First let us all thank our Doordarshan for producing these two lovely patriotic songs/videos, which show how unique our country's people, their culture, etc.are! I think these videos will be apt for this Independence day and for many others to come! We used to hear them often in the 80's and 90's. Very rarely we hear/see them in DD nowadays. We don't see in other channels. I was able to get the details of the first video but couldn't get the lyrics or the details of the creator of music for the second video. Let me write about them as much as I know.
Doordarshan had produced two patriotic songs in raag 'Desh' a beautiful Hindustani raag. I had posted the first video earlier, here! In that video, importance was given to regions and languages of India...Mile sur mera tumhaara was a very apt title.
I love the happy expression of Pt.Ravishankarji in this second video! Our heart
leaps at the sound of this music, our music! The starting sound itself
gives us goose bumps!
This second video also is based on raag 'Desh'. Importance is given to our various forms of music and dance forms. That video started with Pt. Bhimsen Joshiji, who was a stalwart in Hindustani music. I had done a post on him sometime back, here!
This video starts with Sitar vaadak, Pt.Ravishankarji, who took our music worldwide. Then Bhimsen Joshiji starts singing 'Baje sargam' in his booming voice. Pt. Ramnarayan comes next with his rare string instrument, saarangi.
At 3.05 mts., Pt.Hariprasad Chaurasia plays flute. His instrument takes us to heaven...lovely sound. He looks very young here. His son Rakesh also plays this instrument and is becoming famous like his father.
At 3.30, a young Pt. Shivkumar Sharma plays santoor, a string instrument from the Jammu Kashmir region. I did a post on him here! His son Rahul Sharma also plays santoor now!
At 4.11 mts. Ustaad Zakir Hussain and his father Ustaad Alla Rakha, famous tabla vaadaks, play the beautiful tabla. You will get goose bumps, hearing them...happy duo!
At 4.56, Ustaad Amjad Ali Khan, plays a string instrument, sarod. His sons Amaan and Ayaan Alik Khan also play this instrument. The sound is pleasing to the ears!
At 5.48, you can see the Rajasthani dance form and an instrument of that region.
At 6.52, you can see the famous Odissi dancer, Protima Bedi. The song is in Bengali, I think! She started a dance school in Bengaluru. Though she is no more, her school is still there.
At 7.13, the dance form is Manipuri. Am I right?
7.26, it is Kerala dance form Kathakali. I don't know the name of the artiste. Mythological story telling in dance form is mostly the theme for these dances. I don't know the name of the artiste.
At 7.13 mts. Kanak Rele is doing Mohiniattam, a dance form from Kerala. The movements are slow and beautiful in this dance form! She is a Gujarati but famous for Kerala dance forms, Mohiniattam and Kathakali. She runs a dance school also in Mumbai and is very well educated. Read the wikipedia link, which is very interesting! The singer is the famous Carnatic classical singer, Dr. Balamurali Krishna.
I am familiar with the artiste who comes next. Does anyone know?
At 8.22, it is the dance form of Tamilnadu, Bharthanatyam. The artiste is, huh, I don't know! Kavita Krishnamurthy is the singer.
Then comes Dr.Balamurali Krishna, again. He is a vocalist, violinist and a mridangam player! He is from Andhra Pradesh and is singing in Telugu.
At 9.15, Shri S.Balachander plays veena, a string instrument. He is from Tamilnadu.
At 10.18, the artiste is Shri Lalgudi S.Jayaraman, a Carnatic violinist from Tamilnadu. He is a very famous violinist and composer of many songs also.
We had been watching this video for so many years now. Even now, the Doordarshan channel transmits this song often. This video is not very good. We get overwhelmed when we see this clearly in DD. The song and and the video - both compliment each other. Wikipedia link says:
The concept for Mile Sur was developed in 1988 by Lok Seva Sanchar
Parishad and promoted by Doodarshan and India's Ministry of
Information. The song was composed by Ashok Patki, co-composed and arranged by Louis Banks with lyrics by Piyush Pandey, then
an Account Manager and presently the Executive Chairman and Creative
Head of Ogilvy & Mather (India). The project was conceived and
directed by Suresh Mullick (then All India Creative Director, Ogilvy & Mather)
and recorded by people from all walks of life, including a super group
of Indian celebrities, musicians, sports persons, movie stars etc.
