Yes. Satellite receivers. Or whatever they are.
Every respectable neighbourhood worthy of its air, has dishes that sprout. Forget affluent residential premises.
Village houses sport them. Slums sport them. It is mainstream ! Really.
Many years ago, we used to have skeleton like antenna in the terrace. And that used to get to the desultory colour TV programs like Krishi Darshan and Chitrahaar.
But the most prominent amongst them all was the English News. Watched promptly, every night at 9.00 PM. More for picking up the language than for understanding what was with the country !
The newer generation would perhaps not know the likes of Neethi Ravindran, Rini Simon, Preet.K.S. Bedi, Geetanjali Iyer, Tejeshwar Sigh, Bhaskar Bhattacharjee and Minu…. ( i am unable to recall all of them ) read the news. With impeccable pronunciation ( at least that’s how it seemed to me back then) and neat rendering ! The signature tune of the 9 0 clock news seems still new in my mind !
The modern days, are different. You have smart technology, and ‘news anchors’ who for some reason have to have a laptop in front of them. (Sometimes i wonder if they play solitaire of some arbid game over there). What else do you do when you have breaking news like ‘Billi Bolta hai’ ( a cat is speaking ) is a scroll !! Sigh !
And with OB vans, and microphones passed on to people who seem keen to scale a quick height by making a Kanchenjunga from their backyard mud… there are bound to be some intensely comical scenes.
Like the young ‘journalist’ who thrusts the microphone just under the nose of the wife of a Sri Lankan cricketer. (A cricketer who has been injured in the terrorist attack in Pakistan). And posts the question, ‘ so were you praying for your husbands safety when you heard of the attack ?’
The lady was polite and answered in the affirmative. I mean, i could have said something like ‘Not really. I was actually praying for the pizza to arrive on time’ !
But of course, these are not Neethi Ravindran or Rini Simon. And todays language education happens through 160 characters. Of a text message.
So, todays news is about cats, dogs, politicians, suits, big screens, thumping voices and entertainment. And there is never ending repeat telecasts.
So there. Go on. Watch the news. While i think of Ms. Ravindran !
You brought back so many memories of doordarshan news.
Loved Rini Simon’s pronunciation…and wasnt Bhaskar Bhattacharjee the one with the mush??
Never liked Minu though…she lacked the personality or the gravity ….
Neethi, Rini and Tejesh are the best.
I just can’t stand Shobana Ravi in tamil news.
hahah!! Good take on that!
There was a similar observation in the movie Mumbai meri jaan. The TV anchor asks a woman whose husband recently got killed how she was feeling and was rebuked by her BF about it!
You got me all nostalgic about good old DD! Not just the news (which we used to diligently watch of course, but all the serials before and after too!! Those were the days (yes, grandma!)
Believe it or not, we still haven’t got a dish! Just watch local channels, if at all!!
The media is a blessing and a curse. We crave to know, but then can be fed nonsense and lies.
Mostly, I try not to watch the news or spend too much time with the TV. Before I married Greg, I only had 9 channels on my television, much to the horror of my friends. Lol.
Though, last night, one interesting thing was seen on the news. A lady had a “face transplant.” Science is something worthy of the news.
You are so right…now we all have a dish, with dishy looking anchors as well, but what is served up on that dish is often undigestable or inedible.
My parents were the last folks in the building to buy a TV, in the days before colour. I remember all the people you mention, as well as a lady called Komal G. B. Singh, who would also land up to comment on Republic Day. Such was the newsreader glamour that once Gitanjali Aiyer was in our Rajdhani chair car compartment travelling from Delhi, and everyone was amazed to see that she was normal, as she rushed to the door at Baroda to meet some relatives at that stop, and that she yelled at her kids, and yes, her hair could look out of place …. 🙂
Many of today’s Marathi theatre folk were Marathi newsreaders then, and the late Smita Patil was one such. Another thing was they played the National Anthem at shutdown everyday, and we used to actually stand up when that happened….
