Shrishti se pehle...

Shristi se pehle kuchh nahin thaa

antariksha bhi nahin aakaash bhi nahin thaa..

Running through my mind again and again since last few days is this Sanskrit verse, that I first heard as the opening track of the television serial "Bharat Ek Khoj". This series was telecast when not probably not even a quarter of households of even the metropolitan cities of India had TV sets. Doordarshan (the govt nominated broadcaster) was the only major television broadcaster in the country. Private broadcasters were not yet given permission in the country to broadcast other channels.

This program Bharat Ek Khoj literally meaning and based on Jawaharlal Nehru's Discovery Of India showcased the chapters of history as time ran through the Indian subcontinent.

Though I hardly understood what the program was about, I stayed glued in front of the TV set for about half an hour when this program was telecasted. I think I liked the day-to-day life of civilizations through time they showed. A few years later when I studied history as part of the curriculum, I could co-relate my studies with what I saw; faintly though. I dont really remember if watching this serial helped me score. Neither did it help maintain my interest in history. But it did definitely lay foundation of hundreds of hours of watching TV in the years to come. Specially the "Fun time" shows during summer noons really helped me stay back at home (away from heat) and eat food nicely.

Though now TV sets are quite redundant and I dont have one at my home currently, I do catch up with viewing programs and news online; thanks to computers and internet and youtube. Lately again I have caught the viral of watching those old programs again (this time via internet though). And Youtube has been really helpful.

I have recently caught up with Dekh Bhai Dekh, Byomkesh Bakshi, Chanakya, Bharat Ek Khoj, Malgudi Days among others. And from the old ones that I remember I would like to see "Stone boy", "Giant Robot", "Dada Dadi ki kahaniya", "Telematch" and the list is endless !! :)

And here is the a modifed version of the verse above.

Doordarshan se pehle kuchh nahin tha,

Zee aur Sony nahin, Star aur Colors bhi nahin thaa

aur koi channel bhi nahin, jo manoranajan kar sakta thaa...