Whatever It Takes

Random shopping can take anyone anywhere in Mumbai. Downtown Colaba is famous for all sorts of articles - clothing, apparels, accessories, VCDs, DVDs... You name it, they sell it. The parallel market is a boon in disguise for people like me who just cannot afford to spend their time watching stale stuff over and over again.

One such outing gave some good fodder for thought. Casually browsing down the streets one humid afternoon, I stumbled upon this man selling VCDs and DVDs. Surprisingly enough, there were ample amount of people near him, sorting out their choices from his bundle, as if it were some clearance sale at Harrod's. A peep into his treasure heap revealed the contents. They were all old serials that used to appear on Doordarshan from the late 1980s till mid 1990s. Buniyaad, Hum Log, Nukkad, Fauji, Gul Gulshan Gulfaam, Malgudi Days, Byomkesh Bakshi.. the list was endless.

What was even more surprising was that people were willing to pay as much as they would at any authorised store for such collections. On probing further, I found that some had even become regulars at his 'shop'.

I could see people's eyes well up going through the narratives on the DVDs of the characters they had literally grown up with, admired and despised with the same amount of passion. They joy on their faces were nothing short of a reaction evoked upon stumbling over a treasure pile. It does not take a rocket-scientist to explain that the precious and nostalgic world of television has also become mired in a melodramatic brouhaha of 'K' sitcoms, replete with generation gaps, leaps, hapless plots and twists.

News channels vie to capture the attention of any given viewer with any kind of rubbish, that is instantly termed 'BREAKING NEWS', even though the same channel may be carrying the story throughout the day. It's a mad, mad world of entertainment, with a lot of irrational,