A sight from my past confronted me last evening………..

and I immediately wanted to scream “BANTAAA??”(in Kannada) … (according to my Hindi speaking friends it was AAYA KYAA?? in their respective households) …. .. brought this up during lunch at work today and everyone had their own stories to tell about the “ANTENNA”. The crowning accessory of every TV owning home in the 80’s and 90’s.

The Antenna that brought back memories

Each story was more hilarious than the previous one. Everyone seems to remember manually turning it 1 millimetre at a time so that we could get a CLEAR SIGNAL. So the routine was as follows …. switch the TV on…. if the signal is not clear run to the terrace …. climb the ledge and hang on for dear life … brave the raw earthly elements namely the sun, the wind, the thunder , the lightning (I may be completely exaggerating  here  …… )  move the antenna one mm to the right …. scream … BANTAAA?? … if the answer was in the negative … you move it another millimetre…. if the signal quality worsens then you start turning it mm by mm in the opposite direction ….. then when you hear a positive response to you AAYA KYAA’s .. you run downstairs and watch Chitrahaar…

Imagine as  you plonk down in front of the TV to watch Ramanand Sagar’s Ramayan …. a naughty gust of wind would change the painstakingly-checked-rechecked-triplechecked-antenna-co-ordinates and all hell would break loose …………. The drama that unfolded after this would be equally worthy of being directed by the dear Mr.Ramanand Sagar himself………. remember when the two arrows would take up an entire serial slot of time to collide with each other in mid-air and nullify each others effects….. and both parties who let the arrows loose would dramatically say “Chee” and slap their thighs 

I went to the terrace and consciously scanned the rooftops in my neighbourhood. All that I saw were a range of Dish TVs , Tata Sky antennas…………………… Finally found one house at a distance that still housed the old antenna but in a poor condition.

On that note …… BANTAAAA???? 

People can be likened to food ….

….. or fruits specifically. The girls have been discussing this at length in the most recent mail chain. Prav detests STRAWBERRIES …According to her, it was always the most incredibly goodlooking, red, unaffordable fruit and when she eventually ate it…………. it turned out to be the biggest disappointment ever. Don’t we in life also come across such situations where we build people up in our head and present such a glorified image of them to the entire universe, then in reality when we do interact with them and get to know them better we see them for what they are and feel disappointed. On the other hand they could turn out to be a yumm Mango too!!!

I guess that’s how life is served, a bowl full of cut fruits which have all ripened at their own pace  (and some most definitely haven’t ripened)….. Thankfully I got a generous sprinkling of NUTS on top!!!

There is nothing like an Enid Blyton book …….

………….to make a day when you are ill start looking all better again (in my opinion)

Found my 2 decade old battered Famous Five book and as I stayed in bed all day and read the adventure that these kids went on ….. it made me see life in a more happy and positive way. My favourite part was this passage:

“A wonderful smell came creeping into the little dining-room, followed by the inn-woman carrying a large tray. On it was a steaming tureen of porridge, a bowl of golden syrup, a jug of very thick cream, and a dish of bacon and eggs, all piled high on crisp brown toast. Little mushrooms were on the same dish.

‘Toast, marmalade and butter to come, and the coffee and hot milk,’ said the woman, busily setting everything out. ‘And if you want any more bacon and eggs, just ring the bell.’ “

Got me thinking of a discussion I had with someone who is a new age mother a while earlier , who was of the opinion that Enid Blyton books hold no relevance to a child growing up in todays world and that there is no real take back value in these books. I distinctly remember thinking that only an ADULT with such a strong sense of self-importance would be capable of making a statement such as that ……. I believe a child any age in any generation would find the idea of going off with their friends during their holidays, giggling silly with their friends, gorging on yummy food, playing pranks, solving mysteries(atleast in their small imaginative heads) extremely exciting.

I remember watching the movie on Enid Blyton and though I have my reservations about the woman and her choices , I especially remember one statement where she says ” I dont care for any critic who is over the age of 12 and they love my books”

Such clear Perspective.