Aakashavaani
The old Murphy "valve" radio would play on, incessantly. We lived in a joint family and this radio was placed in the main "hall" (living room for yuppies). It had a strict schedule to keep. Bangalore, during those times, was privileged to have two radio stations (or should I say, channels) - people locally named one Aakashavani(AV) and the other as Vividh Bharati(VB) - both AM (no FM at the time). Chances were, if there wasn't a power cut (there weren't many cuts at the time), the radio would be on.
AV was (probably still is) where you tuned for the latest news and also to know the correct time :-). VB was the entertainment channel. Aunt and Grandma couldn't work if the radio wasn't on, or so it seemed. So, above all the talks, rants, railings, laughs, snores, the radio played on.
Mind you, this was before the time Bangalore got TV. If you wanted to listen to a different program than what the hall radio was playing, you better get to your room and use a smaller radio.
My Dad had his (relatively recent and smaller) Murphy radio. This is what introduced me to the 9PM news, invariably read by one Mr.Barun Haldar (I think I got the name right). Preceding this was the Hindi news... we never would get listen to it - you see, 8:30-9PM was when the big joint family would have dinner, together.
As you'd probably have guessed, the hall radio would be tuned to the station that played Kannada songs at that point in time. Unlike now, Kannada songs of that generation and before, were very melodious and invariably had excellent lyrics. (Aside: In the modern day, there is more shouting than song... alas. But there are exceptions.... Amruthavarshini, and more recently, some songs of Mungaaru MaLe have excellent lyrics).
So, why this post, and why now, you may ask.
Last weekend, I spent two idyllic days at my Aunt's place in Bellary. Aunt and cousins are still the types that prefer music over the ubiquitous saas-bahu serials. So, it was two days of music - this time, on TV. There were a lot of ear-jarring new songs, but interspersed were a few old gems. Sometimes, you tend to associate a song to a place and time in life....
.... and some songs that played took me back to when I was a kid listening to the hall radio.
AV was (probably still is) where you tuned for the latest news and also to know the correct time :-). VB was the entertainment channel. Aunt and Grandma couldn't work if the radio wasn't on, or so it seemed. So, above all the talks, rants, railings, laughs, snores, the radio played on.
Mind you, this was before the time Bangalore got TV. If you wanted to listen to a different program than what the hall radio was playing, you better get to your room and use a smaller radio.
My Dad had his (relatively recent and smaller) Murphy radio. This is what introduced me to the 9PM news, invariably read by one Mr.Barun Haldar (I think I got the name right). Preceding this was the Hindi news... we never would get listen to it - you see, 8:30-9PM was when the big joint family would have dinner, together.
As you'd probably have guessed, the hall radio would be tuned to the station that played Kannada songs at that point in time. Unlike now, Kannada songs of that generation and before, were very melodious and invariably had excellent lyrics. (Aside: In the modern day, there is more shouting than song... alas. But there are exceptions.... Amruthavarshini, and more recently, some songs of Mungaaru MaLe have excellent lyrics).
So, why this post, and why now, you may ask.
Last weekend, I spent two idyllic days at my Aunt's place in Bellary. Aunt and cousins are still the types that prefer music over the ubiquitous saas-bahu serials. So, it was two days of music - this time, on TV. There were a lot of ear-jarring new songs, but interspersed were a few old gems. Sometimes, you tend to associate a song to a place and time in life....
.... and some songs that played took me back to when I was a kid listening to the hall radio.
posted by Ananth Narayan at
6:06 PM
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