this one without a title...

I lived first two years of my post education (formal) life without a television. That’s not something to be proud of but just for the records. In college hostel we had a common room where 260 inmates of the hostel struggled with time, remote and each other to watch their favorite shows. I remember having an argument with one of the guys who wanted to watch ‘Bourn vita Quiz’ on ESPN and I wanted to see a show on Nat Geo. None of us was ready to budge when a large group of Sun TV fans rushed in and the majority won. The other guy joined them triumphantly, for he understood Thamizh, and I had to go back in my room and play Minesweeper on my PC! I remember only one occasion (apart from cricket matches) when every student irrespective of his language & origin was sitting, in the common room with all lights switched off & only TV screen shimmering with cathode radiations, silent, focused and watching TV in the common room. It was when Zee TV was airing ‘Kamasutra’.

Post education era was a mix of mixing up with some things and drawing lines with some others. Finding our own interests, exploring new experiences and of course the search for a meaning in the work we do was major occupation during that time. After two years of search and simulations (useless) a 21 inch box of wonders moved in my life. And when the wire of wisdom was plugged in it from behind miracles started appearing on its screen. I started living the days of past. Most of the time this TV kept channeled into HISTORY, HBO, Star Movies, PIX, TV 18, Star World and not to forget Discovery and Nat Geo. Discovery’s Biggest Shows were in the breakfast & lunch menu and babes of Baywatch and Sex & the City for dinner. FRIENDS, Seinfeld and the frequently repeated movies on Star had become part of everyday life. By now, I had watched every TOW… of FRIENDS at least thrice which comes in Star World and Zee Café. And I was still watching them until day before yesterday the Box was gone!

Thakur had brought the TV when he shifted from Mumbai to Hyderabad. He took it away (even after severe protests-cum-requests from his flat-mates) when he shifted from Hyderabad to Gurgaon. After it went I realized that I was so addicted to it that it’s just 48 hours I have not been with it and I am compelled to write about it.

Sitting on a chair with remote in your hands and a cable wire behind your TV, you can virtually switch between the worlds you want to live in. You have more then 200 options, more than 200 worlds and more than 200 perspectives to be with at any time – 24 by 7. From the most mundane to the most significant – there is a huge band of variety among channels. It reminds me, just 10 years back the struggle in our village was to get your TV tuned in from DD1 to DD2 because of the ‘The Arabian Nights’ cartoon series and a Saturday Matinee movies. Today we don’t wait or struggle; we just press the thumb and keep pressing it until we get what we want, what we hate or what we love – ultimately to get connected to the world.

Sadly, or perhaps not-so-sadly the TV is now gone and I am left with only a humble laptop whose half of the features were victimized by my curiosity of having XP instead of VISTA. And gone with the TV are FRIENDS, SATC and Baywatch… Everything… Stupid soaps of Star, Extreme shows of Discovery (especially Man Vs Wild which had started only recently), Holmes of History have all been taken away from me  :( ...

After TV left me, I realized I used to think other people’s thoughts. I had images of Man Vs Wild in my brain when I was alone. I had voices of Jack Nicholson and Udayan Mukharjee (of CNBC TV 18) in my head. I could hear the tune of Airtel’s ad in my head. I could see the hundreds of bikini clad babes of Axe Vice! I could replay the Amul Macho add in my head!

It is amazing that my brain remembers so much but every Hard Drive has limited GB capacity. Especially there shouldn't be more burden on the working memory (the RAM). The time now post-TV demands I clean my brain nerves. No thoughts in brain but still being aware of the being. I mean – what happens when there are no thoughts but still you know you are there? You hear every noise, every voice, you see every object, you touch every tangible thing – but thought is not there. Time is now to explore and find what happens when the thought becomes naught… Creepy!

PS: I heard Mr BKS Iyengar say here that ‘Mind is the king of the senses. And breath is the king of the mind. And it is our nervous system that drives our breath.’