When one is teaching a foreign language, one knows that students typically face two major difficulties, learning grammar and acquiring vocabulary. One of the tricks I teach my students is associating the foreign language word with either English or Marathi.
Well, German words are anyways a little hard on the learners, what with their jumbo size and the despite-possible-rules-difficult-to-guess triple gendered articles. The trick mentioned above is hence very useful. Let us look at the words, "Fernseher" and "fernsehen". Most all students find it easy to remember them as fern/दूर sehen/seher/दर्शन.
With every new batch hence, one remembers the "Doordarshan" yet again. Not that it is easy to forget it. It ruled the roost till the late 80's, early 90's. It was the only channel till mid 80's. Most programmes then used to be indeed quality programmes. The Sunday morning "Chitrahaar", for example, was a throwback to the mellifluous songs from the golden era of Hindi film music, the songs from the 50's and 60's. Its popularity was as immense as the Amin Sayani programme on Radio Ceylon.
Even the serials were wonderful. The comedy serials did not obsess with cross-dressing. Nor were the jokes either stupid or vulgar. They used to great comments on daily lived lives and the small little problems therein. Remember "Yeh Jo hai zindagi"? Practically every comedy artist then was part and parcel of this lovely serial with lovable characters you could easily identify with, fun situations enacted with ideal comic timing.
There used to be very many literature based serials such as "Tamas"." Ek Kahani" would depend on famous American/British/foreign language stories adapted to Indian contexts. In fact, for the "Eenadu" media group, I had prepared a huge list of such stories, their themes, basic storylines and how to adapt them to 'our' world.
And the ubiquitous serials? Well, there used to be Mahabharat and Ramayana. Even the daily soaps did not show the vicious kind of politicking within the family and the household that mostly forms the staple diet of the silly serials today.
May be, the technology was not as fine tuned as it is today. Yet the content and the artistry were far far better. There was, moreover, a certain innocence, and hence charm, sans any manipulation. Why, even the advertisements were fun, and their jingles were catchy.
Now all that is door-darshan indeed! Yet this vista of the past is not long lost. It continues to allure our souls ever! The black-n-white vision then continues even now to be more colourful than any pallet of any artist!
Pratima@ The good ole times when the 'idiot box' was neither idiotic nor eccentric!
P.S. :Oh, yes, my eldest nephew, Amar, used to love the Doordarshan tune. Till he was almost three, the moment the t.v. was switched on, from wherever he was, he would hasten-n-run to listen to it. Till date, I remember the joy and the wonder on his happy handsome face as he listened to the tune with rapt attention. That memory used to tug at my heart whenever I heard the tune far away in Hyderabad.
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