Good Old Doordarshan Days!

Today I managed to leave home earlier than usual but ended up in traffic for an 1hr.The drive to work from home usually takes 20-30 minutes max in the morning...but well today looks like was an exception. The unusually slow traffic got to me, I decided I should let it go, so had my breakfast sitting in the traffic :-), for the first time in my life.... Finally reached office at 8:45 and started my work. These days work has been very monotonous and not very challenging so that made me extremely depressed! There is a sense of dissatisfaction and a sense of boredom. I am feeling very down today, unable to lift my spirits, unable to fight my boredom. Spoke to Ajay, I sounded almost dejected that surely worried him a little. Finally decided I have to make a choice and come out of this. Was just thinking about life in India, fun filled days, my childhood days and the thoughts went on to old Doordarshan days. It’s one of the topics we discuss so often. Each time we both just wish we could re-live those old DD days. Whenever we discussed this I always felt like writing a blog on it to revive my old memories. Why not start with the first blog and here it goes.... Makes me emotional and sentimental when I think about how much life has changed in India now, makes me want to live that childhood again. Probably the nostalgia and the sentiments around it would make sense to most people of my age who grew up in India during that 'era'. I call it an 'era' since, life during those days was more like the life in 'Malgudi'. The 'Malgudi' that is not as much alive today.

DD during those days used to play some national integrity songs/promos that touch my heart even today. Since we couldn't switch channels then, there was no way you could get away with these. But now when I think of it, I feel they were just so wonderful. Starting from the 'Vande Mataram' song in the morning to the weekly chitrahaar and some classy programs like 'Surabhi' and several other serials, it was one bunch of good stuff!!!!
I enjoyed watching 'Mile Sur Mera Tumara', it always made me so emotional to see the unity in diversity of our country. National integrity ads like 'Ek Chidiya Anek Chidiya’, and some of the old commercial ads like the 'Bajaj' and a few others were equally impressive. During those days the advertisements always carried a message and most times they signified unity and the strength of India. I wonder why now a day’s nobody thinks of such ads. If you notice in fact even today the ads from the Government of India are mostly the same. They still carry a message, a message about our culture, unity etc. For example the recent ad from the Tourism Department of India, which clearly reminds us of ‘Athethe Devodbava’? Now there are too many channels but very less quality and content. I remember those days when we used to wait for one Kannada/Telugu song in the Chitramala. Of course I used to relish the Sunday's 'Rangoli' so much for all those good old Hindi songs.. Sunday was a full time fun day for me and my brother. We would be up early and all set by 8:00. That day there were not too many restrictions from our parents what more could you ask for, they would also sit with us and watch the TV, it was like a family TV day. We would be in front of the TV digging into the delicious hot breakfasts that Amma would make. Since I was the youngest I could bully everyone to get the first Dosa. While I would feast on it my poor brother and Dad would wait for their turn. Watching Mahabharata, Jungle Book and He-Man was fun. Sometimes when we were watching I think mostly 'rangoli/chitramala' the TV would go blank with a message ''Rukawat ke liye khed hai' (Sorry for the Interruption) notice... and I would get so impatient and used to wonder whether the guy who relay’s the program had gone to sleep and hadn’t noticed the problem. During those days the power cuts were quite often, I would get so wild when the power cuts were during my favorite programs like Rangoli, Surabhi, Jungle book, Turning Point and so many others that the list goes on. I remember how over smart I would behave when watching turning point, I would try to guess the answer before the host explained it and especially the question that they would ask at the end of the program. Dad would ask us to think and find out the answer and there would be huge competition between me and my brother. Not that I was smarter than him but yes wanted all the attention and applause :-). Sometimes I used to play Chess with my brother or Dad and I remember how Dad would let me win and if my brother didn’t then I would make a face and cry running to my Dad saying that he cheated. Now I wonder how I must have irritated my brother with all my nakraas.....well you get to enjoy these nakraas when you are the youngest and that too a girl!!!! What more I took every opportunity to make the best of it. The Sunday afternoon news for the Deaf and dumb, that’s another distinct memory of DD. No other television channel has been sensitive enough to come up with something like that for the less fortunate.

Today out of all the numerous channels, there isn’t a single one as good as DD during those days. I wonder what morals the ‘Saas Bahu’ serials of today can teach. They only show constant conflicts between people and make people Demons/Gods, when there aren’t either but Humans!!! They seem to have a more negative, dramatic and dragging approach to everything and they seem to go on forever into vicious circle of sadistic drama. In all, the Doordarshan of yester years had content and did preach some values. It was educative, entertaining, sensible and realistic. Especially for the growing kids it was a good start. I wonder if DD still plays them, maybe it's time I checkout what happens on DD. I wish my kids get to see all these while they grow up. Then I wonder, has the world gone too far? I am sure of one thing; some of them should surely leave an impression on their character and would definitely benefit them!!!!Hope that the Doordarshan soon makes DVD's of their old serials and popular programmes and rock the market. It would definitely be a success!!!!!