The
National Integration video was intended to instil a sense of pride and
promote unity amongst indians, highlighting India's different linguistic
communities and societies - India's unity in diversity, so to speak.
Mile Sur was telecast for the first time on Independence Day in 1988,
after the telecast of the Prime Minister's Speech from the ramparts of
the Red Fort. It quickly captivated India, gaining and maintaining
near-anthem status ever since.
We can see prominent persons from art, like music & dance, literature, sports and cinema.
Singers: Pt. Bhimesen Joshi, Dr.Balamurali Krishna, A.V.Ramanan, Lata Mangeshkar and Suchitra Mitra
Film and TV personalities: Amitabh
Bachchan, Jeetendra, Mithun Chakraborty, Kamal Haasan, Raj Kapoor,
Tanuja, Waheeda Rehmaan, Hema Malini, Sharmila Tagore, Shabana Azmi,
Meenakshi Seshadri, Pratap Pothen. Deepa Sahi, Om Puri, Dina Pathak
(from TV serial Tamas which was a famous DD serial).
One ragaa, Desh, connects all the regions of our country...languages, locations, people etc. in this video. I think the regions' instruments also are used. I must hear and see the video again! Tell me your feelings also, friends, when you see this video!
I think I have mentioned about this song in my earlier posts on Door Darshan serials Here. This time I am quoting all the details!
We hear this song so much that we forget that we are lip-sinking the other languages also, nearly easily! I can never stop humming along whenever I hear this song! We are a great country with so many languages and cultures...still we are together always!
GANATANTRA DIWAS KI SHUBH KAAMNAAYEIN!
VANDE MAATARAM!
EDITED TO ADD IN THE EVENING: Our salute to these people of ours...we are living a normal life, thanks to these people.
I had done a series on Doordarshan, sometime back here. Many people liked it. I came across this video yesterday. It is interesting. It is a collection of old advertisements. Have a look:
First, you see the old Doordarshan logo, which brings a smile on our face! Old and leisurely days! The whole family would sit in front of the TV and watch programmes, discussing about the story together.
The first advertisement is about Nataraj pencils. I have used them and then my sons too!
Next is about Vicks tablets. 'Gale me kich kich' became famous. Young Jayanth Kripalani looks nice! I like the young girl too!
Then comes the 'intelligent' lady, Lalithaji! We used to say, 'she thinks of herself as Lalithaji' if somebody said they knew everything! 'Surf ki khareedari me hi samjhdaari hai'...Lalithaji would touch her dimaag (brain/head) and utter this sentence!
'Goldspot Zing thing' was also famous in those days. Then came Fanta....all those are gone!
'Surf Ultra'...'dhoodte rehe jawoge' became famous!
All advertisements of Fevicol were interesting...! 'Cadburry's dairy milk'...at all ages, we have a child inside us...the ad shows this...very interesting!
'I love you Rasna'...I remember not buying this often because it didn't have real fruit! But the ad was famous!
Liril soap...I think everybody admired the bikini clad girl! She was a happy girl... I read somewhere that she died very young.
'Washing powder Nirma', even now I am singing alongwith the ad. The tune is so catchy! Sangeetha Bijlani (current wife of Azharuddin) became a familiar face!
Any of you remember 'The Didi show'? It might be boring to watch now, but it was famous in those days!
Sorry, the video is not clear, but the happy memories are! Do you remember any old ad?
It is a long time since we saw a Films Division emblem/film. Nice to see this here. Nowadays, they don't show Films Division documentaries even in theatres! I don't know if they show in Doordarshan, though I often watch some musical programmes in DDs.
I did a few posts on Doordarshan serials in 2009, for celebrating 100 years of Doordarshan. Like me, many friends remembered the good old days of 'only Doordarshan serials' days in the comments section!
Recently, my son came across this video of 'Ek chidia, anek chidian' and he mentioned that this was India's first animation film, screened in TV, in 1974. I remember watching this film in the 80's and singing this song with the children. It was screened often in between serials, esp. on Sundays. We were fascinated by the birds, squirrels etc. in animation - we were not yet exposed to foreign channels, then. Tom & Jerry and other animations came later in our Indian TV! But this one was enjoyed for the animation and the message it sent, which was very simple and effective!
