Doordarshan Nostalgia

People ask me why I’m no longer interested in Orkut since that’s the cool, hot thing the current zing thing. That’s precisely why I am not. Coolness or hotness is not a benchmark and you don't have to say something is cool because everyone says it is cool. I am interested in friends, true friends who call me once in a while and whom I miss when I don’t see them for a long time. I’m not interested in virtual friends with exception of some people whom I came across through this blog. The energy and time spent in chasing coolness from one stuff to another is sheer wastage and is so boring and artificial by default, not any sort of value addition.


Doordarshan is no longer considered cool and I used to wonder whether anyone watches the government channel anymore . In these days of 24/7 news cycles when Rajdeep Sardesai jumps with excitement on everything from Mumbai bomb blasts to Opinion of Rakhi Sawant on Pratibha Di being the Indian President it is hard to believe that those good old Doordarshan days existed. The days of Junglebook , Mile Sur Mera Tumhara , Mahabharat , Ramayana and Surabhi.

Jungle book had that old music sung by a child when Maugli was being introduced in the title song :). Jungle Jungle ... Arree Chaddi Pehen Ke.. :P


There was this song Mile Sur Mera Tumahra sung by leading actors from all over India in different Indian Languages and also featuring people like Balamuralikrishna . It felt so cool and genuine in those days when they ended it with a grand finale and these days even the patriotic appeals for "Vote for Taj" and the media circus on 'Aha-Miha-Mikaya' processions to garner votes for Taj evokes sympathy at the pseudo-nationalistic pride in the appeals.


There was the smartness of Renuka Shehane and presence of Siddharth Kak in Surabhi , may be the first Indian Programme that started the concept of contests and postal department had to start competition post cards .Cant still believe emails which inundate my life every minute did not exist and many people on those days would not have even heard about the computer. How did people survive with out Google and emails? .Renuka had that 10000 watts smile and the middle class attitude and my mother used to consider her as a daughter who was never born and I used to think of her as a neighbourhood Didi :P.

Then there was Ramayana and Mahabharata , the mythical wars look so artificial these days on seeing them on TV , but those days it was supposed to be cool and you were an outclass in the class on Monday if you had missed Ramayana or Mahabharata on Sunday.Not to mention the daily serials like Malgudi Days and programmes like Chitrageetham and Chitramala which was eagerly awaited by everyone.

Then there was news which came with some typical Doordarshan Music and the elliptical Doordarshan logo.The doordarshan ticker before the news was the default time standard all across India and the news anchors were household names. Still so many of them read news in Doordarshan , I presume.

Then came 1991 . Manmohan Singh presented a budget and cable channels came to India and everybody forgot Doordarshan conveniently and the grand old patriarch is fighting hard to survive.It no longer interferes with my life anymore other than some occassional report which says about the criket telecasting rights fight between DD and a private broadcaster?


These days there are lot of options to watch on anything and everything and Doordarshan has fallen behind because it has followed the same standard of programmes throughout. I am confused what to watch and not to mention all those screenagers who are growing up with their eyes on Screens of TV , PC , ATM , Mobile and what not . But wonder whether they will be having something like Good old Doordarshan days since no body watches doordarshan as it is no longer considered to be cool.




Inspired by all Doordarshan Songs from Rediff Ishare




Doordarshan may not be cool anymore but the old nostalgic memories that each of these songs evoke are still cool .

Delhi Dreamz

"Anything that we achieve is a milestone, so you record it and you move on. We have so many milestones to achieve and so many things to do, that if you pause to celebrate, you will fall behind." How true? , I couldnt agree more with K V Kamath.

I felt sleepy . I was damn tired . I hadnt slept for last one week and there was a pleasure of a small milestone achieved.I was reading that in Delhi of all the places inside a Delhi Mumbai flight that was just taking off. I slept and dreamt about Delhi

I fell in love with Delhi after reading M Mukundan's Novels and Short Stories . M Mukundan wrote good stuff and it was the only way to kill time back in 1990's when Doordarshan was the only Channel in India .Everybody watched Chitrahaar which would have looked amaturish by todays telecasting standards and there was a programme called Chitramala where songs from different Indian language films were telecasted . Good Olden Days!

