Telly Tales part-2

If I gave the impression in this post that I've grown up watching only English television, let me not delude you. Fortunately I grew up in times when Doordarshan produced cult shows and Indian television had not been besmirched by the crass commercialization. The private channels too were not the money-spinning, balderdash churning channels that they've become today.
Here are a few personal favorites.

1. Malgudi Days

This is the first television series that sprang up in my mind when I was thinking of good old Doordarshan days.

Who can forget the mischievous Swami ? His Calvin-like unwillingness to go to school., his constant tomfoolery, his best friends Mani and Rajam. A masterpiece penned down by R.K Narayan and the hilarious sketches done by brother R.K Laxman proved to be a lethal combination. Of all the stories I was most inclined to the ones that featured under ' Swami and Friends'. What's more! Even the title tune was so catchy- "Ta na na tana nana na..ta na na tana nana na". :) Malgudi days were fun days.

2. Chitrahaar

 

Long before MTV came to India in an aeroplane, long before we requested our cable-walla to tune in Channel V,. long before You and Tube became a single word-there was Chitrahaar. And Wednesdays were changed forever. Every Wednesday at 8:30 P.M we would huddle in the living room and watch with rapt attention the Bollywood music being televised. I was quite small then, but my enjoyment was not. I loved Bollywood songs! The captivating music,the dancing around trees, the change of costumes within seconds. It was my first glimpse into the world of cinema, and...Mercy! I was awed by these movie stars at that time. I thought they were really remarkable people as they could  sing so melodiously without catching their breaths while doing those graceful dance movements! Also the fact that they could change their clothes, jewelery and make-up faster than I could untie my ribbon seemed to be a superhuman feat. I don't know how many times have I looked back and thought- "God, I was stupid!"

3. Mahabharat

          Ath Shri Mahabharat Katha

          Katha hain purushaarth ki, yeh swaarth ki, paramaarth ki

          Saarthi jinke bane Shri Krishna, Bharat Parth ki

Mahabharat has always appealed to me. I think it still is the greatest story ever told, scoring above Ramayan or any other epic. Maybe because the characters were so much human, totally susceptible to human frailty. It practically established the adage-to err is human. There is possibly no human emotion that this epic skips. You've got love, lust, trust,betrayal, fear, jealousy, anger, rage, remorse, hatred, disappointment, sadness, humiliation, euphoria, guilt, sympathy, nervousness, forgiveness and many more.

When I was in 7th, along with the regular text book and work book 

we had an entire book of Mahabharat in Hindi. Reading the book, and watching the show side by side turned out to be quite an experience.

4. Potli Baba ki 

  

The picture of this show is unavailable on the internet. But I vividly remember this one. A wise and shrunken old storyteller would regale me endlessly with stories of Ali Baba and forty thieves, and of Aladin.

               Ghungar wali, Chhenu wali, Jhunnu ka Baba

                 Kisson ka, kahaaniyon ka geeto ka chhaba  :)

5. Chhoti si asha

Now, this one was a heart rending tale. One of those simple and humane stories that show you how very remarkable human bondages are, even the non-blood ones. I miss such story-lines these days. A very well defined, artistically portrayed story that had the power to induce in you beautiful feelings that were happy and melancholy from time to time-that's what this series was all about. This was a story of a newly-widowed, jobless mother who was forced to give away her children in adoption after she came to know she was dying. By the time a good Samaritan helped her through her operation and she came to know that she will survive after all, the children were dispersed in different parts of India and happily adjusted to their new lives. Then, the story shifts to their adulthood, the search, the hesitance of the mother to meet her children and yet a yearning to do so, the non-recognition of her children, the reunion of the mother with their children, the siblings with each other. 

The only show till date, wherein I actually loved 'the leap'. A beautifully written and directed  show! And the actors were a cut above today's hamming actors.

This one too was originally aired in DD National, but I watched it in the re-runs in Sony TV.

6. Hum Paanch

 The Czarina Kapoor can almost be forgiven for torturing the entire nation with her hopeless tearjerkers just for producing this one. When the other world was watching a popular sitcom featuring six friends, India was getting tickled by five rather troublesome daughters. The 'tapori' language popularized by Kajal bhai had become quite a lingo amongst girls, and so had Sweety's rummy habit of opening the door only after singing a song. I remember picking up that habit myself for a short while! All in all Hum Paanch was 30 minutes well invested.


7. Dekh bhai dekh

Before most of them went on to become our favorite telly stars in different serials, Jaya Bachchan had clustered all of them together in Dekh bhai dekh.It was a family comedy, mostly nonsensical .Definitely a good time pass, but more importantly a good family time pass show.

