Chitrahaar

Its a Friday evening- CHECK... I came home early - CHECK... I get a call *tring tring* I realize by the sound of it that I am to stay and spend the evening alone a little longer.. considering it is nothing new for me, I feel fortune struck that I get to have my ruling on that little black thing with a jhing - bang of hooves n grooves which we call the remote...

I am excited - CHECK !!

I switch to the channel which always keep proclaiming "isko dekho" ZOOM - CHECK!!

I mindlessly listen to a fat lady, dressed like a bimbo and analysing what was right and wrong in those people who were celebrating lives (those are the ones we call celebrity na??) I sit on my bean bag looking at her as she goes on and on about the attendance, attire, this quotient, that quotient n what not!! As I consider my self to be a someone who is interested in Fashion and also consider myself as someone who knows the difference between lilac and violet, I try hard to listen to her and then I suddenly realize- what am I doing listening to this nasty, bitchy, over-the-top and definitely irritating lady, who is talking as if she is giving a sermon !!
(I remember then how boring it used to get when Mrs Swamy - My class-teacher in std 8th, who was incidently a reverend too- used to go on and on in the morning assembly)

SWITCH - Star Movies(nothing)
SWITCH - HBO (nothing)
SWITCH - Pix (nothing)
SWITCH - Studio (nothing)
SWITCH - Warner Brothers (nothing)
SWITCH - NDTV (nothing)
SWITCH - MTV(nothing)
SWITCH - Channel V (nothing)

This and that and this and that and I stumble upon good old Doordarshan And guess what was being aired - CHITRAHAAR!!
All of a sudden I went into Nostalgia.. the nostalgia of those Fridays and Wednesdays.. When Mummy used to finish her evening chores.. Kids used to come back home after playing earlier.. the clock would chime 830pm and the whole family would huddle together in front of the not so idiot box wondering which songs will they get to hear.

AS far as I remember, Chitrahaar never really got me excited. Except for the fact that I knew I could be spared from the homework for half an hour and then later that no one would check on me if I were on the phone discussing the latest,juicy and yummiest gossip of school, my girl-friends, their affairs et al. But I must admit that I would still keep one year on the TV - you never know when my favorite number would be on air! But mostly it used to be some old black and white songs. Somewhere a nasal voice with deep emotions would crack its voice box and occasionally I would here my dad saying "kya actor tha, kya gata tha, arre bechara chali nahi yeh, magar picture achi this"

So today when I stumbled upon Chitrahaar I saw another series of Black and White songs anchored by a not-so-cool lady who rattled out a pre-scripted,mugged up lines emotionlessly. And then I wondered there are so many channels, so many serials, there is saas-bahu, reality TV,Lifestyle shows, fashion tv, oprah winfrey and also a ticket to becoming a millionaire, so then why was Doordarshan still there where it was 10 yrs back when i stopped watching it..

Why is it so synonymous for anything "government" to be boring. What prompts such public sector companies to continue to operate in the same old sluggish manner, like the world will remain patient, that nothing has changed, nothing will. What prompts them to be so oblivious of the fact that this world, this country,its people, their mentality,lifestyle and their reasons and beliefs have changed?

Doordarshan is a tax payers' organization, We the people pay for it from our intellect, knowledge hard-work and sweat.Do we have a right to entertainment or is it just ok for the government to grace us by allowing the private and foreign TV channels!!

From Chitrahaar to Desi Top 10 to FTV we have come a long way, I hope our government realizes it too. Otherwise there will come a day when the generation after us would read about doordarshan in their 6th Standard history books.