Dear Television,
I know it has been quite a while since I have sat with you for an extended period of time and enjoyed your company. Blame my lack of interest in you, blame the internet for making all the good sitcoms easily available for download, but the truth of the matter is that I haven’t spent too much time with you in the recent past.
I still remember how I first became your friend. The spinning logo Doordarshan with its whiny music introduced you to me. I remember how you and me spent lots of time together, both of us as 3 yr olds (me in the physical sense, you in the sense of being introduced to India). Those first few days of our friendship were spent in me enjoying possibly the most photogenic politicians of his time, Rajiv Gandhi. And then I also remember spending many a sleepless night catching the 1983 Cricket World Cup which India won, and a few other sporting events like the 1984 Olympics (with Carl Lewis, Daley Thompson, sticking in my memories till today), etc.
The next few years when you upgraded to color were exciting for me. Apart from the weekly Ramayan and Mahabharath episodes, you also opened my mind to Western Music Vides courtesy the two hour slot given to MTV every evening. It was fun actually watching Madonna and Michael Jackson while humming their songs which was etched well in my mind. Those were also the days when you introduced me to.
The mid-1990s heralded the arrival of satellite television and those were the best days of our friendship. You showed me the wonderful world of sitcoms in the form of Doogie Howser, Wonder Years, X Files, and most importantly, the WWE (used to be called WWF back then). You helped me view the world in an entirely different way as you showed me snippets of life from the US, Europe and various other parts of the world via these wonderful channels. These truly were the most memorable days of our friendship. You made me a more enlightened person and all that knowledge well and truly helped me become an awesome quizzer in an age where the internet was still a dream and books, newspapers and you were the only real sources of information about the wide world.
In 2000, I started with m professional career which automatically meant that I started spending less time with you. That being said, you were the only friend who unconditionally still provided me with entertainment when I wanted it. You along with the VCR and the VCD player still remained good friends with me for some more time to come.
Come 2004 when I left home for higher studies and reached a hostel was when our friendship reached its lowest point. Considering that I had to share you with at least 20 others in a common room where hardly anyone respected the others’ space, I simply couldn’t afford to share our friendship with others, and preferred to keep it under wraps. This was also the time when my new friend, the laptop took over the mantle of my best friend. Him along with high speed broadband have been friends with me for a little over 8 odd yrs now.
The sad truth is this, today the laptop and high speed broadband are well on their way to making you irrelevant. Yes, you are way ‘smarter’ today in the sense that if I connect you to a Wi-Fi signal, you can beam the entire internet to me, if I connect you to a laptop with a HDMI cable, you still provide the best damn movie viewing experience, but having said all that, you still remain a friend only because you harbor those other small snippets of entertainment that people call ads with you. That being said, I am pretty sure that you are on your last few breaths.
That’s the reason that I thought I will write this letter to you to rejig all the wonderful memories of our old friendship, to relive some of the awesome moments together once again.
I miss you old friend. Have a wonderful last few years of existence. Although a small part of me hopes that you make a huge comeback and bounce back into my life. But only time will tell.
=============
This post was prompted by Write Tribe.
This post can also be used for the Daily Prompt.
=============
This post has been selected as one of BlogAdda’s “Spicy Saturday Picks” on 10-Aug-2013.
Mahabore's Mumblings 
Ah, the tele.. the number of hours I used to spend in front of it in my vacations on holidays. Snifff.. brings back memories. Vacations meant books and tele 😀
@Santulan, as the letter could be addressed only to one friend, I had to make it the television. For me also books came a close second to television in those days…
Even though your friend might have neared his last days, he will always be your friend forever with his sweet memories as you have beautifully put up in this post… 🙂
@Pupz, am hoping he makes a strong comeback one of these days though 😀
A lovely write-up..
And it further emphasizes that our best friends remain uncharged irrespective of passing times!
