Our First TV Set

We had a robust black and white television set from ECTV. It came with a wooden cabinet and shutters  drawn horizontally from either end. The TV had four knobs for volume, brightness, contrast, and tuning. To switch channels, we had a knob that moved through 12 slots. The remote was not an in thing; for, only one channel was aired then. And, when DD Metro broadened the choice, the knob got twisted so much that it crossed its tolerance and fell apart. After that we started using nose-plier to switch channels. The TV remained with us for 16 years.

My father is a disciplinarian. The reason he bought us TV was every Sunday we brothers flocked to a house in the neighbourhood to watch TV. One day, we kids were denied entry. This cut my father to the quick. By the following Sunday, father had his honour and we had our new TV set.

But, it's not a very pleasant story after this. As if the shutter wasn't a secure child lock, my father draped the TV with a heavy cover. The TV remained behind the curtains for a week before the curtains were ceremoniously drawn on the Sunday morning at 9 to watch Ramayan. All the neighbours would gather in the hall. We avenged the boys who denied us batting during cricket by prohibiting their entry. Nobody dared to antagonise us after this treatment. When too many people would gather in the hall, they would obstruct the view for my mom working in the kitchen. They had to be accommodated before the serial started. I commanded the audience.

We kids had little to do with the dialogues exchanged between the characters. All we were interested in was the fight between gods and demons. It was thrilling to watch how an arrow mysteriously proliferated into an array of them and caused a massacre in the demon camp. When the fight was between equals the arrows crashed head-on mid-way. If one shot a fire-arrow, the other would shoot a water-arrow; one thus nullified the other. In imitation of this, many broomsticks were sacrificed in perfecting archery.

One serial followed another and when it was 12 we grew anxious. Soon afterwards, TV would be switched off, the crowd would disperse and after lunch we had to sit with our books. It was very rare that we could watch Spiderman at 4pm. How we wished our father went visiting his friends in the evening so that we could watch Spiderman! Besides, a week lay ahead before we could watch TV again. If they did not step out, we would silently curse him for being such a bad parent and wished we were born in a freer home.

Father's strictness paid off in the long run. I am never hooked to TV now. Most of my friends who keep awake late till wee hours picked up the habit by watching TV. There is nothing else at a young age that could pull you into this habit. And, almost everyone of them is a potato couch and can bug you for indefinitely long hours with their channel surfing.

I thank my father for saving me from this time-killer!