In a Flat World - II

Today I was on my mission Malleswaram. By that I mean my schedule of roaming through the markets of Malleswaram, which is a pretty good market in itself now, with a number of grand showrooms, many of them opened in the previous 4 years, the time since I have come to college.

So when I was on my favorite shop, Temptation M, which is something just like Planet M, I saw a couple inquiring about the Ramayana of Ramanand Sagar (the old one) which was available there for Rs 3500.

The in charge of the shop told them and when they showed some reluctance, he started trying his luck and showed them the Mahabharata, Shri Krishna, and Vikram aur Betaal. But the couple had lost interest for some reason and confused, they left the place.

And I started thinking how would it be a waste of their money had they bought it.

Nowadays my mind is really giving me lots of troubles as it is making me think about lots of things I need not think. (so I think when I do not use my mind)

I started thinking how could they use those Rs 3500. First thing that can be done is, buy a Tata Sky connection with the amount of money. Or Dish TV, whichever you like more. In fact you can even have Reliance BlueMagic, but we don't really know in how much time is Mr Anil Ambani going to launch it, but anyways it is going to be cheaper than the two. At least that is what we expect from Reliance.

I think I went off the topic. Back.

So, we can buy a DTH connection and watch new Ramayana on the NDTV Imagine. And after a few days the new Mahabharata too, on Star. (according to reports) This way, we'll be getting a number of channels in addition to the Ramayana and Mahabharata we actually want which will be easier to watch as all the fights in the serials will be using higher quality animations compared to those of 80's.

Second option, we can have a broadband connection of any company. From a wired home broadband connection of BSNL or Sify or Airtel to USB/PCMCIA cards of Reliance/Tata Indicom. And then download and /or watch a hundred more national and international serials, series and shows from Youtube.

Actually I have learnt a lot from that shop itself. About the flattening of world. About technology getting cheaper and becoming more affordable. I have bought a number of CDs from this particular shop (in case u don't know, I am a big movie buff, and a bigger music buff, still buying movie CDs many times) and seen that CDs I buy at Rs 100 (in my case, that's the limit), are being sold for Rs 50 or 38 or 30 by Moserbaer or some company which has reduced its prices due to competition with Moserbaer.

So, in short, as the world is getting flatter, I think it is important for every human to get acquainted to its environment, so that we can get the maximum benefit of the things happening around us.

Hope u are keeping yourself updated.

NDTV, the acquainted newcomer

It has not been very long, not long enough to be out of my memory, when after every news hour on Star News, one of the best news channels of that time, we used to see two parallel, glowing lines, moving to write NDTV, and then the Star sign followed with the usual 'this is star and you are watching star news' etc. Then suddenly in April '04, Star News started looking different, as the contract of Star with the NDTV was over and NDTV had left Star to start its own news channel.

This was the start of NDTV 24x7 and NDTV India, the English and Hindi news channels of the NDTV group. And then NDTV started Profit, another channel that gave business news. That was all NDTV was expected to do. But last year, in September, NDTV came into something new. It joined hands with the UB group (of Vijay Mallya) and started a lifestyle channel called NDTV Good Times. The channel is not very attrcating though, still there are some things worth watching like the 'Lounge' presnted by actor-director Rajat Kapoor.

And this time, NDTV did something not-that-unexpected, but in an incredible style. It started NDTV Imagine, an entertainment channel, expected, but the programs it brought with it made all the difference. In this era of reality shows, a reality show called 'Say Shaava Shaava' was fine. But it started 'Ramayan' too. The super super popular show of its time, the dharm and sanskriti show that used to hold the Indian masses 20 years ago, was re-launched by the same people (the Sagars) in an altogether new look. This was something that holds the capacity to bring NDTV Imagine in majority of homes, especially in rural and town areas. In fact I think Ramayan will be able to get audiences from everywhere, at least in the start. And it seems Ramayan will be able to find many of its viewers coming from the regular saas-bahu audiences, thus harming the Star.

Anyways, I just hope the competition gets tougher and we get better, good quality programs.

Amen.