Radio Ga-ga

With C and me looking to shift, I decided to take stock of things I should get rid of. My ancient radio was first on the list. Since I barely use it, I was contemplating sending it back home. There have been only two periods in my life when the radio was part of my daily life.

In the days when Doordarshan and AIR were our only sources of entertainment, if the weather permitted, we could get the Sri Lankan channels as well. One of the most popular programs on Radio Ceylon was the birthday special. If you wrote to them and were lucky the RJ woul read out birthday wishes from extended family - thatha, paati, mama, periamma and blah. Every year my grandparents would relgiously write into the program from Colombo and a very eager me would tune in from India. In the late eighties, that was considered the wonder of globalization. Over the years Radio Ceylon was replaced with Star TV and radio greetings were replaced with e-cards.

The only other period when radio ruled, was during my college hostel days. Stella Maris would not have been the same for me , if not for crazy friends and Rainbow FM. Dedicating terribly corny songs with ridiculous messages was a favourite activity in hostel. Rain or shine, exams or assignments - the half hour before dinner was always spent in the common room with the old rickety radio.

Now that I think about it, I probably wont get rid of my old radio :)