A Day Without Television.

                                                            Now-a-days television has become an integral part of our lives. It has been there since our childhood. I remember how we used to schedule our studies according to telecast of our favorite programs. It was difficult for our mothers  to take us away from the TV when our weekly cartoon show was being aired. And during the rest of the days, all the other programs even krishi darshan were among the most viewed ones. It was not important for us to understand the content. simply viewing mattered.

                                                         

Weekly chitrahaar and other things like  movies made our day. I remember how my mother used to finish her household work so that she can watch the movie uninterrupted. Also a whole lot of neighbors too used to join us on the weekends as ours house was the only one with the TV. The movie "Pakeezah" had a houseful audience in our drawing room. Doordarshan provided us with all the entertainment of the time.

As of now, there are hundreds of channels airing endless shows on endless topics for endless hours. All of us have become addicted to the idiot box. All of us have our favorite programs on our favorite channels. If we are lucky enough we may have our own TV set in our rooms too. There can be a struggle to own the remote so that one particular program can be viewed. There is tussle among the kids and even elders about which channel is to be preferred. Younger generation prefers music channels, whereas men folk will go for sports  or news or at the most discovery channels. For women mainly channels airing serials are of utmost preference. Every time there is a race for the remote. And the winner gets his prize, i.e. he gets to choose which channel is to be viewed. 

All this commotion in our house came to a standstill when there was some disturbance in the telecast and there was no transmission at all for the whole day. All my family members got annoyed at the service provider. My mom in law went to bed early. As she shares bedroom with my daughter, so she too went to bed early. Instead of sleeping the duo talked till late. They did so since my daughter was young. Both of them hugged each other and slept. My mom in law shared stories of her childhood and youth, my daughter was surprised to know about so many things. It was a good bonding between the two. 

 My son brought out the game of scrabble. We used to play when he was young. I had long forgotten about that game. As a boy he was always beaten by me but yesterday my son defeated me in three straight games. He was so happy as if he had won the world cup. There was joy in his eyes and had a mysterious smile on his face. That glow in his eyes told very untold story. He was overjoyed with the feeling of winning over his mom. 

After dinner my husband suggested that we go out for an ice cream. We were all startled as he never asks for the same. We all readily agreed to it. We sang all along the way. Had ice cream at a dhaba on the outskirts of the city. On our way back my mind wandered over the happenings of the day.  I thanked the cable wala guy for giving us the family time which was most needed.

Actually I am thinking that I should ask the cable wala to shut down the transmission at least once a month so that my family can spend few hours together and be in the company of each other.