8. Just Mohabbat 

Welcome to the world of Jay. His school, teachers, parents, sister, crushes, girlfriend and imaginary friend. Every school-goer could relate to this show. The unadulterated friendships, playing for hours, the menace of homework, dodging the bullies,standing up to them eventually, laughing at the expense of the teachers, group projects, sleepovers. Sigh! This was also a coming of age TV show for me. I was on the gateway of my teenage. Had just started to look at my male classmates differently. They were not gross and stupid anymore. Beginning of teenage is a time in life when one is very impressionable, very malleable. And this show made a huge impact on my life then .I came to know what dating meant, what kind of hints to drop and what kinds to pick up, what guys talk about, what they actually say and what they mean to say.And of course- how utterly awesome high school was going to be! And then college-Oh my! College was going to be a paradise. I, at times, get jealous of my earlier self. Granted I was a fool, but I was also so much alive, so happy. So hopeful. When I thought of future, all I could see was a world full of infinite opportunities. There was nothing that was improbable or unattainable.

9. Saboot

Years before I had picked up my first Agatha Christie, I knew that Crime was my favorite genre. That was when I started watching Saboot. This little popular serial was absolutely mind blowing. And original, mind you. I still vividly remember an episode about a murder during a beauty pageant-still gives me the creeps. Then there was one about an old man who died in his room and his much younger wife was accused of the murder. What a unique solution that one had! Even Christie never wrote a story with that kind of plot.

And the character of Inspector KC was again singularly superb. I just love female detectives. That's right, I'd any day  prefer Marple over Poirot. This particular character that the supremely talented Anita Kanwar (of Buniyaad fame) essayed was messy, clumsy, sensitive, empathetic and Genius!  

Unfortunately, this series is nowhere to be found on the cyberspace. So either you were fortunate enough to watch it, or you missed a superb series of Indian whodunit. 

Well..that's my list. Did I miss out something significant? Do let me know. I also plan to write a similar post on  90s' long lost cartoons very soon :)

So long!

telly tales-part 1

I find television very educating. Every time somebody turns on the set, I go into the other room and read a book.

          -Groucho Marx

I beg to differ!

I have been an avid television viewer since my childhood days.I was never denied television (cable, to be more specific), and I exploited this to my advantage.
From Duck tales to Desperate housewives. From Chitrahaar to Indian idol. From Surbhi to The Ellen Degeneres show.From Khaana-khazaana to Jamie at home.From Bewitched to Shararat.I have watched all of it.I even gleefully gave into the avalanche of K-serials during the ruling period of Ekta Kapoor! Years later when I reminisced, I found that of the profuse T.V programs I strained my eyes for, there were a few that the sands of time couldn't erase from my memory. My redolent childhood/teenage memories.
I'm listing these down-rank wise.

1. Fullhouse

How could I ever thank Uttara, Prachi didi and Pallavi enough for introducing me to this wonderful family.Well...they didn't exactly make me watch it by force, but then they as good as did! Oh, how out of place I would begin to feel when my friends instead of discussing a common topic(read tattling about school) would discuss Michelle's cuteness and Jesse's hair. How clueless I looked  when one of them mentioned an episode joke. How I used to flash a silly grin trying to laugh with them. I say silly because, they didn't always quote the joke.Most of the times it was like.." Tune woh dekha jab Stephanie ne Kim se blah blah kahan?". The question would be answered with bursts of laughter. Incidentally that was the time when I had just moved into Vikki, and even though I knew them I wanted to make my way into the circle. And if watching Fullhouse was the answer, then so be it. I turned to Zee Cafe (which was then known as Zee English) with vengeance. No longer did I watch an episode, I was awfully charmed by the show. I knew instantly that I was going to like it. But I didn't know how much.. I didn't know I would wait for it with bated breath,even the repeats ( The week that was). I didn't know I would fall in love with the characters. I didn't know I would write about it nine years later on my blog. And I didn't know that these many years and countless TV shows later, it would still top the list.

2. The Wonder Years

Growing up happens in a heartbeat. One day you're in diapers, the next day you're gone. But the memories of childhood stay with you for the long haul. I remember a place, a town, a house, like a lot of houses. A yard like a lot of other yards. On a street like a lot of other streets. And the thing is, after all these years, I still look back...with wonder.

No television show made me as nostalgic as this one did. More so because I turned my attention to it when I was in my ambiguous phase. The one you have between just-out-of-school  and about-to-start-college. Growing out of school life was hard. The apprehensions about college was harder. But the hardest thing was to cope up with all those mixed feelings. Watching The Wonder Years was like a time travel-in past. All the early-life memories came back in flashes.I saw all this though Kevin's eyes. Kevin. I once knew a boy like him. In days when if anyone told me that "these are the golden days of your life", I would snort in derision and reply "Of course not. Wait till I go to college". Now I smile ruefully and agree than those indeed were the golden days of my life. The wonder years. And the boy? I know him no more.Or at least, he's not that boy anymore. If you too miss your childhood, your school, your bicycle,your playground, your old chums then don't miss out on this one.

