Black and White

Then came television. Even before it came, I remember we all went one summer night packed to capacity in my Uncle's blue ambassador car (MLS 59)  and with food in the dickey to watch a football match being telecast in the only place in Meghalaya at that point of time; Cherrapunjee. We hardly saw anything in the grainy screen of a small television set mounted on a rickety shelf and with half the population straining their eyes trying to make out who was winning and who was losing. There were people literally falling over each other, especially over the ones squatting on the floor, while some were smart enough to stand up on the lined up benches behind them to get a clearer view, which was of no use though 'cause after a while the connections were lost. We kids were nonetheless excited since we got to eat; Mom's pulao and boiled eggs. 

Television changed our lives. I for one stayed glued to the set since the time it starts telecasting its first programme, Krishi Darshan in the evening and till the time it closes down at 11 at night. The first few days, Mom seemed kind of 'okay' with it and after a while, she got pretty irritated. I needed to get down to some productive work instead of watching television, she said. So I did my work and study as fast as possible and then sat for television. 

I am still so nostalgic about Different Strokes, Yes Minister, Whose word is it anyway, Star Trek, The Lost Planet, Ramayan, Mahabharat and cricket unplugged. One thing none of us in the house missed was the regional movies every Sunday after lunch and I for one never missed the world movies which were telecast randomly, I forgot, maybe Wednesdays or Fridays. But see I did and miss I didn't. We also had a small window to world music in the form of half an hour telecast of music staged in Germany. And I made sure I didn't miss it for anything in the world!

Talking about films, Doordarshan gave us quite a lot of the black and white classics, which my friends and I would watch, awestruck, especially the ones in which Madhubala was an actress. I love calling her an actress instead of actor, 'cause she was the true definition of feminine beauty. Mom would gush whenever she was on screen. "Do you know? Madhubala is known as the Venus of the East." And Madhubala stayed on in my mind as the most beautiful woman on Earth and none to surpass her. Mom would keep on giving me bits and pieces of information of Bollywood stars, which were extremely interesting for me as a young girl and it seems I haven't forgotten much. So, when Mughal-e-Azam was telecast for the first time, Mom also told me that Dilip Kumar's real name was actually Yousuf Khan. 

Thank you Mom, you really made the start of my journey into filmistan super masaledar!