This Sunday, me and my two friends ventured into an unplanned trek, or rather a walk. We took a train for Bangarpet from KRPuram station and we planned get down at some station may be an hour away from Bangalore and then walk back, but courtesy Indian railways we had to get down couple of stations after the Whitefield station. We got down at Malur station which seemed in the middle of no-where and we started walking along the railway track, and soon found ourselves in a Eucalyptus plantation, with loads of dry leaves all around, It was almost noon and sun was shining up and bright, it was a amazing to walk in the sun-n-shade of trees and hearing the rhythm of six footsteps on dried leaves. We kept cris-crossing on the railway track, till we finally located some interesting fields, there were small canals to water the fields, it was de-stressing to put the feet in flowing water as if to wash away all your tiredness and fill you with freshness. The only sound that we could hear was the sound of water falling on our feet and it almost felt therapeutic. Then we walked past fields of almost all the seasonal vegetables and roses, and we touched all of them almost like kids, when they see things for the first time. Then we reached a small pond where a few people were fishing, and that is where we sat down and had our food under a huge shady tree. There we could hear some music being played and we started walking towards the music and landed up on a small village road with loads of plantations, there were jack fruit trees and there were grape plantations. We ate a lot of fresh grapes and picked some to carry back home but we decided to distribute them on the railway station on our way back. We walked a few kilometers and then sat under a huge Pipal tree, tried speaking to a few locals, but language was the barrier and somehow every time we spoke, people thought we have lost our way and we need to get back somewhere and they would tell us to take auto and say it would take only 5 Rs or so by auto to reach the nearest bus stop. I think it was hard for them to believe that we are walking for pleasure. Ultimately we reached what looked like a civilization, huge upcoming buildings, a short stay home and a broad road. When we started walking towards the railway station, we passed which was more than a village; it was a nice modern town with bustling roads, traffic, pollution and business.
At the station as we waited for the train, some children who looked like Banjara kids, came and started singing for us with music produced from the two stones held in one hand. As we kept disapproving the songs they were singing, primarily the popular Hindi film songs, they kept churning out songs from their kitty. All of them were beautiful kids, with a streak of survival instincts, as they sang around and collected money from people waiting for the train. Both ways on the train, there were these bright colors that people wore, it almost felt like a flood of colors, but simultaneously wished people could be more clean and hygienic.
Between three of us, we spent the day in under Rs100/- and this simple day was much better spent than the most days spent anywhere in a city.
Monday, 12 June 2006
Tuesday, 6 June 2006
Re-discovering Vividh Bharti
Once upon a time when I was in school, I used to wait for the Nirma Jingle on Vividh Bharti that used to come at dot 7:55 AM which used to be my signal to rush to school. While I used to getting ready for the school, I used to listen ‘Bhoole Bisre Geet’ and ‘Sangeet Sarita’ and later during the day used to go to bed listening to ‘Chayageet’. Some of the other favourite programs were ‘Fauji Bhaiyon ke liye Jaymala’, with a Vishesh Jaymala on Saturday (I think it was Saturday) and ‘Cibaca Geetmala’.
Lately I have been listening to a lot of Radio (most of it courtesy Bangalore traffic), and till sometime back used to listen to Radio City and then got on to switching between ‘Radio City’ and ‘Radio Mirchi’. But in between them I pleasantly re-discovered Vividh Bharti. It was not only nostalgic to listen to all those programs again, but also highlighted the low quality of programming that the popular FM channels (and most TV channels) have.
I happened to listen to an interview of a Rakeysh Mehra, the famous film maker on TV and on Vividh Bharti, and what they got out of the guy was at two different ends of the continuum, and it was all a function of the questions thrown at him along with the seriousness and sincerity with which they were asked. The TV anchors can’t go beyond ‘How do you feel to be so successful (as if you can feel bad about it)?’, ‘How does it feel like to be working with … (as if you can feel bad about the team that made you successful, despite whatever you share with them)?’, ‘Let us show you what the man on the street has to say about you (followed by all the tailored quotes)’. But at Vividh Bharti, the questions focused on what was his sense of nationalism, how it was rooted in his childhood spent in Old Delhi and his visits to Independence Day and Republic Day functions. They asked him at length about his journey till this point, without glorifying the hardships that he went through, but it was treated as milestones in the journey and the focus was on the learning through the process. It almost felt like you know the person better after listening to that interview. Of course the fact that here were no visual distractions, could have also contributed.
There was another program I was listening to where they were answering the letters written by the listeners, believe me the content written by people has hardly changed over the decades. But the way the letters were handled was absolutely delightful. Listeners are treated with all the respect, and it shows in the way they are addressed, the quality if language used and way the queries are handled, unlike someone shouting at the top of the voice and saying, ‘u the no. ending with 123’.
On Vividh Bharti, content is usually research based, the language used is decent, the flow of words is slow paced but fluent, there is no hurry to fill in the jungles in whatever time is saved. I love those theme based programs that have the power to stimulate and create a mood, contrary to demand driven programs, where demand of few heterogeneous people may be catered to, but the program looses the flow and somewhere you feel the absence of a soul.
The more I am listening to Vividh Bharti, more I am falling in love with it, all over again… or it is just that ‘you never get out of love with your first love’?
Lately I have been listening to a lot of Radio (most of it courtesy Bangalore traffic), and till sometime back used to listen to Radio City and then got on to switching between ‘Radio City’ and ‘Radio Mirchi’. But in between them I pleasantly re-discovered Vividh Bharti. It was not only nostalgic to listen to all those programs again, but also highlighted the low quality of programming that the popular FM channels (and most TV channels) have.
I happened to listen to an interview of a Rakeysh Mehra, the famous film maker on TV and on Vividh Bharti, and what they got out of the guy was at two different ends of the continuum, and it was all a function of the questions thrown at him along with the seriousness and sincerity with which they were asked. The TV anchors can’t go beyond ‘How do you feel to be so successful (as if you can feel bad about it)?’, ‘How does it feel like to be working with … (as if you can feel bad about the team that made you successful, despite whatever you share with them)?’, ‘Let us show you what the man on the street has to say about you (followed by all the tailored quotes)’. But at Vividh Bharti, the questions focused on what was his sense of nationalism, how it was rooted in his childhood spent in Old Delhi and his visits to Independence Day and Republic Day functions. They asked him at length about his journey till this point, without glorifying the hardships that he went through, but it was treated as milestones in the journey and the focus was on the learning through the process. It almost felt like you know the person better after listening to that interview. Of course the fact that here were no visual distractions, could have also contributed.
There was another program I was listening to where they were answering the letters written by the listeners, believe me the content written by people has hardly changed over the decades. But the way the letters were handled was absolutely delightful. Listeners are treated with all the respect, and it shows in the way they are addressed, the quality if language used and way the queries are handled, unlike someone shouting at the top of the voice and saying, ‘u the no. ending with 123’.
On Vividh Bharti, content is usually research based, the language used is decent, the flow of words is slow paced but fluent, there is no hurry to fill in the jungles in whatever time is saved. I love those theme based programs that have the power to stimulate and create a mood, contrary to demand driven programs, where demand of few heterogeneous people may be catered to, but the program looses the flow and somewhere you feel the absence of a soul.
The more I am listening to Vividh Bharti, more I am falling in love with it, all over again… or it is just that ‘you never get out of love with your first love’?
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