Last night as I hit bed, I suddenly remembered the first time we had television at home. Can't remember the exact year but it was surely when my brother and I were in school, probably in the late 80's. Prior to that we used to run to Sadiq's house - our neighbour who had TV and very many of us children would gather at his place to watch the Sunday movie screened on Doordarshan - the only channel available.
Our first TV was Sanyo - or Sankyo? - at least that was what was written on the box. It was a second-hand one Papa had managed to purchase, I think from his trusted electrician, Danny! It was a black and white one, which we were clearly instructed not to meddle with. For fear of spoiling the on/off push button, it was directly put on and off from the main power switch. Once in a way, the signal would scramble and that would set off a very amusing process of three of us at different levels of the house attempting to restore clarity. Papa would be on the roof adjusting the antenna, Willy would be on the ground below where Papa was and I would be indoors infront of the TV, watching out and shouting exactly at which point the clarity was best. That was something!
The first movie that we watched on OUR OWN television was Mayuri. The only other movie (name) that I remember watching on it was Shatrang ke khiladi - because that was a total damper! But most of all we really looked forward to the serial, The Sword of Tipu Sultan. It used to be aired on Saturday night for an hour. We all loved it and watched it without fail. However the long bits of advertisements were a bit of a nuisance. I even remember making a list of each ad being screened on one occasion - just to count the number of them!
I still remember the sole purpose Papa bought it - Mummy and he did not want us to be running around our neighbour's house, asking permission from our home and their home, to watch some occasional Didi's comedy show or a weekend movie. Though we continued to love watching TV at home, the sense of wonder and amusement did die down a bit, in the years to come. I don't remember when we graduated from that old B&W TV to the colour one, but that old one did serve us well and for long. I can still remember distinctly where exactly it was placed in the house and how we used to put it on.
Our first TV was Sanyo - or Sankyo? - at least that was what was written on the box. It was a second-hand one Papa had managed to purchase, I think from his trusted electrician, Danny! It was a black and white one, which we were clearly instructed not to meddle with. For fear of spoiling the on/off push button, it was directly put on and off from the main power switch. Once in a way, the signal would scramble and that would set off a very amusing process of three of us at different levels of the house attempting to restore clarity. Papa would be on the roof adjusting the antenna, Willy would be on the ground below where Papa was and I would be indoors infront of the TV, watching out and shouting exactly at which point the clarity was best. That was something!
The first movie that we watched on OUR OWN television was Mayuri. The only other movie (name) that I remember watching on it was Shatrang ke khiladi - because that was a total damper! But most of all we really looked forward to the serial, The Sword of Tipu Sultan. It used to be aired on Saturday night for an hour. We all loved it and watched it without fail. However the long bits of advertisements were a bit of a nuisance. I even remember making a list of each ad being screened on one occasion - just to count the number of them!
I still remember the sole purpose Papa bought it - Mummy and he did not want us to be running around our neighbour's house, asking permission from our home and their home, to watch some occasional Didi's comedy show or a weekend movie. Though we continued to love watching TV at home, the sense of wonder and amusement did die down a bit, in the years to come. I don't remember when we graduated from that old B&W TV to the colour one, but that old one did serve us well and for long. I can still remember distinctly where exactly it was placed in the house and how we used to put it on.
No comments:
Post a Comment