Small Screen

Small Screen....It has been an indespensible part of our lives. I don't really remember when we got our first tv-box. But I do remember the model ..it was a Crown b/w 20'' television set. It was brought exactly when the one of the first popular tv-serials Ramayan was being aired. Some are curious to see if Tendulkar makes a mark in the upcoming series...some watch it to find out if Prerna meets Anurag..while some just want to get entertained.

Fifteen-sixteen years back DD ruled the stage. Hum Log, Hum Rahi, Buniyaad, Gul Gulshan Gulfam were some of the classics. Mahabharat enjoyed the largest viewership. Turning Point gave a scientific edge whereas series like Bharat Ek Khoj, Chanakya maintained the cultural heritage. Zee Tv was I guess the first hindi channel besides DD1. Star Plus was an english channel then.  Steadily but not slowly the tv world has evolved.  One of my favorites (n I guess for many)-- Jungle Book started animated age. Kids glued to Duck Tales, Arabian Nites, Tale spin.  Dillagi- the comedy series based on people and their relationships in an office was a Zee Tv starter. Another big one was Chandrakanta. Though I haven't seen much of Chandrakata...I used to get updates every Monday in school. Alif Laila...the boring one..paradoxically was a big hit.  Summer afternoons..we had Dekh Bhai Dekh, Swabhimaan, Shanti. Tehkikaat, Karamchand jasoos, Byomkesh Bakshi were from a different genre. Hum Paanch, Campus, Antakshari, Sam Re Ga Ma (Sonu Nigam), Parampara, Zee Horror Show, Philips Top Ten, Filmi Chakkar, Saans, Tol Mol Ke Bol were some of the popular ones.

10th to 12th was a period when I had the good old Doordarshan. Dishayen, Suraag, Jaane Anjane, marathi soaps like Gharkul, Damini entertained me these four years. Kaun Banega Crorepati which marked the entry and the survival point of BigB was named the one with highest TRP after Mahabharat. Then the K-series paved their way in people's lives. 

Marathi serials have evolved quite significantly over the past few years. With new channels opening up...the marathi viewers have started transitioning towards marathi tv-entertainment. Awantika, Wadalvaat, Abhalmaya, Saheb-Bibi aani Me, Ghadlaya Bighadlaya, Prapanch have engrossed the marathis.

Though I would have missed quite a few names...looking back I see how well I was amused by this same television set. Just like recalling the college days makes us nostalgic...I am sure the serials and their characters force us to open up our memory album.

Dynamism

BITS Pilani...my alma mater, my ex-abode has been known for its Parampara Prathista Anushashan ...

We have heard amitabh bachchan quoting "mujhe parivartan pasand nahi" in his Gurukul. The same should be true about BITS. The shivering cold, melanin raising sun-god, the PILA(yellow) buildings, the same old edifice, the boisterous BOSMs, the exhuberant OASISs and not so overwhelming APOGEEs.

Neverthless, dynamism is at its heart. The next day after OASIS... is just like an ordinary day. Now, I do not know...may be SAC is used for department rooms. But then...the classrooms were transformed into department/club HQs. Hardly a few hours have passed and you would see the gardener watering the lawns where more than 2000 students rocked on a dance floor.

The test schedule is the same...the same grades...the same courses...the same CDCs..but the CTs(course toppers), 10ps, Aves (averages) change. Shivganga is still the couple place...but the couples change every semester. Blue Moon still is one of the favorite hang-out spots..but the addendum (coffee or shakes) changes with season. The LAN is still the same..but the bandwidth destroying games change. Munnaji reidi is still the same...just that we also get bread-pakoras. Campus is still 100%...just that the salaries are sky-high.

Some of things which I am very fortunate to have seen...the Cent-li and Ref-li...Central Library and Reference Library.. These were in FD-II and still we can see the board "Library Area- please keep silence". Imagine Pilani campus without mobiles. I have talked hours at the abandoned/rusted/pathetic looking telephone-box near the common room. With the arrival of cellphones, gate-calls have become almost extinct. Thanks to BITSConnect, the IPC stay of most BITSian have reduced exponentially. (FYI-- We had non-graphical internet in our first year..n that too only in IPC. Only third year onwards graphical internet was allowed.) There wasn't any SAC, any FD-5 or the lecture theatre complex then. MAL or Malviya Bhawan has been one of the most dynamic bhawans. An abode of fifth year students became a girls hostel which became a boys-girls hostel(Obviously proper care was taken that no interaction of any kind was possible between a resident boy and a resident girl) again was transformed back to a boys hostel.

So, whenever I visit Pilani...I will have to restrain myself from saying -- everything is still the same here. A lot of things would have changed just that they got assimilated unknowingly.