The 6m-long antenna pole for television was finally brought down today at home. Though it was inoperational for a long time due to the advent of satellite TV, it was a relic of the past, a vibrant reminder of several years of entertainment, which is totally new to the children of today. How we enjoyed the Hobson’s choice of Doordarshan (India’s state-owned telecasting organisation) with relish even though not a soul would care to switch to any of their numerous Hindi-language programmes now!More than the entertainment aspect, the antenna-pole marked a phase of my life. It was installed in August 1986 and after nearly a quarter-century, it is finally removed. As in history where the middle ages are considered to begin with the burning of the library at Alexandria in 415 CE and that of the modern era with the fall of Constantinople in 1453 CE, the installation of the pole marked my transition from adolescence to youth while its removal today might signify the transition from youth to middle ages! Abhorrent is the thought of aging, but there is no way out!
Thinking of the antenna-pole, I am pulled back to nostalgic reveries of those times. TV transmission in Kerala was still in its infancy and we had decided to buy a colour TV set in 1986. Even though it was very costly by today’s standards, our family decided not to look at black-and-white sets, but a decent colour set seemed to be unaffordable. Enquiries were made at Coimbatore and a firm, M/s Vimal Videos agreed to sell a set for Rs. 11,900 at an EMI of Rs. 515 for 36 months. The instalment amount was straining our resources when I was in the 10th standard, but we made up our mind to purchase it to fulfill our long felt desire. When the money was collected and we reached the shop, there was some last minute bargain resulting in coughing up the last rupee we had. Hiring a taxi or vehicle was out of the question and we chose a late-night train running from Trichy to Ernakulam. The TV set reached home early next morning. The real problem cropped up then. There was no antenna and we had no cash to spare. Borrowing from some friends, a quick run to a hardware shop brought the 6m long pole and antenna kit which was immediately assembled and hoisted. Even though I don’t remember the first program we watched on this set, the euphoria and the waiting for 6’o clock (that was the time when the daily transmission started) unexplainably fills a feeling of sadness in me. The set was Teltronix make, a startup company at Thrissur which manufactured sets in collaboration with Toshiba. The company doesn’t exist now. This was in 1986 when I was 14 years old and now, this pole is brought down and removed.
In a sense, the diminishing role of the antenna can be compared to that of Doordarshan also. In an era when it reigned supreme over the Indian skies, the choice and quality of the coverage was poorest among the poor. Doordarshan began its operations in 1959, which became a daily black-and-white service in 1962 in Delhi. By 1965, it was extended to Mumbai and Amritsar (why Amritsar is anybody’s guess!). The transmission changed to colour along with 1982 Asian Games held at New Delhi. Towers and production studios also multiplied, with Malayalam service commencing in 1984 from Thiruvananthapuram.
The smooth sailing of the national airwaves monopoly faced rough weather in 1991 when Prime Minister P V Narasimha Rao’s economic liberalisation movements catapulted the nation along a trajectory of steep economic growth along with inevitable changes in all aspects of public life. Private companies were allowed to broadcast and the age of satellite television arrived. The number of channels burgeoned and we found the original eight channels in the Teltronix set too few to receive the numerous channels, most of which didn’t make any relevance to us. But since they are broadcast, it would be too bad on our part not to be able to receive it! Hence, the sets were changed and the new era arrived. By recent estimates, it is known that there are 417 private TV channels operating in India at the end of 2009.
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