Musings of an Idiot

TV in Rural India

A couple of days back I went and visited the village that I've visited since childhood because grandma's sister {'amma'} and her husband ['tatha'] have their house their, and it was a very different experience. What was noticeable was the distinct lack of children playing around on the streets and the stillness of the place. From childhood memories as well as from the 2005 trip, I know that in the evenings there is a lot of hustle/bustle on the main village road with kids playing and people doing household chores and socializing. This time around it was quiet - there were only 2 or 3 kids playing and they were curious enough to come looking for me as I was carrying my digital camera around trying to see if I could take any snaps.



Looks like the outreach of satellite TV into rural India has had a huge impact on the village lifestyle. The set-top box and subscription to 100+ channels in rural villages costs about Rs.70 odd a month {from the information I overheard} - that's NZ$2 per month. I guess the reason they can provide it so cheap is that they earn money through advertising revenue generated from reaching a bigger percentage of the population. When we were kids, if there was a major TV event like a cricket match or something, almost the entire village would gather at tatha's house in order to watch it as that was the only television in the village. Now every hut has it's own TV - so no more sense of an event or sense of community. I guess the good thing is that means there is development in rural India and the bad thing is that they are now watching crappy daily soap operas and forming an unrealistic view of what a city life is.


One of the best things about visiting 'thota' [literal translation: farm] is the awesome food the amma cooks up. Her chicken fry dish has been the best chicken dish I've had since coming to India this time. It was unbelievably awesome. A distant second is 'Ulavacharu Chicken Biryani' from DV Manor in Vijayawada. It is always a strange feeling seeing the faces of people you've known since childhood, every passing year. For some reason I always imagine people with the same faces as I remembered them when I was younger and the toll that age takes on the face and the body seems unreal. You don't want to believe your eyes but the reality is that everyone ages and that is a fact of life.



The matrimonial thing isn't going too well for me. Gyanender uncle is of the view that I should find my own life partner because in terms of arranged marriage to someone from India, the relationship most probably won't work out because of the unusual profession I am in and I can totally see his point. Besides that the arranged marriage thing on surface sounds so simple as a concept but it is so incredibly complicated and twister. In that aspect there are several things that work against me: a) hair {or lack of}; b) country {people only want US or UK}; c) profession {only a docotor or an engineer or a IT professional would do}; d) age {under 30 only thank you very much}. So all in all pretty much everything about me is not acceptable to the Indian society at large and I find it highly amusing on one hand and very angry on the other. Who knows what's gonna happen on that front? I don't. Looks like I'll be doing my own finding once I get back to NZ. :-)

I love the home cooked food that Lakshmi aunty is serving up and the pearls of wisdom and company of Gyanender uncle that the stay in Vijayawada has been extended till end of this week. There are no more relatives to meet and no more marriage bureaus to go to, so I'll be spending some quality time with them {even though I skipped going to a temple visit this morning}. I might buy a pair of shorts and t-shirt later this evening and I might even get some much needed exercise over the next few days.

That's me for now.
Later,
Amit

Labels: Travel, Vijayawada

posted by Amit @ 11:35 AM