Once Upon A Time…!

During my aimless channel scans, my fingers stop pressing the remote control when I see Doordarshan. Though the programs of this channel is still the same and hasn’t changed a bit from 1980s, watching DD is like visiting a historical museum. Just like an art gallery that reminds our past, DD remains as India’s national channel.

Doordarshan has nothing to offer more than a few government promos and a few old recorded programs. However, this channel has a glorious past as India’s first national channel. In my childhood days, DD made our days. A few days back, when I spoke to my younger cousin about DD’s programs, she looked at me blankly. For new generation kids, Doordarshan is a channel for grandpas! For kids of 1980s and before Doordarshan is now a part of their nostalgia.

A few reminiscences about Doordarshan:

• Every program after school time should not be missed.
• Whenever you do something wrong, say ‘sorry shaktiman’!
• I used to wake up early in on Sunday morning to watch Rangoli
• I knew all the epics those days. Thanks to Sreekrishna, Om Namashivaya, Jai hanuman (Britannia Tin Tin Titin).
• Like a ritual, every Indian watched Republic and Independence Day parades.
• Even kids watched the President of India addressing the nation on the eve of Republic and Independence Day.
• Whether it is Hindi, Malayalam, English bulletin or even news for special people, everyone will listen carefully.
• Cricket matches, especially India vs. Pakistan, were like wars. We listened to both Hindi and English commentary patiently.
• Rhymes of ads were by heart (washing powder Nirma)…
• You’d to wait one week to watch the next episode of a serial.
• Watching the 4o’ clock evening movie on Sunday was like seeing the first show on the first day of movie release.
• Mile sur mera tumhara was listened and sang with so much of fervor

Now things have changed… Doordarshan never accepted the new trends. At present there are hundreds of channels available in our television. From international, national, state, regional to city channels, all these compete themselves to bring variety of programs. Yet we are not satisfied with a single channel and so we keep changing the channels every now and then.

Doordarshan was a synonym to the word entertainment previously. I should admit that the satisfaction that DD had provided in those days can never beat any media of today.

Watch DD at least once in a month. Else, we will be forced to tell a fable to our grand children, ‘Once upon a time there was a channel named Doordarshan’!!!