* Spent a wonderful afternoon at Blossoms. By far, one of the best things to have happened to Bengaluru. Multiple storeys of used books- from Daphne Du Maurier, to AJCronin, to RKNarayan to Digital Photography guides. And the prices, are so enticing- yes I was almost tempted to stay back overnight, if they'd have me. If you're in this area, please to check this place out. Its not the swankiest of locations, but for book-lovers this is Ritz-Carlton for sure.
* Thursday morning found me with some extra dose of vigour and enthu. I went on a 7am vegetable shopping trip. I scurried around smelling the fresh scent of vegetables and fruits and flowers in the market and in tune with the rest of the early risers. I had showered early, made some temple stops along the way, I was so in sync with the early morning bustle thats characteristic of apna desh. While I was thus engaged I passed two cows grazing lazily as is wont in our bazaars. No wonder foreigners ask us if elephants roam our streets, even to this day! I hurried along to the "greens" vendor to buy some spinach. A scooter passed next to me, the rider stopped and a muffled voice spoke from behind a helmet. I looked at the apparition enquiringly. "Be careful, wearing red around these cows, they could attack". I was in a red salwar. I smiled weakly, thanked him and walked on. Errr, red goads bulls no? And I am a bull myself, I should know! Well perhaps that was his good deed for the day. Nonetheless he did make my day.
* Our first TV-black and white had been a Dyanora. We almost put it on a pedestal the day it arrived. We tiptoed around it and even watched Krishi Darshan faithfully just for the fact that it was being aired and it was our duty to watch it. Then some years later, color television launched. We found a good reason to own a color TV. Olympics and World Cup, of course. Those deserved to be watched in their true colors. Hence arrived a BPL brand wonder. We celebrated, we did our welcome jig, we cooked a spread, we pulled out our best silver, we served ourselves, sat down and watched the 9pm news on Doordarshan! Who cares about final exams the next day? Color TV was here to stay. This has really served us well, we had it for the longest time. What came next? Cable TV of course. I still remember the day we walked up to the start-up cable company in our neighbourhood. It was started by two newly minted graduates, Kiran and Shashi. They looked dapper seated in their dingy room that they had rented. The next day Shashi landed at our doorstep with complicated looking contraptions to fit our place with 1000s of channels. Little did we realise we were submitting to become slaves of the remote, soon. After about 45 mins, he was done. We turned our TV on and we were in channel utopia, in bright colors. "Yayyyyyyyyy" danced Seren and I. Amma emerged out of the kitchen with a plate of kaju kathli and offered it to Shashi. Appa had a Colgate-ad-ish grin and hugged and shook hands with him and paid him the advance and saw him off in royal style. Little did Shashi know of our celebratory methods! After all these years, I think I understand the quizzical expression that was plastered on his face all his way back to his office.
Today, it is the age of HDTV's and Plasma TV's, wide screens and advanced entertainment centers. But the joys of watching Bournivata Quiz shows with Siddharth Basu on Sundays on our old BPL TV comes with no price tag and lots of sweet memories. I say it again, the sweet smell thats in the air these days, is surely nostalgia.
I'm sure each of us has a tale to tell about our experiences as we turned the corner to the advent of TV in India. Do tell, what was YOUR first TV?
Of this, that and the advent of TV
Wednesday, June 18, 2008Posted by Altoid at 11:31 PM
Labels: Everything in between, Family and other animals, We are like this only
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
5 mint(s) of wisdom:
:--) Nice post. But making me miss India.
Our first TV was a Solidaire, black and white. Second and still adorning our living room in Chennai is a Sony with 12 channels bought 20 years back! Superhit Muqabla was my favorite although they killed the Hindi version and put a Tamil version which I hated.
Never been a fan of Cable, dont remember watching much on Cable except the few months, after College when I was home getting ready to come to US.
Black and White Dyanora of course! :)
nice memories too..
Oh yes, it was much better when we had about 8 channels and watched all of them at some point or other. Today I am paying for some 200 channels and still watch the same 8 channels - ok, may be an occasional film channel once a week.
Gandhi Bazaar at 7 must be heavenly. I so envy people who can go there.
Our first TV was televista. Not many people seemed to have had (or heard of) it. When I was a kid, and the TV stood on flimsy legs, I had to go behind the TV and of course pushed it down. The whole household felt the pain of having to miss programs like vayalum vazhvum. And no one believed me when I said I didn't mean to. Got it fixed somewhat, and it needed to be tapped on the head now and then. And it lasted a long time. We were late in coming to the color tv era. mid to late 80s it was. We tried BPL, but for some reason it conked out within a week, so returned it and got Toshiba. That lasted for a long time and now it is Akai. But nothing beats the less is more nostalgic era, eh?
what a beautiful post altoid. I was laughing and nostalgic at the same time! I have no idea what our first TV was. We had one before I was born, have to ask my mom.
Post a Comment