3. F.R.I.E.N.D.S

Some even went as far as saying that not watching this sitcom should be deemed an offence. There was a time when when no one who watched television was unaware of friends. It was friends mania all over.Like many other shows this one too took it's own time to become a rage in India. But it became a rage alright. For me Friends became a classic example of the the fact that- First impression is not necessarily the last one.I was never interested in obliging the obscene number of people who kept suggesting it to me .One day as I was flipping channels I came across it and decided to find out what the hell was all the hoopla about. It was the last five minutes. But very nonsensical five minutes. Here's a woman who's given birth to three babies-her brother's babies :o (my dumb innocence  must be forgiven as I really was a little dumb in school. Plus surrogate pregnancy wasn't a workaday term). And whoever said this was a sitcom! With the amount of tears this woman was shedding it might have as well been a family drama. Little did I know that I was making the same mistake that an ex-classmate had made when he saw the first five minutes of a movie (a hospital scene), called it bakwaas , decided against watching it and invited a year long ridicule in his friend circle. The film in question was Dil Chahta Hai. I don't remember when exactly did I start watching it so fervently, with a near Harry Potter like enthusiam. But once I did, there was no stopping. Even today, six years after it's final season   the re-runs continue. I do watch it sometimes, when I feel blue. And honestly it's not just watching, it's also mouthing the dialogues because despite myself I know most of them by heart!

4. Who's the boss?

The first attraction was the song. The lyrics. It can be found in this post that I wrote some time ago. The second was the fact that my mother loved it too. She usually is disinterested in the firangi shows, but this one, she was very interested in. Mainly because she enjoyed Mona's character, who as she thinks and as I agree is as playful as my mother is. She teases me as Mona kept teasing her daughter Angela. The funny part is that it led me to contemplate that I've got a good deal of Angela inside me. The way she gets conscious of herself in certain kinds of social situations, the areas in which she feels insecure, her uptight nature, the way she's prissy at most of the times and nonchalant when nobody expects her to be, the way she secretly adores Tony and isn't even aware of the fact. And Tony! I love these Italian guys. There's some uncanny raw charm in them that eludes their other counterparts. It's as if their eyes twinkle, and their good-natured laughter reverberates. How I wish someday a macho housekeeper steps into my home and teaches me how to be footloose! :)
A footnote: I had named my favorite Barbie Angela, and the second favorite was called Samantha :)

5 Different Strokes

All foodies unite! (Fhah are you reading this? :D) Look at the one at the center.Isn't he the most adorable kid in the whole wide world? You listen to him once and you'll reply in affirmative. Once Arnold was asked to say two words in his birthday party and guess what he said? "Let's eat" :D
This comes from very early memories when I used to be in 5th or 6th, and lived in a different house. I made it a point to watch it even though it clashed with my playing schedule (5:30-7:30)  I remember coaxing my friends to reschedule it to 4:30 to 6:30, so that I could watch it from 6:30 to 7. Thankfully it worked-but not always. We had a lot of bullies in our group who wouldn't budge after a while. And you really shouldn't anger the gunda kids you know, otherwise they don't take you in their teams, and sadly these are the types who make ruthlessly great players. Aaah...the lessons of life one gets in small packages when one is small. Consequently I missed on a lot of episodes, but I kept watching it on and off. It was a good sitcom.

6 Small Wonder

Oh Yes! This was mighty popular ten to fifteen years ago. It used to be shown in Star Plus. This one was my gateway to foreign television shows. Their people.Their lives. And even their names.  Yes my secret is out! In initial days I was obsessed with Barbie dolls like every other girl and I had a hell lot of them.Needless to say a lot of my concern rested on giving them proper names, and I absolutely disagreed to call them by Indian names like some of my friends who had names their ones Karishma, Raveena, Madhuri (ugh). "They have golden hair, they are foreigners. They don't have our kinds of name" I had argued.In search of good names I began watching Small Wonder. It is so strange, isn't it? Some of the best things in life that we do, we do it for one reason and continue doing it for another.I would religiously watch it day after day. The only problem was that they kept switching languages. A few episodes in English and a few ones in Hindi.But language didn't matter much then. Still doesn't.
 I'm so glad I had Barbie dolls to name. Joan went on to become one Barbie's name and Harriette was the name of a baby Barbie) . I never named any of them VICI because despite what was being portrayed, despite how much I liked-loved-envied her white and red pinafore VICI (or vikki asI would think) was a boy's name not a girls's.

