Nostalgia of Learning -- 1980 s Watching the 9 PM News on DD

 

The news of Gitanjali Aiyar Newsreader  Doordarshan passing away took me back ages –

Those were the days , when entertainment through Televisions were sparce – In fact Telecasts itself would commence in the evening by 6 and probably run for a couple of hours. And I do not want to talk about the topics that were telecast.. They would interest no one but the TV set would be on.  What was of great interest to many of us was the English News at 9 PM everyday that would run for 30 minutes and the personalities that hosted it. They were supremos in their own right and had lot of influence doing what they did

Watching the news was a Big education  -- it is like watching the  Learning videos  of today

Our teachers encouraged us to watch the News  for two things :

  1. Get our Pronunciation right  and watch the flow
  2. Improve our Current Affairs Knowledge
  3. And we were warned not to watch any other program since they could be diversions to our academic pursuit.. There was nothing of any great interest but the warning was like a statuory one ! 

The news was probably one of the fastest ways to get updated on the day’s happenings. Else you had to wait for the newspaper next day. So most of us watched it as a regular habit .. We did improve our language skills in a big way as we tuned in regularly to the news. Since English was not spoken on a frequent basis at the school as a communication language , it was important for people like me to use this as a learning tool to improve.  And getting to know what is happening was also important. 

 

Some of my favorite news readers in DD were Minu Talwar , Tejeshwar Singh , of Course Gitanjali Aiyar , Komal G B Singh , Neethi Ravindran , Sashikumar, Ramu Damodaran , Rini Simon. Each of them had their own style of delivery  and they were around for a long period of time…   the bet in the house where all of us tuned in , would be on who would Host the news for the day ? Small bets but cherishable and simple bets.. And when the person who you guessed came on , you won a lottery--- that was the happiness those days – Simple and easy 

 

Gen X’s :  Are you able to recollect  and relive what is am talking about ?

 

 

Comments

Anonymous said…
I remember my father insisting me to read The Hindu before interviews during my Job hunt days for world news & GK stuff , easiest way to hear news :) . Shobhana Ravi was notable tamil news reader that I recollect . Sad to hear about Gitanjali Aiyar !!
11:46 PM
Prasanna said…
I remember my father insisting me to read The Hindu before interviews during my Job hunt days for world news & GK stuff , easiest way to hear news :) . Shobhana Ravi was notable tamil news reader that I recollect . Sad to hear about Gitanjali Aiyar !
11:47 PM
Aravind said…
Most definitely, Sri. Watching the Tamil news at 8.30 followed by the English news at 9 PM with the 'All regional kendras to link to Delhi' message in between! The Tamil readers I could recollect are Shobana Ravi, Varadharajan, Nijanthan, Erode Tamilanban, Sandhya Rajagopal and Fathima Babu. Nostagic days. On the AIR side, I could recall only Saroj Narayanswamy for her Akashavaani news (especially on rainy days) around 7 in the morning.
12:18 AM
Laxmi Bitra said…
Yes Sri, and more importantly i was surprised that this news was reported . It was a nostalgia.
Yes, bets were on both for Hindi and English readers.

When Rini Simon became Rini Khanna......it was little disappointment though ;) ;)
12:21 AM
Sri said…
Aravind -- Great of you to bring in the Tamilnewsreaders.. I
Saroj Narayanaswami Kural ketkatha m oru Tea Kadai kooda kedaiyathu - Such a voice she had and it was heard all over TN-- She passed away Aug of 2022
1:01 AM
Sri said…
This comment has been removed by the author.
1:02 AM
Gangapriya said…
Gitanjali Aiyar's death has raised a flood of nostalgia about old time newsreaders. They were all "newsreaders" - read in whatever language with clarity and the right pronunciation (even Sanskrit newsreaders sounded so nice even though I didn't understand a word) unlike the ones today who are always screaming and shouting, that you just want to switch off and enjoy the silence.
2:15 AM
Harish said…
Thanks for bring the nostalgic feeling back. You are right, my father too used to make sure I listen to both English and Hindi news to improve the language and pronunciation. Some of news readers I love to hear were : Gitanjali Aiyar, Usha Albuquerque, Salma Sulthan, Neethi Ravindran, Shobhana Jagdish...
8:19 AM
Kavitha Sridharan said…
Completely nostalgic reading your blog. We would also have bets on who would be in the news that night☺️ kindled some wonderful memories. Thank you!
6:05 AM
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