Friday 21 November 2014

TV and We!

I
 still don’t know if television is a boon or bane? If I should curse television for making us all homebound and less social or the internet for making us the laziest (dumbest) ever generation.

Today being World Television Day, I shall focus on television than internet I guess.

So, here I ask…

Can you imagine a life free from TV serials, innumerous advertisements, redundant and mostly meaningless news? Can you wonder what you would do if there was no TV at all? Or should I rephrase and say, if there were lesser channels?

Have you ever wished that DD remained and other channels never flourished and conquered our lives? That our parents didn’t watch serials and we didn’t watch the same trailers and songs?

To give a background, TV came into India on 15th September 1959 ONLY. This means we still lived without it and that we were saner!

Initially, portable and black & white TV came into existed. It demanded lesser space and drew lesser attention from the onlookers. Today, it has grown considerably that TV is available in 40” with HD clarity (in 3D also) demanding an entire wall. If you have speakers and want to make a home theater, then you may need one entire room! Implicitly, this also shows that like the camel in age-old fable which slowly occupies poor Sheik’s tent, the TV has conquered our personal space too.

Children wants to watch Chota Bheem, grandparents wants Mahabharata, Parents need to watch (never-ending) serials and younger ones want songs no matter what. If you have ever shared your room and lived in a PG, you would be knowing that every girl wants to watch romantic English movies. And, the boys I say, wants sports only. They can even watch the re-telecasts with the same interest and anxiety as the live performance. Newly married housewives watch Cookery shows as if they are going to cook all those complicated dishes when they don’t even know how to use a rice cooker. Finally, everyone regardless of age,are addicted to Reality Shows. Is Kim K really going to be in Big Boss?

No matter what, TV is intelligent and knowledgeable. It knows the Evolution Theory and understands what “Survival of the Fittest” means. Today we have personal computers, laptops, smartphones, tablets and what not? If we have intermittent internet connection (Which is not a luxury anymore) we can watch almost any TV program at any given time. However, the importance of TV has not diminished. On the other hand, modern day TV is so advanced that you can connect to Wi-Fi and connect to Skype (to chat with family and friends who are away), Facebook (to instantly share what you are watching) and YouTube (to stream almost anything anytime). There are options to pause and record as well.

And the outcome?

We prefer to watch TV to socializing. Gone are the days of befriending neighbors. In fact, many of us have the habit of watching TV while taking food; yet another family time sacrificed. Nobody can miss their serials or reality shows!!!

Walking down the memory lane, I remember that we have always had a color TV at home. I should have been 6 or 7 years old when my parents declared their decision to get cable connection. I can never forget how much I cried. I pleaded them against the decision. I told them that I was happy with Chithrahaar and Rangoli. But, then cable connection came home. Life changed. I miss those antennas and the struggle to get the signal. Do you recall? When antennas were not used anymore, several itinerary traders evolved with the promise to mold Gods, flowers, birds, animals and such alike out of it. I bet that you would be having something alike in your attic.

In short, I wish that life was simple. Easier.

I wish that I was born 50 years before.


20 comments:

  1. Change is constant and is always in the air.Fifty years hence none of the gadgets you are tied up with either at home or office presently would be there.They would be antique items like gramophone kept in museums.Can you imagine there was only one telephone in the entire street in a rich man's house and wonder at the simple device called cellphone that brings the world at your feet.Let us feel happy at new discoveries and not bemoan the loss of old antique stuff.The old order yields place to new in every sphere.

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    1. I have heard from my mother that earlier only one house used to have telephones. Don't you think that encouraged sharing and gave a sense of belongingness. Today anyone can afford anything; but the price of isolation...

      I am happy about discoveries and advancements. But, I am sad that we are paying a high price for that!

      Thanks sir :)

      Delete
  2. Interesting post. Invention of TV is just the beginning. We are yet to see lot of new "things".

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    1. Let those new "things" not ruin humanity and togetherness...
      Thanks SG :)

      Delete
  3. nice post! i really enjoyed watching 'potli baba ki', 'duck tales' and 'alif laila' on TV, these shows we super hits in those times!! However of late, the explicit content has flooded the TV shows and it is alarming.

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    1. Ah! I remember watching Alif Laika too...
      So true Ankita... Today we have almost everything... Therefore, nothing really excites us anymore...

      Thanks :)

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  4. Replies
    1. In that case, I have to tell you tat you are lucky...
      Having said that, I watch almost no TV these days too :)

      Delete
  5. Life is simpler these days with plethora of channels on your LED 40'' colour Television . The remote is in your hand too. Simply press the" Power off " button.

    These wretched , soap opera producers are not besieging us to watch their nonsense serialised for donkeys years. It is we who sit by and make ourselves wither away by the insensible and socially sickening stories and go gaga over.

    One must have the right sensibility to decide what programme to watch.
    Certainly TV serials have gone to depths from the simpler days of Mr Ya Mrs or Khandhan and the like.

    ReplyDelete
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    1. Very true...

      But then what other options are available in TV? It is either boring serials... Senseless news... Sensuous relaity shows or redundant trailers/songs/movies...

      Thanks Anil :)

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  6. I am not much of a TV person, and I wouldn't say it is bad to watch TV channels. But yes, the point you highlighted of not socializing and instead sit and watch TV is something we should all think of. TV should be used just as a form of entertainment, and not an addiction.

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    1. But, how well do we manage that thin line of restricting TV as a medium for entertainment and not letting us get addicted to it...

      Thanks Amrit :)

      Delete
  7. I hear you, Sistah! It's always best to avoid visiting your relatives' when they are rooted in front of their televisions for their daily dose of serials :D

    I so wish people would pick up a book or two in the meanwhile.

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    Replies
    1. So true... cz they will force us endure those torturous serials too...!!!

      Thanks :)

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  8. A good topic nicely penned. I don't like serials for we know beforehand how it would progress. More or less TV is an entertaining entity,but serial makes us feel sad. o TV is a boon as well as a bane.

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    1. Really.. serials are depressing... irritating and annoying at the same time!!!

      Thanks Rudra :)

      Delete
  9. I don't watch TV nowadays, although I would sometimes be tempted to watch those movies made in 80s and 90s. I feel they were more meaningful, or maybe i am rooted in the past.

    I think technology is also enabling socializing and getting to know others whom we would have never met. For example, Facebook and Blogs allow us to express ourselves and share so many things.

    Destination Infinity

    ReplyDelete
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    1. Social networking sites have really helped us in expanding our social frontier.
      But, some gets so addicted to it that they forget the real world and people beside, thereby drowning themselves in virtual world.

      Thanks for the perspective :)

      Delete
  10. Television...
    Some good some bad. Like anything else moderation is the key.
    I remember watching black and white shows at my grandfather's feet.

    I tend to write more these days. But I am not computer savvy enough to listen to computer music at the same time. I prefer the quiet to get lost in my writing :)

    There is always the option to turn of any machine ;) I don't have an electric can opener. And while I have a food processor I like to chop my own veggies. But then I'm a grandmother now... I do like the educational shows for my grandchildren. But nothing can take the place of going out for a walk or discovering the back yard birds when the weather is good.

    We are in the midst of a snow storm now. 6 to 8 inches due by the end of the day. Be well.

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    1. Wow!! Snow storm.... for someone who has never seen snow, I think it would be real fun!

      TV is good... but it is bad if it becomes too much...

      Thanks for your perspective madam :)

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