Athira Ann M Jos
Television was an alien concept until it’s invention in the 1920s. Television has been in the scene for over a century now. With a constant progress in technology, television evolved from mechanical CRT to high definition ones in the 1990s. It was introduced in India in 1959. The basic purpose of Television is to provide information and entertainment. Back in the days, it was regarded as a symbol of one’s affluence. I’ve heard my parents talk about how it was a luxury to have a TV at home during their time and how they used to go to each other’s house to watch movies and cricket matches. Our generation was lucky enough to be born with that luxury. Ever since I remember, television has always been there in my life. I grew up watching Malayalam, Hindi and English channels. Being a Keralite in Delhi, TV was one of the major sources for learning hindi apart from school. I now feel that the movies would’ve been way more enjoyable if I knew the language better. Before I even realised it, I had completely stopped watching Bollywood and Hindi channels. Now the major source of entertainment were the Malayalam movies and shows which I realised later that they were far more superior to bollywood in more than one way. I started enjoying them since then and it hasn’t changed till now. I recall watching some Hindi shows just to fit into the conversations my friends had. It wasn’t much later that I discovered that my own culture, my own language, is not something to be ashamed of or hide. I wanted to proudly embrace it and I did! Taking pride in one’s culture doesn’t take much of an effort. I was a little late to realise that.
Now as a growing adult, I enjoy content of several new and foreign languages like Japanese, Korean, Spanish etc. For entertainment, language was indeed a barrier, but not anymore. People enjoy the content regardless of the language. However the use of television has reduced significantly nowadays as everything is now available at our hands through our smart phones. The arrival of OTT platforms like Netflix and Amazon Prime have also led to the decrease in the number of television watchers but it has opened to us the whole world. Today anyone from any part of the world can watch Indian content or vice versa.
Television has been a part of my life from ever since I remember. It has and will, always hold many nostalgic memories in my heart. Even though I don’t watch TV nowadays, the role it played in shaping the life around me is significant. I’m more than grateful to be born in an era that got to enjoy the magic of television at its fullest.
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