In this song, an elder sister (badi didi), takes the responsibility of telling good stories with some message. The voices of the singer and the chorus by children, are so natural and innocent that we feel that our own small 2-3 year olds are singing! I loved the way the sister is nodding her head and the way the children are blinking their huge eyes! The story of the hunter capturing the birds in the net and the birds flying together and escaping (because they were together, they could escape, she says!), is shown so simply and beautifully that every small child will understand and follow the storyline! I can imagine the children clapping their hands together while watching the hunter running after the flying birds!
The music director is the famous Vasanth Desai and the main singer is our own Sadhna Sargam, who must have been a child herself, in those days! The illustrations were done by Bhimsain Khurana, who had directed one of my favourite film, Gharonda! The illustrations are so simple that they look like the children who sing the song, have drawn them, which is amazing! I couldn't get much details about the director of this song, Vijay Mule...who must have been a good children story-teller! Check the no. of hits for this video - 15,42,905! 5-6 more videos of this song are available with many more hits! I feel this is one of the best National Integration song!
Bhimsain Khurana's son Kireet Khurana is becoming famous for his documentary films and animation film making.
The Economic Times says, 'The educational, lyrical, illustrated by Bhimsen and sung by Sadhna Sargam, holds cult status and sweet nostalgia for a number of TV viewers even today!' .
If you feel like telling the story to your children from the song, the lyrics are given below:
Lyrics of Ek Chidiya, Anek Chidiyan:
mmmm mmmm
hind desh... mmm huhu... hum sabhee.... ek hain... tara ra ra raaa bhashaa anek hain mmmm mmmm bhasha anek hain.... mmmm mmmmm
yeh anek kya hain didi ? anek yani bahut saare.... bahut saare, kya bahut saare? acha, batatee hoon...
suraj ek... chanda ek..... taare anek....
taroN ko anek bhi kehte hain ????? nahi nahi !! dekho phir se suraj ek, chanda ek, ek ek ek karke taare bane anek.... theek se samjhao naa didi
dekho dekho ek gilahari peeche peeche anek gilahariyan ek thithli, ..... ek aur thithali...... ek ek ek karke ho gayee ab, anek thithliyaaN...
samajhgaya didi ek ungli, anek ungliyaan
haaan,
didi didi woh dekho anek chidiyan...
anek chidiyoN ki kahani sunoge .... haan haan
aa aa aaa,
ek chidiya, ek ek karke anek chidiya.... dana chugne aayee chidiyan ..... chorus : didi humen bhi sunaonaa.......
tho suno phirse...
ek chidiya, anek chidiyaN dana chugne baith gayee thi .....
hai raam, par wahan byaadh ne ek jaal bhijaya tha...
byaadh, byaadh kaun didi ? byaadh ... chidiya pakadne wala
door, ek gaaon ke paas, chidiyon ke dost, chuhe rahte the.... aur unhone, chidiyonkaa jaal, kaat diya.........
tho dekha ki tumne, anek, sirf ek hojate hain tho kaisa mazaa aata hain didi main bataoon...
HO GAYE EK ... BAN GAYEE TAKAT.. BAN GAYEE HIMMAT...
didi agar hum ek ho jaayen to bada kaam kar sakte hain? haan haan, kyon nahi ... to is ped ke aam bhi thod sakte hain ??? haan, thod sakte hain, par jugat lagani hogi ...
* * * * * * * * * *
achaa, eh jugat, wah... bada mazaa ayegaa..
hind desh ke niwasi sabhi jana ek hain, -2 rang-roop vesh-bhaasha chaahe anek hain -2 ek-anek... ek-anek...
suraj ek, chanda ek, taare anek, ek titli, anek titaliyaaN ek gilhari , anek gilhariyaaN ek chidiyan, ek ek... anek chidiyaan
bela gulab juhi champa chameli..... -2 phool hain anek kintu mala phir ek hai ...-2
Yeh Jo hai Zindagi! I can still remember the days this serial was telecast...every Friday at 8.30 pm. We were living in a colony and the roads of the colony were deserted on these days. Hosur (Tamilnadu) where we lived, was an industrial area and people from all parts of our country were living in our colony...I had very good Maharashtrian, Bengali, Gujarathi friends over there. These people felt as if they were in their own hometown while watching this Hindi serial. Chennai Kendra had not yet reached there and so Tamilians also became addicts of this serial. The theatres were empty on these days! If we were out of our home and came back running, we could hear the title song of the serial, blaring from each and every house in the colony! And then the laughter sounds will start...every member of the family, young or old, were laughing heartily! My neighbour was a doctor, but his clinic was empty, mostly, during this time and he too was happily watching this serial!
