Pittsburgh_Patrika_October_2015

The Pittsburgh Patrika, Vol, 21, No. 1, October 2015
Twenty-five years after my own wedding, my niece Chayanika was
having hers. Though it’s a Hindi movie cliché, that’s how I replay
it in my mind: a shy two-year-old trash-talks as I try to push her on a
swing, saying marengay (I’ll hit you). She responds: nani ke pas jayenge
(I’ll go to my grandma and tell on you), and meri maa ka-han hai (where
is my mother when I need her?).
Cut to: the beautiful bride’s arm, gracefully extended toward the
mehandi wala (mehandi artist). She looks up slowly, smiles. I snap a
photograph. Or rather, 30 shots each second.
One of the changes I witnessed over the past 25 years in India is
the increasing encroachment of television into the daily lives of
youngsters, housewives, and especially retirees. When I arrived in Patna,
the family had a small black-and-white TV that received a single station
— Door Darshan One. Now, large flat-screen TVs are ubiquitous among
the middle and upper-middle class. They stock a quantity of channels
putting the US to shame. More Hindi “soaps” are produced in India than
in the US, exceeding even the Bollywood-to-Hollywood ratio of films
produced annually.
In retirees’ homes, the TV is always, always, on. The main couch usually
faces a flat LCD TV screen that relentlessly telecasts a soap, a news
Pranam India... ... Continued on Page 28
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