@Locomente, but then it looks like this best friend of mine is slowly dying a natural death 😦
Oh My! I don’t want the telly to go. 😦
@Jyothi, doesn’t look like we have a choice, it looks like our good friend is dying a natural death 😦
Some sections of the old viewers have shifted their loyalties but television still thrives in some pockets of India and some sections of our society should be congratulated to make this gadget their centre-stage of life.You have chosen a very unique topic and very well-written.
@Kalpana, thanks for the kind words regarding the post.
Yes, am sure the television will continue to thrive in most parts of India, at least until high speed broadband and computers reach them.
That’s a cute letter to the TV. Our memories with it are quite similar, yet I feel I am never gonna let it go. Its been with me so long that now I am just used to it being around even if I am busy with my lappy and the internet. TV is where my life is with all the beautiful shows and a whole array of information a click of a button and unlike Internet, I don’t even have to google it…its right there!
Thanks!
@Kajal, thanks for the kind comments, I was quite sure it would touch a specific place in the readers’ heart even when I was writing it 🙂 Hope you enjoyed reliving those wonderful TV related memories.
I LOVED this post! Brilliant take on a prompt like this.
@Preeti, thank you so much 🙂
This was an amazingly written post and a very different take on it!!
Thanks for the kind words. .. am glad you enjoyed reading it
I saw Dear television and I started to laugh. I wondered where you got this idea from? And then I saw my husband glued to the idiot box. Well I got some of my doubts answered. it is no doubt one of the best ways of idling time and as far as I understand so are most of best friends 😀 😀
Richa
Good to see that him and I share a common friend
You’ve a wonderful imagination Jairam. It was a treat to read the post. The idiot box has now become smart. I wish it becomes so smart that it survives the difficult phase it is going through now.
@Padmanabha, thanks for the kind words.
Despite some TVs being tagged as Smart TVs nowadays, I personally feel that the television as we know it in its present form will probably not make a comeback. We might have TVs but not the devices that we used to know as TVs. What say you?
Yep, I agree. But the fun I had watching Giant Robot during the 80s cannot be beaten by any smart tv playing any hd movie.
@Padmanabha, so true
I really enjoyed your letter to the TV. As a kid in the 1960s and 70s, I grew up in front of the television as a Canadian kid bombarded by American shows. I remember the excitement when we got our first colour TV.
I used to love all those sitcoms such as Bewitched, I Dream of Jeannie, That Girl, Green Acres, Mary Tyler Moore and variety shows like Carol Burnett and Ed Sullivan. Ah, they don’t make em like that any more. I agree that the TV has been pushed to the back seat in favour of Internet. I hardly watch TV at all and prefer movies which I watch on Netflix on my laptop.
Thanks for the nostalgia with the uniquely Indian slant which I found very interesting since I like learning about your country.
@Cate, thanks for the kind words.
I didn’t quite realize that this post would touch a chord in Canadian readers’ hearts as well 🙂 That just goes to show how powerful the television as an information medium was in its heyday.
Mahabore ,
I liked this letter..From being my childhood bestie to hey a distant Hi friend..like you so aptly wrote, even we have parted ways.. Ur letter did bring in some fond memories of childhood to the fore
@Deepti, it’s good to hear that my letter to our common friend brought back a few good old memories of yours 🙂
[…] Jairam Mohan What: A letter to my best friend… Spicy: Jairam talks about his childhood when the television was a child’s best friend. There […]
Nice letter to an unusual friend! Television is a friend that united families and friends, especially while sports events were going on.
@Proactive Indian, absolutely, no gadget has the potential to unite the entire nation like the television does
Brilliant letter. Amazing how the television can become our best friend when we need someone most. I spent many lonely nights in front of the television filling time with the laughs it provided me. Loved this!
@Kathy, absolutely, the television has provided me with much needed nonsensical comfort many a days in the past.
[…] A letter to my best friend… | Mahabore’s Mumblings […]