This serial was the first of its kind - comedy serial - by Doordarshan, which was aired in 1984. Shafi Inamdar(Ranjit) and Swaroop Sampath, former Miss India, 1979(Renu and she was really beautiful!) played as a couple and Rakesh Bedi (Raja) was Renu's brother. Most of the episodes were single episodes and some stories stretched to two episodes, I think. Satish Shah (the famous comedian in the later years) became very famous in this serial, who played different roles (speaking different languages of different regions of our country) in every episode. Vijay Kashyap and Shulbha Arya played as their Bengali neighbours. Some of the dialogues became very famous like:
"Yeh kya ho raha hai" Tikku Talsanya uses this line, dragging each and every word.
"Aa ha ha, what a relief" "30 Years Ka Experience hai" Satish Shaw made these lines famous!
Wikipedia says, "Its popularity can be gauged from the fact that video stores in London would await periodically for the copy of the serial’s tape. Even the box-office openings in cinemas were affected due to the airing of the show. After a couple of successful seasons, the show took a hiatus (due to the departure of Shafi [2], one of the primary characters, from the show) and returned for a second innings with some additional cast."
All viewers of this serial felt very sad when the news of Shafi Inamdar's demise came in the papers. The serial was written by comedy writer Sharad Joshi and directed by S. S. Oberoi and Raman Kumar. The title song sung by our Kishore Kumar...was our favourite song!
Now, let me show you one episode of the serial from our treasure trove 'you tube'! If you like it, you can watch more over there. Now we are exposed to hundreds of comedy serials and may not enjoy like we enjoyed in those days, but we watched it with the whole family, which is very important and which we don't seem to do, now.
Edited to add (6.11.09): I came across this anecdote about Swaroop Sampath! She is actor Paresh Rawal's wife and has got two grown up sons now and acts in plays with her husband! She also teaches acting to disabled children. Swaroop has obtained a Ph.D. in Education[4] from University of Worcester in England. She is also a teacher’s trainer now traveling across India to conduct workshops for teachers who engage themselves in imparting this knowledge for the benefit of children.[5] She was selected by Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi to head an educational program for children. [6]
I liked the title, the Outlook magazine gave for an article on 'Hum log':
'That epic moment when we spotted ourselves on TV'
When the serial started on 7th July, 1984, we, Indians, never had a cue of how it was going to affect our day to day lives, thereafter! The most inspired thing about Hum Log was its name. These two words captured the essence of the show and what it meant for millions of viewers. Hum Log was an account of both who we were and wished to be as well as of the times in which ‘we people’ lived.
Though the serial was in Hindi and was more famous in the Hindi speaking belt, I noticed that even Tamil speaking people, who did not understand a word in Hindi, started watching it. I was in Hosur(Tamilnadu) at that time and all my Tamil friends were watching it and if they did not follow some dialogues, they used to come home and ask me to translate! My husband's very old aunts, who were in a small village in Trichy (Tamilnadu), became addicted to this Hindi serial! Basesar Ram and Bhagwanti, Lallu, Badki, Chutki, Nanhe, Majhli, Dada, Dadi...became household names! Whenever Basesar Ram started singing old Hindi film songs, all of us used to join in with him! Majhli was an aspiring gazhal singer and she sang really well!
The best part was, at the end of every episode, actor Ashok Kumar would discuss the ongoing story and situations with the audience in a unique style, using Hindi couplets and limericks. In later episodes, after the show had reached the heights of popularity, he'd introduce the actors who played various characters in the serial and end his monologue with the various Indian language versions of the words "Hum Log." I can still hear his sort of tired voice talking to us.
