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 .