50 Glorious Years of Doordarshan

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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.

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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

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Bird Loving People Of Kollukudipatti Village Celebrate Soundless And Smokeless Deepavali

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WINGED VISITORS: Migratory birds nest at Vedankudi Bird Sanctuary.

Just a couple of days back, my friend, Indianhomemaker had posted an article, expressing how the smoke and sounds of Deepavali fireworks, affect the basic instincts of the birds and animals. She writes:

'Have we traumatized and confused them by exposing them to harmfully loud noises? Every Diwali humans instinctively cover their ears to protect them from their own celebrations. Animals and birds have sharper hearing, but no way to cover their ears.'

I read this article yesterday in Times of India and felt happy to know that some good humans are still there to give importance to the birds and animals' feelings.

Saturday night across the country will be lit up by firecrackers shipped mostly from Sivakasi. But barely 90km away, a tiny area along Sivaganga, in Tamilnadu,  will ensure that the skies remain dark and quiet on Diwali. For three decades, Singampunari hasn’t set off a single firecracker for fear that it will scare away exotic birds that nest in the Vedankudi bird sanctuary. Migratory birds wing in here from Siberia, Russia and Europe.

Kollukudipatti and Vedankudipatti villages are both close to the 40-acre Vettankudi Bird Sanctuary off Madurai-Tirupathur road in small drainage basins.

V Selvaraj of Kollukudipatti says 500 families in the two villages abide by the unwritten rule that bans firecrackers. An ardent bird lover, he regularly visits the sanctuary and says it’s a treat to watch the birds and create awareness about the need to protect them.

P Swarnavalli, another villager, says even children do not pester parents for firecrackers. ‘‘We tell them about the shivering chicks in the nests and how they can die due to shock. They do not ask for fireworks" she says.

A couple of Red Bulbuls nested in our garden recently and I have seen the chick birds growing up, day by day.  The parents took so much care to bring them up.  It is not easy when they nest on a tiny plant, which is near the road with heavy traffic.  Thank god, they grew up and flew away, without any harm.  Every villager in the Kollukudipatti village,  must be feeling like the parent birds, to protect them from any harm.  

Hats off to them!

Edited one hour later to add:

Happy Deepavali to you all...I have already wished in my previous post, but this post  also seemed important for posting today!

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Happy Deepavali To All My Friends Here

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I wish all my blog friends and their families, a very very

Happy  Deepavali!

May this festival bring happiness and prosperity to all of you!

God Bless you all!

Medical Advancements...Feel Happy As Well As Scary

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'Spider pill' used for scans'

I was suffering from allergic dry cough for a long time and it was very difficult for me to talk continuously,  even for 2 minutes.  I was taking some treatment, but nothing worked.  One doctor asked me to undergo 'endoscopy' to know how far the allergic ulcers had spread in my throat (later on, some other doctor said that endoscopy for allergic ulcers,  was unnecessary!).  

So, I went through the painful process of endoscopy.  One thick tube (more than 1/2" dia) with a bulb, was inserted through my throat.  I felt like vomiting but the doctor asked me to suppress the feeling and co-operate!    He had applied some lubricant on the outer side of the tube and still,  it was painful.  Somehow, it was over and I was given a clean chit which said that I had minor ulcers in my throat!  I got cured with 2 years of consuming ayurvedic medicine later on and now, my throat is quite alright.

When my son sent this link, which describes the latest advancement in endoscopy,  I felt very happy.  People need not undergo this painful process hereafter and you have to swallow just a small pill.   Everything will be taken care of by the doctors who watch the pill going through every  nook and corner of our stomach and decide to repair the part, which is damaged!

Now, read this article and watch the video:

Scientists in Italy think they may have come up with a new way to scan for cancer of the stomach or colon.

The 'spider pill', which is fitted with a camera, is swallowed by the patient and once within the colon or intestine the legs are opened. Duncan Kennedy reports.

The video is interesting to watch.  The pill after finishing its job, comes out naturally...amazing, really!

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Bengal Tiger, Our Cats And Dogs, Are The Same!

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My son sent this article yesterday. The two year old Bengal tiger, spent 24 hours at the top of a 15 ft. tower. Read further:

A Bengal tiger has become stuck at the top of a new 15ft (5m) activity tower at a North Somerset zoo after climbing it for the first time.

Two-year-old Tanvir has spent 24 hours on the "enrichment" tower at Noah's Ark Zoo Farm in Wraxall.

He took a few seconds to scale the tower, which has branch-like platforms designed to test his ingenuity.

But the zoo said after shinning up the exercise structure on Monday, he has become too frightened to come down.

Our cats and dogs, too were behaving like this. 

The black cat is our house cat, Zorro, when he was young.  The other one's name is Gundanna! My cousin's daughter (2 year old!) changed his name from 'Gunda' to 'Gundanna'.  We were happy with one cat, our Zorro and did not want too many cats inside our house.  So this fellow used to sit on the service veranda, eat and go.  Sometimes he used to sit and tolerate Zorro, playing with his tail!  He was always scared about even a small sound.  Used to get gashes in his face from other cats.  If some other cat chased him, he used to run up the Teak tree and wail. We used to stand on the parapet wall of our terrace, hold a stick for him, touching the tree and cajole  him to come down.  He used to be so scared that he was peeing and shitting with fear!

This kitten, Nero is Zorro's son!  He was very very playful.   This one also playfully went up the teak tree one night and it was raining heavily.  The mother was calling him from our veranda for sometime and then came inside and was telling us something.  We went behind her and saw Nero on the teak tree.  My husband went up a ladder and took him out.  Next second, this fellow came down running into the veranda and sitting near his mother, was watching Appa (my husband), climbing down the ladder slowly in the pouring rain!

Two days later, he was calling us for help from the next door neighbour's house,  at 10 in the night. He had gone up the roof top of their shed and did not know to come down!  Appa, again took the ladder, woke up the neighbour and brought him down!

Andy was our first pet!  A long post is getting ready about him!  He too was getting scared for small small things.  In our previous house, we had an iron ladder to go to the terrace.  He used to come (run) with me to the terrace easily.  But he never came down on his own, even once...he was so scared that he was asking me in so many sounds to carry him down and I was obeying him, always!

So, now we know that cats, dogs and TIGERS are the same!