With 'Hum Log', the addiction of watching 9 pm serial started. I used to make the children finish their homework and have dinner by 8.30 pm! Till that time, I was particular not to switch on the TV, thought the children will get addicted! But after 9, all of us got addicted, till about 10 pm! Our thanks goes to Vasanth Sathe, the I&B Minister at that time, who got the idea to start serials in our television and Manohar Shyam Joshi, the writer and P. Kumar Vasudev (an unfamiliar director till then!).
The serials of those days did not have advertisement break at all, if I remember correctly. After the huge success of 'Hum Log' the producers vied with each other to produce serials, which needed money...the start of catchy advertisements began!
Buniyaad:
I saw the re-run of Buniyaad a few years back and so remember the story better than Hum Log story, which was also written by Manohar Shyam Joshi and directed by the renowned director ('Sholay' fame) Ramesh Sippy. This serial was first aired in 1986.
The story is based on the Partition time, or rather the after effects of the Partition. The main character, Master Haveliram was a patriotic and a very principled man and chose teaching as his way of constructing an ideal society of dreams.
The story begins with a very youthful and exuberant Haveli Ram (Alok Nath) falling in love with his student Lajwanti (Anita Kanwar). Alok Nath is in no way handsome, neither is Anita Kanwar any epitome of beauty, but I can still feel the chemistry between them. Lajwanti will just lift her eyes up with all the love she felt for him and look at Haveli Ram ...I have got goose bumps now, I can feel their love by just remembering the scenes, after so many years! He used to speak pure Hindi and was a very shy and straight forward character! Throughout the serial he was addressing her with respect...Lajoji!
They marry and have three children. Each one was played by an iconic actor of the television at that time. The story shows the children grow up and marry and have children and live in true old pre-independence style.
In the serial, Haveli Ram goes missing. While all others think that he is dead, his wife Lajoji refuses to believe so. The whole country was hysterical. And when he returned, it was the talk of the town - we realized the power of television for the first time.
Of course, there is Veerawali (Kiron Joneja), Haveli Ram’s sister and her own story. And try as you might, you cannot forget Lochan (Soni Razdan) who plays the bitchy wife of the timid older son, played by Dalip Tahil. I liked Mazhar Khan (second son) who played a rogue character. Kanwaljeet (third son) was tall and so handsome! Asha Sachdev, who played in a negative role, as Haveli Ram's sister-in-law, acted very well, with her huge eyes rolling all the time! Vijayendra Ghatge (Veerawali's friend) became famous for his voice (everyone admired him more, because he was a blue blooded prince in real life!).
These lines became popular in those days, don't remember more details, though:
"Lajoji (Anita Kanwar) ne khaya badaam,
usme se nikla Haveliram (Alok Nath),
Haveliram ne kholi almaari,
usme se nikli Veerawaali (Kiran Juneja),
Veerawaali ne khaya paan,
usme se nikla Vrushbhaan (Vijayendra Ghatge)."
I tried my best to get the original title song of Buniyaad, but could not. Anup Jalota sang this one in a concert:
Later on, DD Metro came and film based serials like Superhit Muqabla, Show Theme etc. became famous. But people who have seen these serials will never enjoy television, like they did, in those days. Whenever people got together, the main topic of discussion was these serials. People came home early to watch them, sitting with the family. I remember planning to go to movies on non-serial days!
Will write more about other DD serials, which affected me most, in the next part!
.
It seems like ages since we last woke up to the music of shehnai playing softly and swirls of orange turning into a Doordarshan logo . And then, our favourite 'Vandemaataram' song!
Now...let me think...when did I 'see' Television, for the first time? In 1975, in Chennai, my neighbour had bought it and invited us to come to her house to watch it. We did, maybe two or three times.
We shifted to Bangalore, in 1977. In 1981, we bought our first black & white TV - ECTV. The telecast had started on the Karnataka Rajyothsava Day (Nov.1st, 1981), for the first time, in Bangalore. The first movie in Doordarshan was 'Shankar Guru' - Kannada Superstar Rajkumar's movie. We just did not put the board 'houseful'...our quite a big hall, veranda, everywhere, our neighbours were sitting and waiting to watch this movie!
This post is a happy tribute to our favourite DD.