7. Mind Your Language

This was a jackpot! Not only did this satiate my desire to know about the first world countries but also combined it with my love for the English language. This is when I came to know that I simply LOVE the British accent! It is so much better than any other kind of English spoken in various parts of the world.I wish I had a British accent. Maybe this was one of those early influences that made me a stickler for Queen's English. I try my best not to butcher the language even if it means spending one extra rupee on an SMS because I refuse to type 'u' instead of you. I have a strong aversion to SMS language, something that I wrote about in this post.
This was also remade in Hindi and was called Zabaan Sambhaal ke, where Pankaj Kapoor played the role of a Hindi teacher. Although I don't like copied shows, it was a laughter riot even in the desi package.

So much for the TV shows I loved watching. These are the ones that I currently watch- with no descriptions (I have already outwritten my longest post)

 The Big Bang Theory- Because smart is the new sexy!

Two and a half men- Who doesn't love Charlie Sheen!

Castle- Murders. Detectives. Writer. Romance. What more can I ask for? :)

30 Rock- Make merry folks. Season 4 is here :)

So long for tonight! I would back soon with part-2

Swayamvar

Swayamvar, in ancient India was a practice in which the princesses were allowed to choose their husbands in a formal ceremony wherein the suitable candidates would contest against each other to win the lady's hand in marriage. The vying participants would be judged on various parameters like strength,bravery,wisdom,moral fibre..these parameters were mostly custom-made according to the whims and fancies of the princesses and their crowned fathers. The undisputed victor would then be said to have won his wife, as the princess would put a garland of flowers around his neck, after which they'd be wedded. This ritual was a prerogative of the royal blood only. Nobody remembers exactly when was it lost in the tattered pages of history. Or should I say mythology, because no offence but most of these tales in which Swayamvar appears sound apocryphal.

The latest buzz is that queen of controversies Rakhi Sawant is having her own Swayamvar (pardon me for copying the tabloid language,but I couldn't think of any better line).
I happened to watch the finishing segment of the first episode of Rakhi ka Swayamvar.
My mother puckered brow and voiced her displeasure every now and then. I, on the contrary was more amused than revolted,unlike her,unlike a majority of the viewers in India. I was amused at the unprecedented nature of life,the way it springs up surprises. Now look at this woman. She has been sensationalists' favorite child for reporting juicy hearsay. Everything about her has been in news, and having said that the politest way of elaborating it would be that she educated people about using any kind of publicity to their advantage. Which is why this recent news is flummoxing-at least for some people. It is hard for most people,especially women to digest the fact that she who is so presumptous,so uncouth,so loud, who dances half-naked in most of her videos, has admitted going under the knife for enhancing her features, is known more for the string of controversies that have been associated with her than the blink-and-miss roles that she has done, who is so unladylike-how come she's being seen as the Ne plus ultra of feminity,whom every man wants to woo! How come of all the womenfolk she gets as many as sixteen prospective grooms to swoon over her, sing romantic songs to her,write beautiful poetries for her,try to impress her in every possible way? How come she gets to live the dream of almost every woman who breathed on this planet? Because if loosely seen,this is pretty much what every woman desires.
"She's not even beautiful,let alone cultivated! And some these men are so good-looking,well-bred,educated and settled. Why do such men want to marry her?" said my mother with a sickened expression as a guy gave her a traditional one-knee proposal.
I tried my best to play the devil's advocate by saying- "She's really talented in her own field you know,and to top it she's very gutsy,speaks her mind even while on televi..." I broke off,as a reaction to her reproaching glare. Hehe..it's difficult to convince mothers,why do I even try! For she kept on chanting " Na roop aachhe,na gun aachhe" (Neither has she looks,nor values).

I really don't understand this. Nevermind the heavy voltage drama,the hurling of abuses,the pretense. Nevermind all of it. Call her a celebrity or a nonebrity,whatever pleases you but at the end of the day- she's also just a girl,standing in front of a boy,asking him to love her( Anyone who has watched Notting Hill would know where this dialouge came from!)
And come to think of it,we all choose. The process of selection and rejection keeps occuring at some sub-conscious level all the time. We look at everyone, screen the potential partners and filter out the others. Then we comapre,think,select,reject and finally come to a conclusion. This according to me is the process of attraction. The thing we call instinct is actually a very fast mental Swayamvar- maybe not in a literal sense,but definitely in a figurative sense. The parameters on which we judge one against the other may vary accrding to our spiritual configuration. So,all the lovely ladies out there don't be green-eyed at Rakhi Sawant. She's just doing it on camera,that's the only difference. Be it a formal ceremony or mental evaluation,I'm convinced that it's a Swayamvar alright!
May the best man win :)