Wednesday 21 November 2012

The Story of Our First TV


We have a very wonderful and quite hilarious memory of our first television set. I was born and brought up in Bongaigaon, a town in Assam. I don’t remember exactly how old I was that time, maybe I was in 3rd or 4th grade. My father decided to buy a color TV. That time 21 inch color TV was more costlier than today's  price J. During those days we had only one TV in our entire locality and it was a portable Black & White television. The news spread far and wide that my father would buy a new color television and people in the neighborhood was very much excited. People started to give suggestions and one uncle suggested my father not to buy a TV with a remote control, as those were not of good quality. He said that if the remote is damaged or lost then the entire TV would be useless. That was the time when remote control color TV was launched for the first time, at least in our hometown and there were only one or two TV dealers. My father decided not to buy a remote control one, may be because it would be little over budget for him.

My father knew one of the TV dealers quite well and decided to buy from there. Coincidentally on that day one engineer from the Beltek company visited that dealer's shop. The guy somehow convinced my father to buy a “Beltek Color TV” with a remote control. We, including many of our neighbors simply waited for my father to return home. Now installing a TV was not any child’s play that time as it required to fix the big antenna's with the booster. The antenna had to be fixed in a particular direction, else it would not be able to capture the desired signal.  Everyone believed that the picture quality was directly proportional to the height of the antenna. People usually used metallic pipe to fix their antenna's and to support the tall pipe it required digging up the ground and hell lot of strong wires to support it from at least 3 different directions, each 120 degree apart.

The next day was almost like a festival and some 8 to 10 people worked really  hard to fix the antenna. It was a very difficult job as the pipe was too tall and quite heavy, also there were electric wires nearby and made the task more difficult. It took almost 3 to 4 hours to fix the antenna. Everyone was desperate to watch some moving pictures on the TV screen.  Many people, including my father tried a lot but nothing was visible on the tv screen. My mom was quite busy preparing and serving tea/snacks to all of us. Someone suggested that the direction of the antenna was not proper and few guys tried to rotate the pipe. All of a sudden someone screamed “it’s came, it’s came!” Out of excitement everyone rushed to the TV room. But nothing was visible on the screen and the guy tried to justify and said “just now I saw some moving pictures”. The drama continued the whole day and finally everyone left with a heavy heart.

Next day my father went to the dealer and explained everything to them. One mechanic came along with my father to help us installing the TV. The guy analyzed everything and said that the position of the antenna was wrong, as just at a distance of half a KM there was a tall and big tower of the Indian Oil Corporation. He explained to us that the tower interfered with our share of the TV signal. So, people started to work again and fixed the antenna at a different position.  Many people worked hard for the whole day and at the end nothing was visible on the screen. The mechanic was adamant on his point that the IOC tower interfered with the TV signal.On that evening some people came to watch Chitrahaar and they were highly disappointed to go back empty handed. Next day people took our TV to an entirely different location, to the house which already had a TV in our locality. People tried many things, from rotating the antenna to adjusting the booster, but still nothing was visible on the screen. The drama continued for almost a week and not only us but the entire locality was literally irritated as well as very much frustrated. One uncle  said my father “see, I already told you not to buy a remote control TV”.

My father decided to replace the TV with a non remote control one. One evening my father and one neighbor uncle went to the dealer to replace the TV. After so much of drama somehow the excitement was gone and I already went to sleep as my father returned home very late that night. As soon as I woke up in the morning I heard some kind of sound. I saw a TV in the drawing room and cricket match between India vs New Zealand was going on. The picture was very clear and the cricket field looked so green. It was like a dream to me and I just screamed “wow, the new TV is so nice” My father smiled  and said that it’s the same TV we bought few days back. My father actually went to replace the TV but fortunately the same engineer from the Beltek Company visited the dealer's shop that evening. He did some simple setting in the remote control and almost like a magic my father could see clear picture on the TV screen.

It was really a very nice TV and my father had an emotional attachment with it. It had 12 channels and initially we watched only DD1 but few years later we could also watch DD2. Later when we grew up and took cable connection, we argued a lot with our father to buy a new TV as there were lot of better option in the market but my father never exchanged it. I think more than the money part, he was quite attached with that TV. When I was in my engineering college, our TV was at a very pathetic condition and finally my father had to buy a new one. 