Our Doordarshan has turned 50, this year! Doordarshan had a modest beginning with the experimental telecast starting in Delhi on 15th September, 1959, with a small transmitter and a makeshift studio. The regular daily transmission started in 1965 as a part of All India Radio. The television service was extended to Bombay and Amritsar in 1972. Till 1975, seven Indian cities had television service and Doordarshan remained the only television channel in India. Television services were separated from radio in 1976. Each office of All India Radio and Doordarshan were placed under the management of two separate Director Generals in New Delhi. Finally Doordarshan as a National Broadcaster came into existence.
We have got so many channels to watch now. High Definition TV also has come. The quality of telecast and programmes are amazing... now, it is very tough, probably impossible to keep track of the programmes aired on a dozen different television channels. We were happier with our Doordarshan with all the '‘Rukavat ke liye khed hai’ (with coloured stripes on the screen!)too! We used to wait for our Sat. Sun. evening movies. Sunday afternoon's Regional movies. We had watched some very good Bengali and Marathi movies with sub-titles. Now, feel sick of overdose of movies! I remember watching deaf and dumb news and translating it with the 'sound' switched off, with my children!
Whether it was watching 9 pm serial or news, the whole family used to sit and watch. 'The World this Week's Pronoy Roy (English) and S.N. Dua (Hindi version) were familiar to everyone. News readers, Salma Sultan with a single rose in her hair, near her ear, Usha Albequereque with her flawless English, Geethanjali Aiyer, Mrinal Pande...I can list some more...
I remember the then I & B Minister Vasanth Sathe, who introduced colour television in 1982, participating in a New Year's Eve party with some peculiar costume and mask etc. It was very entertaining than our current filmy based New Year Eve's programmes.
Apart from the family serials (I will write about them later, because it is going to be too long a story!), general knowledge serials like the Quiz programme by Sidhdharth Basu, 'Contact' by Ronnie Screwaala, 'Turning Point' by Girish Karnad and Naseeruddin Shaw (my son got a prize for writing the correct answer for a weekly question at the end of every episode!), 'Bournvita Quiz Contest' by Derek O'brien, Surabhi, by Renuka Shahane and Sidhdharth Kak, Rajini (Priya Tendulkar had acted as a social activist)...all non-filmy serials, but the whole family got involved in watching these serials. We used to keep 10-20 post cards at home, for replying the quiz questions of Surabhi, Turning Point etc. Special mention should be made for 'Bharath Ek Khoj'. My small school going children were seriously watching this serial, like they watched 'Friends' in the later years!
I cannot forget 'Mile Sur Mera Tumhaara'...people from every part of India, were happy hearing their language and seeing VIPs of their area, in this song...
Now, we switch on our television at 9 a.m. to watch 'News'...not DD theme music!
Let me write about the Doordarshan serials which touched our heart, next.
.
Read this news today, 5th Oct.'17 about the great news readers:
https://scroll.in/magazine/849481/three-doordarshan-era-anchors-recall-what-a-dignified-era-of-television-news-looked-like
Yeh daulat bhi le lo,
Yeh shoharat bhi le lo,
Bhale cheen lo mujhse meri jawani,
Magar mujhko lautaa do bachpan ka saawan,
Voh kaagaz ki kashti,
Voh baarish ka paani....
Jagjit Singh is our family's favourite ghazal singer. All of us love his songs and keep hearing them often. They are melodious as well as easy to learn and sing and have very meaningful lyrics. Doesn't use too many instruments which irritate us when we are not in mood.
Whenever we hear this song of his, we think that it is really very true about the 'bachpan ki yaadein' - childhood days.
In my home, we were three sisters and two brothers. Very ordinary middle class family. But we were very close to each other, esp. me, my sister and a brother. We used to go to our school - more than 2 kms. away - by walk. The school was quite a good school in our locality. We were quite happy in the school also. Our parents also never compelled us to study all the time, most parents were busy taking care of the house with so many kids, in those days, may have been the reason!
I am talking about the late sixties and early seventies. No TV, but the radio was important in every house. All of us would sit in front of the radio to hear our favourite programmes, like Binaca Geet Maala, Jaimaala etc. We used to bet about which song will come as no.1 song in the coming week, in Binaca Geet Maala. Kishore Kumar, Mohammad Rafi, Lata and Asha were gods for us!