No reality show, but every thing was real :-)………
You brought back some good old memories…
//More for picking up the language than for understanding what was with the country !//
This is so true in my case, my sis used to watch it, so I had no other option but watch the same.
I kind of like the current way of news (not being so formal). But I too have wondered why they have a laptop in front of them. Well Technology is kewl… That answers! 🙂
I used to like Geetanjali Iyer I think, but I was such a kid, I think I went more by their looks. I felt GI looked like my mama 🙂 lol. Im trying to find a pic of her to make sure Im talking about the right one.
Living away from home I dont see the Indian news as much, but when I do I see the one change being there need for the voice to be:
– screaming for some reason. I mean why are you screaming??
– heighten the tension level with the urgency in the voice. Its almost like the more intense, worried and hasty you sound, the more passionate or better you are?? Well not in my opinion.
Anyone else feels the same, or is it just me?
Listen to some of the older news casts on youtube!
Amazing to see high technology spread. I haven’t had a TV feed for the past two years and I don’t feel like I’ve missed anything. There are much better sources now. Sad to see where TV has gone, especially not that there is such a widespread audience.
I share your feelings on this, Kavi.
As do most sensible people in India (I hope). Indian news channels have gone to the dogs with their inane, biased, and just plain stupid coverage of events.
DD may have had flaws, but the news readers were awesome. Objective, to-the-point, no-nonsense coverage of meaningful events. Not silly stuff like talking cats!
good one Kavi.
that is one big dish!
coincidence indeed that we are both thinking tv’s..
🙂
Hey you left out Usha Albuquerque. I used to get a great kick just just spelling out her surname…al-ba-ruque…no, hang on, al-ba-ker-kirk..wait…alba-kirk.wow! thts some education!
SGD : Yes. The Bhaskar chap was the one with the Mouchtache ! And ofcourse, Rini Simon’s pronounciation was impeccable to say the least.
Priya : Ah they are good arent they. That choice set is in sync with mine.
And my mom called on the phone to remind me of Nijanthan, Ramakrishnan and others from the Tamizh news times. Shobana Ravi used to be good i thought..
Roshini : You still dont have a dish ?!?! Hmm !! You seem to be doing pretty much ok with the memories of what was news i guess !! But with the kind of baby sitting that you do….well, where would be the time !
Aleta : Yes. I saw that face transplant story too. It is interesting. Science brought the world closer. And now, geography has become history !
But people remain people. Thankfully. Warts and all !!
🙂
Sucharita : Undigestible. Inedible. And sometimes downright revolting ! Yes. Revolting. But i guess there is a market for such stuff too. For they seem to be thriving. May be i am just a little too old !
Ugich Konitari : Ofcourse, Komal Sigh. I think she had a big flower on her ! I think so !
And you travelled with Gitanjali Aiyar !! Hmm. You can quote that many times over for many generations 🙂
And of reality shows…phew. I think i will be having a separate post on that !
KK : Kewl ! Well, i wonder about the cool quotient in a laptop 😉
Unless ofcourse you are playing some game !!
But i guess in some form it makes them appear tech savvy !!
SSQuo : Exactly. Exactly. why do they have to scream. I have never been able to piece that together.
And why do they have song sequences woven in…and why they have some suspense thriller music when reporting a crime scene…all this i just dont understand !!
Christine : Ofcourse not. You havent missed anything ! Life is so much better off without them ! And in any case all else is available elsewhere !!
Amreekandesi : yes. i agree. Of the many faults you could accuse DD of, the newsreaders usually didnt figure there. And those were very different times as well !!
Sundar : yes indeed. That is one big dish !!
SAnjeev : Ah yes..Usha kirk !! She used to be a good as well !! Ofcouse !! How could i forget her…and her name !?!
Kavi, all this takes me to what you had told me ‘ I read the Bible everyday,I hear the news channels everyday, In this way I know what both sides are upto’
Thankk God!