There was a time or we can say an era when in numerous villages across India villagers used to wait with baited breath for Sundays to come. The reason behind these desperate waits was the popular shows on television that used to unite all villagers and used to bring them under roof. The modest old black and white TV set complimented with a large antenna at the rooftop used to telecast some of the very famoous mythological serials which proved historic. Mahabharata, Ramayana and Srikrishna became indispensable with every household at that time.
We are talking about the late 80’s and early 90’s. At that time having a television was a status symbol in itself. In most of the villages in India only few houses could afford TV sets and in some villages one single TV set. TV set used to be placed on the courtyard and bunch of villagers used to flock the site in order to have a weekly glimpse of those mythological serials. Those were the shows that brought the society together. Those were the shows which laid foundation stones in the budding minds of children. TV serials that all family members from 5-75 years used to watch together.
Those days were dominated by public broadcaster Doordarshan and All India Radio (AIR). Besides TV, radio was also a significant option. People were often glued to their old big size transistors for the 8pm news bulletin which aired news in a monotonous and serious tone, totally unaware how the whole dynamics will sea a drastic transformation after the intrusion of FM channels. Many other shows like hawa mahal and others were also close to people's hearts. Cable television was a rare scene in rural India and was to a great extend confined to the elite class of urban India.
Besides those mythological serials, Doordarshan came up with many other serials that benefited the society in many ways and paved a way for a culturally vibrant India. The vary famous prime time show Surabhi hosted by Siddharth and Renuka Sahanai proved revolutionary in educating the young minds of India besides entertaining the Indian audience of all age groups. This show showcased the cultural and historical heritage of India and was diverse in its subjectivity. Summer vacation special shows for children depicting short stories with moral values and many other scientific programs educated the young minds of India. Among the prominent ones included- Amar chitra Kathaye which was introduced Panchtantra to kids. Many of such shows made the children to know Indian and its culture in a better way.
But with the passage of time new forms of media came into existence and the language and representation of media changed drastically. AIR got replaced by FM channels. A boon came in the FM sector which completely changed the tone and presentation of radio contents. Doordarshan was replaced by cable TVs. The trend of media changed. Some newly-emanated media forms blindly followed western culture and the feeling of pride on our own culture and heritage was suppressed by the new entrants. MTV, Channel V, UTV Bindas the most popular channels of modern times got highly affected by the western culture. Gone are those days when all family members used to watch TV together. Sex, vulgarity are mostly adored by media which gives them cheap popularity and easy money. But the question that comes into the mind is- do they have some social responsibility. Which way the modern kids going and how far the media responsible? Why they are able to do this? How far is the government responsible in regulating this? Educating people with the good side of western knowledge is another thing but disseminating information not apt for kids at a particular age often invokes a curiosity which often hampers the normal upbringing.
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