I am from Udupi, Karnataka. We left that place and came to settle here, in Madras (Chennai now!) in mid sixties. When I was in Udupi, we used to hear Hindi film songs, more than Kannada film songs. So we are familiar with Hindi songs than Kannada songs. This continues even today. After learning Tamil, we started liking Tamil film songs also.
So now, back to the radio! I remember enjoying the Hindi and Tamil movie dialogues - full movie dialogue can be heard in the radio, 9.15 pm. Tamil serials in just sounds/audio. In the morning, bhoole bisre geet, sangeeth sarita (even now, I hear this programme in a small transistor in my kitchen!), Triveni in Vividh Bharathi station. In our family get togethers and weddings, we have a session of 'Anthaakshari' always and all my cousins sing mostly old Hindi songs. Occassionally 'nimbuda nimbuda', 'cholie ke peech kya hai' also pops up! Mostly the next generation joins us for these songs. And I am astounded when the next generation sings old Hindi film songs than Tamil or Kannada songs. Maybe all are exposed to Hindi film songs than the Kannada and Tamil songs!
The radio is nearly gone now, though it lifted its head slightly when the FM broadcast had started. Still , we hear them mostly, while travelling in the car. Come back home and back to TV!
Life was so simple. We had ample time for playing with our brothers and sisters, cousins or chatting with uncles and aunts. We used to visit our relatives' place often, esp. in summer holidays, it was a must. Nowadays, it is summer camps and TV for a family of one or two children.
Birthday means Paayasa and that too with jaggery! I love paayasa with jaggery, even now! I was preparing cakes at home or buy and celebrate my sons' birthdays in the later years! Samosaas and fried rice etc. also were there, though. Now, it is pizza for the next generation! We were inviting their close friends and our family friends also for the birthday celebrations. Now, restaurant visits for celebrations of any kind.
My father was a fan of Dev Anand, Raj Kapoor and Shivaji Ganesan was his favourite. He used to send us to 'his' favourite actor's movies. He accompanied us very rarely. The cost of the tickets were 54p, 81p, Re.1.50p. etc. So funny to think about them now! Sometimes some of our cousins also were joining us. Whenever we see those movies in the TV now, we wonder how we were able to enjoy/tolerate them. But we remember how happy we were for just the fun of going out together and enjoying.
Next came the TV - 1981. This is after I got married. Our first TV was a black & white ECTV. We were in Bangalore then and our house had the first TV in that locality. Kannada actor/god(!)'s 'Shankar Guru' was the first movie. We had a huge living room and it was full of local people! My husband sat in the veranda and watched the movie! Next day's movie was Raj Kumar's 'Krishna Deva Raya'! One scene is there in that movie, where Raja Krishna Deva Raya visits Thirupathi Srinivasa temple. I saw some of our neighbours doing namaskaara/pranams, in front of the TV! Slowly TV became common in every houshold.
The 9 p.m. serials became very famous. Only one channel - Doordarshan - was there and we had to watch whatever they showed in that channel. So, like all the TV viewers of those days, we became addicted to Hum Log, which came twice a week. Chutki, Badki, Lalloo were always there in the family discussion. Then 'Buniyaad', 'Ados pados' and so many others invaded our house. I remember that all the 9-9.30p.m. serials on week days were good and so we were not moving out of the house on those days. Saturday and Sunday evenings were movie days. We were going out on those days! Now, we are bored of crying serials and silly comedies. So now we are addicted to music - reality shows. Even in talent search shows, old 'sa re ga ma', anchored by Sonu Nigam was the best, till date. No dressing up by the participants, arguments by the judges, dramatisation of the show was there. The quality of the participants is good, no doubt about it. But Ganjendra Singh also had to adjust with the latest trends, I think.
Grrrrrrrrrrr, I can hear the snoring sound of you people..........let me put a stop for now!!!!!!
Like 'thinking loud', I am reading my own blog now! Funny! Is it too long? Sorry, friends!!
Well... very forgetful - hence the name 'maradhi manni', which in Tamil, means Absent Minded Queen!
Kamal, Shivaji Ganesan, Aamir, Amitabh, Rekha ... fan and like to watch GOOD English and Hindi, Tamil movies too.
My blogs:
General (en): Maradhi Manni General (ta): மறக்காத மன்னி Food (en): Swaadhisht
