Another thing I used to be crazy about are these "First on Indian/world television" movies and award functions. When I was interning in Chennai (home), I kept watching Star, Sony and Set Max alternative to tamil channels. Whenever I saw an ad that @$#@%@ movie/function was going to be aired that Friday/Saturday, my immediate reaction would be to call up my friend (who was working then) and the day of the event, she'll invariably come to my house for dinner (invited/self-invited ;) )and we both lie down on the living room floor and incessantly watch the program despite the commercial breaks being longer.
Television, apart from being the idiot box, has been a part of my childhood...my grooming years, my always-happy college time and now...in a country where I dont even know when the successive episode of a series I like is going to air, I cant help but miss my dear optonica-turned-BPL-turned-LG box that has become an indispensable part of my living room and my life!


For no-specific-person's information: I still watch airtel super singer, ramany vs ramany, Mahabharath on youtube! :) :)