February 13 - World Radio Day

My earliest memory of radio is my father listening to news bulletin by leaning over a wooden stand on which a big radio set was positioned.  It was a radio set made by Telerad (looked almost like the picture that I have shared below).  When the radio was switched on, a green light used to appear indicating the signal quality.  It used to take a while for the radio to catch the signals and start playing.  Radio was the only means of entertainment those days.  We depended on it for listening to music, cultural programmes, drama, news, commentary of sports events and much more. There were small tea shops in my area where radio used to be played continuously.  People used to gather in the morning to sip hot tea and listen to news in the radio.  All India Radio stations used to start their broadcast in the morning with a signature tune, which echoes in my mind even today.

Another fond memory associated with radio is that my uncle was a radio mechanic.  He had a shop at Kollam, my mother’s place.  Whenever I visited them, I used to go to his shop and observe him repair radio sets with amusement.  Those were the days of valve radios.  Most of them used to be big in size, with a wooden cover and reasonably heavy.  

Once when I was helping my father clean his cupboard, I saw a small blue color book, on which ‘Radio License’ was written.  My father told me that people had to pay license to own a radio set in India and the same had to be renewed annually at the nearest post office.  That system was abolished in early 80s.  I am sure the current generation can hardly believe that one had to get a license to listen to radio!

Apart from the local radio stations, we used to regularly listen to Radio Ceylon.  Based in Sri Lanka, Radio Ceylon is the first radio station in Asia.  They used to broadcast programmes in Sinhalese, Hindi, Tamil, and Malayalam.  Gradually we migrated from big radio sets to small transistor radios and portable pocket radios.  

Radio became an integral part of my life when I moved to Ahmedabad.  I was sharing an apartment with three of my friends and we didn’t have TV.  So, after the dinner we used to head straight to the terrace with a transistor radio.  All India Radio’s Vividh Bharti was our favorite station.  Geetmala, the legendary host Ameen Sayani’s programme of Hindi film songs was very popular those days. 

FM radio almost revolutionized our radio experience.  Today we get radio in our phone, vehicles and even in the television.  Probably there is no other medium which is so popular, affordable, and accessible to millions across the world.  Radio must have gone through lot of changes in its broadcasting technology, but it remained and will remain an integral part of our lives.  In 2011, UNESCO declared February 13^th as the ‘World Radio Day’.  This year’s theme for the World Radio Day is ‘Radio and Trust’.  

You can read more about the World Radio Day here: 

https://en.unesco.org/commemorations/worldradioday

You can listen to the AIR's signature tune here:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WuS-UiaKiVk

Cry My Eyes!

A Sunday evening, I was relaxing in my balcony.  I heard a feeble voice, ‘Hello, can you hear us?’ I looked around. There was nobody.  I slipped back to my chair.  I heard the voice again.

‘Hey please listen to us’

‘Who?’

‘Your eyes’

‘My eyes?’

‘Yes, your eyes. We want to tell you something’

‘Yes, please go ahead’

We want to share our life with you.  We were very happy and comfortable during your childhood.  You know, we help human beings to see the objects around them and to read.  We were happily doing this duty till you were 14.  That is when our first enemy came to your house – the television.  You stopped reading and started watching TV in the evenings.  Do you know that the bright screen of TV causes lot of strain to us?  To make things worse, you switched off the lights in the room while watching TV.  We somehow managed because you were watching TV only in the evenings and on holidays. During the daytime we used to enjoy helping you see what was happening around and read books, papers etc. 

When you completed your college and started working, our second enemy entered your life – the computer.  Computer screen was smaller than the TV screen and was positioned much closer to your face.  This caused us lot of strain.  At times, we used to turn red due to over-working.  Though it was putting lot of pressure on us, we were at least happy that when you were not at the office or at home, like when you were travelling or attending some functions etc., we could relax. 

Few years later, you brought the latest and our deadliest enemy into your life – the smart phone.  All hell broke loose.  The screen was much smaller than that of a computer.  You always kept staring at the phone, you started reading news, watching TV, watching movies, chatting with friends, attending meetings, reading assignments of your students, sharing pictures, monitoring time – almost everything on phone!  Added to this, even at bed you keep using the phone and your sleeping pattern became bizarre.  Whether you are in the office, or at home, or travelling, or attending functions, or doing anything else, you are always staring at the phone.  Can you imagine what we are going through!  It is beyond what we can take.

Unlike your nose and ears, you can instantly close us anytime and give us some rest.  But why are you torturing us so much?  Please keep the phone away for some time, please sleep on time and sleep well.  If we are not healthy, how can we perform our function?  When you feel sad, you cry through us.  When we are sad, what should we do?

I was stunned.  I couldn’t speak.  After taking a pause, my eyes continued, ‘We know what is going on in your mind now.  You are planning to write this in your blog and give strain to the eyes of your friends, who would read your blog on their phones’!!