Doordarshan golden days

"Alif laila alif laila alif laiaiaila".. I wish i could sing the tune over here. This is one of the lines which comes to my mind when i think of the old Doordarshan days.Even though the only knowledge in hindi was through the school textbooks and hindi movies and songs, everybody in the family would be in front of the idiot box for the few hours when there was something to watch. We used to love watching the ads too. I still remember that we kids used to stare at the rainbow colored screen saver kind of screen hoping that it would change any minute.

The serials Ramayan, Mahabharat and later on Jai Hanuman, Om namah shivaya, Sree Krishna were watched by everybody crossing all religious barriers.
The sundays which screened ramayan and mahabharat used to leave the streets empty as whole family used to be in front of the tv.Also the arabian tales of 'alif laila' which was screened in the night was eagerly waited as the family members used to finish off their dinner as early as possible.While Serials such as Chanakya, Tipu sulthan showed the brilliance and valor of historical figures, those like vikram-bethal,alif laila,chandrakanta,malgudi days entertained us. My dad's favorite used to be 'Wagale ki Duniya' which showed the life style of a middle class family. We kids used to get up early on weekends to watch Mowgli, He-Man and Disney cartoons and Duck tales. I also remember watching this english serial named 'Street Hawk' with a cop on a ultra speed motorcycle with a cool background music. That bike was like the dream bike for all students during those days.

Being a fan of good ads i would still rate old vintage ads something which created a bond between the customer and the product.
Nirma('Wahsing powder Nirma..'),Liril('with a bikini clad lady ;)'),Santoor soap,Nerolac paints(i loved the music so much!!),Parle G,Amul Doodh,Vicks action 500,Fevikwik,Lijjat pappad, Ajanta clocks,Vicco vajradhanti,Cinthol soap,Vimal suitings,Fevicol('Zor laga ke'),Colgate,Surf,Complan,Goldspot,Lifebuoy('Lifebouy hain jahan thandurusthi hai wahan'),Cadburys('Kuch Khas hain hum sabhi mein'),Bajaj ('Hamara Bajaj'),Titan (oh i just love the music!!),Rasna ('I love you Rasna'),Pepsi('yehi hai right choice baby' campaign) i could just go on. These ads brought us close to the products. Then there used to be this small ads and cartoons which spread social messages like 'consider both girl and boy child as equal', 'send kids to school', 'give polio injection to new born', 'Do not spread rumours' etc.Mostly these were presented in the cartoon form or as small ads with beautiful music.Then the songs 'Mile sur mera tumhara', 'Vande Matharam' which used to be aired in Doordarshan during early 90's were a phenomenon.

Another programme which glued every family member to the screen was Rangoli and Chitrahar. The presentation of these programmes used to be so different every time that it never got bored even when the songs were not being played.Unlike nowadays a lot of people used to watch informative programs such as 'Surabhi', 'Turning Point','Sports Talk','Krishi Darshan' ,'Bharat Ek Khoj' and even the DD News which had crisp and 'to the point' information presented with elegence. Even though i never used to understand a word i used to sit next to my dad and watch it just for the feel of it. :)

During the summer vacation and other festival vacations when we used to visit our grandparents in the village, there used to be tv only in the house of our gulf returned neighbour's house. So we used to go there in the evening to watch serial or movies aired in the doordarshan. Almost all the village folk used to come if it was a movie which was being screened on a sunday.

Doordarshan and Akashvani were part of our daily life. It was the only connection a person in a south indian state had with the north indian counterpart and vice versa. Since it was the only channel present during those days and the programmes were limited to certain hours, everyone had enough time to spent with family, friends and carry out other hobbies. God!! I miss those days. Its sad that the new generation will never get a taste of that life.I end this post Wishing for a time machine to get back to those days. Its time for the last song from Akashvani :)