Remembering the Unforgettable

I still remember the days when  television programmes were telecasted only for 4 hours per day and there was only one channel to choose from. I  still remember  those old Doordarshan days on B&W TV when we used to wait for entire week to watch  Ramayana .The days when serials kept our entire family glued to the couch .. The days when streets went silent to watch B.R. Chpora's Mahabharat. Days when people survived without internet and posted cards to participate in programmes like 'Surabhi'...The phenomenal days when people gathered in crowds to watch the telecast. Good old Days!!!!!

A  video cassete on rent costed around Rs 7 at that time... We had very kind neighbour Mr Padmnabhan . He had TV with VCR .. It fascinated us like any thing at that time.. I belonged to a simple middle class family where B&W TV was a luxury.Myself along with my sister and our friends from the society would request him to allow us to watch the new film on his TV and VCR. He would readily agree and we would then contribute Rs. 1 each to bring that video cassete from nearby shop on rent and would grab our seats at uncles house to watch that movie on sweaty afternoon in May... Uncle was really helpful and never showed any kind of attitude infact enjoyed the movie with us..

 Asking for a rupee from my mother for that contribution was also not an easy task but she would readily agree as we were to watch the movie in the society itself. I remember watching few Jeetendra movies and 'Ram lakhan' . That was fun really ..It was not so that theatres  were not there or we had to take a long walk to reach but it never occured to us to go for movie instead with that contribution. It was fun calling out friends discussing ,fighting and then concluding on which movie to go for and then taking turns to the shop for that cassete.

The movies those telecasted on weekends was a great  family time indeed . Saturday was for marathi movies and sunday was for hindi movie..The weeknend evening were long awaited for that Vikram and Vetal show followed by the movie .It was perfect family time sitting in front of TV for long hours Oh fun!!!!  This was before the cable TV was invented in India. To take subscrption of cable TV we had to pay that extra money and cable TV showed 2 movies per day one in the afternoon and one at night. timings were fixed too..We had to take long efforts before this cable TV actually entered in house as my father was very much reluctant for allowing his daughters to watch two movies a day... But soon he agreed and we had that luxury of watching movie at the comfort of my home then..I remember watching ' Maine Pyar Kiya' on this cable TV. One of my friend from the society came over and asked me to put it on. We were so thrilled  we watched it again the next day. Cable TVs used to retelecast the same movie again in the morning hours... It was magical really...

                                                    

 Writting this is like nostalgic trip down the memory lane when life was   really simple. when the only visual entertainment was Television. It would take another page or two if I start mentioning the TV serials telecasted on Doordarshan those days.. Remember Surabhi,Nukkad,Ye jo hai Jindagi,Fauji,Circus,Flop Show,Hum Log , Karamchand ,Malgudu days,Mr.Yogi,Wagale ki Duniya,Ulta Pulta,Rajani????Those were the masterpieces List is endless the more I remember the more  I am missing it...

We have so many channels which telecast movies including news ,daily soaps,sports,cartoons  one after the other.They are available at a click of button  but now during my free time also I just never grab that remote control and watch the movie..Nobody is  having great interest and time to sit by and watch..Times have changed. .Gone are the days of 21 inch B&W sets.A flat screen TV with spohisticated features is the order of the day..But the kind of fun and quality of the programme we had was much more superior than programmes on this flat screen...

I miss those good old years sometimes. Where have those days gone ?They have really vanished before we could know it

Posting a link for 'Mile Sur Mera Tumhara.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gstRrEmTcBc