Mukundan had Dehi as an inseparable part of his writing , in each of his works. The smell and noise of this city and Hrishikesh , Haridwar and the near by places had been effectively portrayed in almost half his works. His craft has such a reflective potential that as a reader I could identify myself with Mukundan’s characters easily and even find solace in my shadow inside them . No kidding. There were protagonists like Appu and Aditya in his novels who were characterised by the discontentments and ambivalence of restless youth, who had bitter experiences with the so-called radical and progressive thinking and activism and who finally seeked solace in drugs and alcohol in their bohemian and nomadic nature.

I dreamt of Delhi , Of the beautiful Punjabi girls with blue veins in their necks and of food in Daryaganj . Of North Campus and Buddhvatika , eX and Delhi University.

I would have liked the dream to go on for quite some time . But an air hostess with a very bad dream sense woke me up and the flight had reached Mumbai.

What an abrupt end ? Just like this post.

The Old Easy Tag ;-P

Wow!!!!!! What an amazing month went by . It went in a flash from Salary to Salary . I blogged the least , logged into Orkut the least number of times , didnt check my personal mails and just started reading all those blogs in my linked list. Just came across this tag by WetSpark . Hopefully this puts an end to my Bloggers Block.


The inconsequential rules are ? (Please dont follow rules if you are a rebel or communist . If you are a Mallu Communist , please hold a hartal or bandh against rules)

* Each player starts with eight random facts/habits about themselves.
* People who are tagged need to write posts in their own blog about their eight things and post these rules.
* At the end of your post, you need to choose eight people to get tagged and list their names.


So here it is : A things about Nariyal Chutney (No Fish Mappas to serve now but may be later :P :D will include fish mappas as well over a drink :))!!


0. Nariyal Chutney is made from coconut that is the fruit of a tree found predominantly in a state called Kerala in teh southern tip of India....WTF!

Ok here goes,

1. I love to do anything that make my blood hot , hotter , hottest and heart beat fast , faster , fastest. I love driving things to the wits end and pushes myself to the end to make sure that it happens by whatever means as long as it does not hurt anyone.This in fact has resulted in the most embarassing moment in my life.In college during arts fest there was a challenge from a gal and I went up on the stage with out knowing what the challenge was (To Show Off in other words). The Challenge was to wear a Saree and nothing much to say about it....:P . Serves me right :P

2. I make friends with small kids easily and invariably in journeys the kids who are with parents end up in my lap after sometime . It was fine till three months back when one kid decided in a Delhi Mumbai flight that my lap is a nice place to pee much to my embarassment and the amusemnt of his parents. Kids are more friendly in the laps of his / her parents these days.

3. I love to work 24 hours a day and I work only for things I enjoy doing. Work does not mean only office work :P

4.I have a crush every week (I have a higher score here than wetspark who has a crush once in a month :P) . My current crush is actress Shriya who was there in the last two movies that I saw . Shivaji and Aawarapan. She is simply stunning in both the movies:).

5. I have a photographic memory and does not forget people , situations or places easily .However I am very bad at remembering the lyrics of songs :(.

6.I like everything simple and hate when people or events are not genuine and spontaneous and like KISS principle .For Eg: I hate Mallu Christian marraiges in which Bride seems to be straight out from a jewellery advertisement . The very obviousness of the naked symbolic display of wealth effaces the value of the person and the event of any possible genuineness. Artificality comes out in itself on the ostentatious displays like this and there is nothing remaining thereafter to remember other than the artificality. KISS means Keep It Simple Stupid.


7.I wanted to become a catholic priest andpreach to all those lambs when I was a kid.But later decided that Christianity as a whole will be better off If I just remained as I am - with out becoming a priest .

8.I like quiet restaurants and long drives in weekends and that is something that I have not been able to find in Mumbai till now. I just want to escape from Mumbai and go back o Kochi to enjoy long drives in monsoon.

& the tag goes too all those people who were not tagged till now..

1.Seema ..she deserves a tag for writing all those wonderful lines and walking in those clouds:P
2.Black is beautiful ...Just because I believe that black is truly beautiful like his name :)
3.Ajit ... because I know so little about you.
4.Amooma...who has been out of action for sometime
5.Attributions... since she hasnt picked up my first tag
6.Ram who has just started a blog
7.Anyone who is in Mumbai and is wondering how to travel in these rains
8.Anyone who is losing interest and is getting bored in orkut :D