24 comments:

  1. For those of you who may not know what Jahid used to do with that TV later (when we were in class-8 or 9). His father was strict and some snag occured in the TV which his father never got repaired and also removed their cable tv connection so that Jahid does not waste his time watching cricket n all and study instead. However, Jahid as we all know was a genius always, He knew the trick, actually the TV would work properly if it is kept heated (using an electric heater) atleast 1 hr prior to use. So JAhid used to use the heater in his home, always 1 hr prior to use and would watch cricket, (his father thinkin that the tv needs a serious repair only a bit too far away from knowing the fact that he produced a genius!!)

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    1. He he Ajay, I almost forgot about the heater thing :) Now I can recollect it.

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  2. Hilarious! Hi Jahid , thanks for connecting. Sorry that I could not visit you earlier as I was on a break . Nice space.

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    1. Thanks a lot Kavita. You have a wonderful blog from Assam.

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  3. your post triggers lots of memories...
    i can recollect our efforts to rotate the antenna to get good signal every now and then...

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    1. Yes Sumukh, specially while watching cricket match we used to rotate a lot for a little better signal. In Assam it's quite windy and every now and then the antenna used to change it's direction :)

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  4. Nice account! Reminded me of the time when we had got the TV for the first time at our house :)

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    1. Thanks a lot for stopping by Sapna. Glad to know that this post able to take you to ur past life and refreshed your good old memories :)

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  5. Only good memory's!!!
    Thanks for the fun.

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    1. Thanks a lot Willy. I am glad that u found it funny. Yeah! only good memories, may be bad memoriy leaks from my system :)

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  6. ah ha , We use to watch the sunday movie in neighbours house and My dad use to hate it , he did not like us sitting there for hours , so he too decided to get a tv a black and white .. CROWN tv with a shutter in front ..
    and I remember when it arrived on a Rickshaw, it was a like a marriage prrocession all kids dancing in front of it .. :)

    wow you reminded me of those good old days

    Bikram's

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    1. Ha ha Bikram,I have seen lot of TV with shutter in front. After switching it off people used to close the shutter :) Glad to know that u also have a similar first TV experience :) Sunday movies were almost like festivals and it was so frustrating when power went off in between. I enjoyed Bikram/Betal that used to telecast on Sunday just before the movie.

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  7. Wow.. U have tickled those old memories and brought a big smile on my face. Gone are those days when such little things gave us so much of happiness. Now we buy so many advanced stuffs without any second thought but god knows where is that happiness lost.

    I remember once there was some earthing problem at my house and I had got a big current shock when I touched the pipe of antenna.. :-P
    Miss those golden days.

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    1. Thanks for stopping by Sonia. Glad to know that this post brought smile on ur face. Hey! you also experienced the electric shock :) I remember one incident, some wires which we used to support our antenna, some how connected the main electric cables. As in Assam people usually use tin roof, we also had the same. Many people experienced electric shock that day :)

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  8. Bhaijan...nice post.. reminds me of your Bongaigaon House...

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    1. Thanks Sunny :) How are u guys doing? long time ! do drop in sometimes :)

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  9. Wow, what a very good story and a truly heartwarming. It will be a very historic TV of course. I understand the feelings of your father, despite the technology has evolved into much more easily.
    When I was little, my grandfather also had a tv that is unique, we have to adjust the signal by twirling a button on the side of the TV. And the TV has now been broken. hehehe

    Have a great day :)

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    1. Thanks a lot Angga for stopping by. Yeah, it's a historic TV and my father is quite an emotional person :) He like to keep every small things which we usually don't hesitate to throw away :) Thanks a lot ...

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  10. Hey Jahid.. Nice post man..

    I remember we having a color television for the first time.. It was the time of Ramayan and Mahabharat on DD.

    Sunday was a mela at my house with my father's colleagues...

    Thank You for taking me to those days....

    Cheers

    Hari Narayana
    www.indiathatwas.com

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    1. Thanks a lot Hari for stopping by. I am glad that this post reminds u of ur good old days. I also remember the Ramayan and Mahabharat days in DD. During the Mahabharat time there were few more TV's in our locality but Ramayan time was awesome :) Morning 9 to 10 AM was a kind of mela in our house with my father's colleagues, neighbors, kids from all over the place ........ :) :)

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  11. Parents are often attached with gadgets they bought 1st time with their hard earned money. My mother was attached to this particular refrigerator. Though after many years, we got a new fridge, the old one was not allowed to be sold. It was only after she passed away that we disposed it.

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    1. Yeah, U are correct "Parents are often attached with gadgets they bought 1st time with their hard earned money" Thanks for visiting!

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