Reading many heartfelt write-ups on the 60th anniversary of radio’s Vividh Bharati, I travel back to those days when I actually hated the Radio in the early mornings and truly loved it at nights.
HATED since its signature tune remained the first sound I had to hear for years in the mornings along with a call to get-up for school coming from the kitchen (that used to become active almost an hour before).
It was late 70s and the moment I used to hear the opening tanpura tone in my sleep, I simply wished the radio somehow falls off the table and never works again. At times I even tried to kick it off from the side table but luckily it never worked, otherwise that would have caused a great trouble since A Radio in those days happened to be the most precious possession of every single household without an exception.
Every day at 6 am sharp I used to so hate it but surprisingly never felt the same in the evenings listening to my favourite programs especially on Hindi Film music.
At nights, it was a completely different affair with the entertaining box, when we often used to go to our cots lying outside the home in the open or on the rooftops with a side table having a ‘Surahi’, containing cool water if required by anyone during the night. The family members sleeping in a line without any fan, AC or anything, straight under the sky watching the twinkling stars along the sound of sweet Hindi film songs still remains a lovely sight in my mind even today. And everyone used to sleep like a child, without any fear of being looted or attacked in the night (and no one ever took away the Radio or Surahi lying on the side-table too all through the night).
Those were the days of innocence and trust flowing in the air without any hatred or venom for the other that seems to be so unbelievable and imaginary in the present scenario.
But wait there are some more memories too of SUNDAYS in particular when there used to be a program on Diamond Comics in the afternoon (around 1-2 pm) beginning with,
“Chunnu Padhta Diamond Comics, Munni Padhta Diamond Comics, Mazedaar Yeh Diamond Comics……… Diamond Comics”
(You can listen to its jingle
here)
It might sound hilarious but we brothers used to have fights on Sundays for taking bath during that specific half an hour of ‘Diamond Comics’ since the radio was allowed to be taken along in the bathroom. So there were turns every week and when one enjoyed it inside, the other used to roam around or sit outside the bathroom listening to the most favourite program giving his complete attention.
The passion for such entertaining programs on the radio continued and then came a time when we had speakers installed in ‘a matka’ (you got to hear the bass in them) on our bathroom shelf (at a height) and had a long wire going through three rooms reaching our stereo deck and attached radio playing the favourite songs and programs. We used to set the station or press the play button and then rush to take a bath, coming out after repeated angry calls of the elders (actually after the completion of Side A or B of the cassette being played). Such was the madness in those times with no Wi-fi, Bluetooth or any other wireless option available. In fact when the trend of getting underground wires began, I first insisted on getting my speaker wire underground with proper jacks installed in all the rooms and bathroom before anything else.
Coming back to the present, we the people who have lived those times should actually be thankful to the Almighty for giving us an opportunity of becoming the bridge between the changing times seeing both the worlds and all technological advancement coming gradually.
It certainly has been a great journey from the times of Radio-Vividh Bharti, a single (few hours) Doordarshan channel and only one or two landline phones in a whole block of 70 houses…… to the present having 500 TV channels, high speed internet and a phone in every pocket and even more than one at times with two different numbers. From the times, when I used to hear interviews on radio….. to the time when renowned presenter O. P. Rathore used to regularly feature me in his famous program based on Hindi films and music.
Incidentally the first technical course of my life was also of ‘Radio Repairing’ in the mid-80s since my uncles had a radio-components workshop/factory (radios with tubes insides) and they regularly supplied to the shops at Lajpat Rai Market near the Red Fort in Delhi. Honestly there are so many of stories of my early days spent in that famous Indian audio market to be shared some other time.
A lot has changed in these years and a lot will be changing further in the future too as change is the only thing that remains constant. But luckily the Radio and Vividh Bharati is still there and you can play it even today through an app in your mobile phone, particularly in the dark, calm hours of the night.
Some things should never change………… and I pray the concept of a Radio with Vividh Bharati stays here forever entertaining us and our next generations too with HIS BLESSINGS.
