When I was a kid, these four words bring a lot of memories in front of my eyes. It’s like as if a slideshow has begun of the good old days of my childhood. As a kid, I don’t remember watching cartoon network. But I do remember watching Mickey Mouse, Jungle book and Duck tales every Sunday morning. Uncle Scrooch has always left me mesmerized about his voice. Mougli and his family made me feel that I should have some pets too. Also I remember watching Ramanand Sagar’s Mahabharath, Ramamyana, Sri Krishna, Chandrakantha, Captain Vyom, Vikram Bethal. After few years ‘Shaktimaan’ was also added to the list. There is only one thing common to all the shows mentioned here and that is ‘Doordarshan’. I think it also talks about the fact that there were fewer TV channels and fewer houses which had got a cable connection.
Now what did this do to our families? I was a part of a joint family then. From my view, each and every show on Doordarshan made the entire family sit together. It developed a sense of belongingness among every member of the family. How much the cartoon was enjoyed by the kids that much the elders of the house enjoyed too. Mahabharatha and Ramamyana helped many young parents get a list of bedtime stories for their kids. Also, since we had got just a single Television set for the entire house all members of the family mingled with each other irrespective of the minute differences. This helped in bridging the gap that everyday work creates among each other. The Sunday was meant for the family. From what I have seen, every time you become a year old, the mind gets corrupted more. The innocent mind gets to know of so many things from the society and that young mind has a battle within itself to choose what it has to do. So, as we grew the big joint family turned into a free, independent family.
Now, we have innumerable channels that are broadcasting various shows. In just a family of 5, we have two television sets and one computer loaded with movies and yet it’s still not enough. When mother sees a news channel, my brother would want to watch the IPL match. When the two TV sets are occupied, I would want to watch the MTV Roadies reality show. The computer gets occupied by someone else in the family. All these incidents create minute differences but the problem is the lack of programs that are helping a family in bridging this gap. The problem can either be due to the choices of channels we have or the varieties of programs being telecasted. Or is it the number of cricket matches being played? It’s just that there are fewer programs which connect to audiences of both the age groups. And when once in a while there are shows like KBC, the entire family connects to it. Of late there has been one such program that’s bringing my family together and encouraging us to have healthy discussions. Come every Sunday, 11 AM all the seats of the sofa are occupied in no time and when the volume ascends we hear the song “Jayathe Jayathe Satyameva Jayathe..”. Thank you Amir Khan for such a show, it is not only bringing out issues that our country needs to fight but its helping in building a connection between every member of my house.
very nice anna!