This is the world of rapidly advancing technology. You sleep in the night happy that you have mastered the latest functions of your latest mobile phone only to find out the next morning that your mobile has become a thing of the past. Such is the pace at which technology and especially communication technology is developing in this world.
In this age of cable networking and nifty gadgets I was left alone with my terrestrial PTV antenna for the last 9 months. The reception was so poor that during the whole world cup we could see the players moving and running here and there after something that eluded our sight. At times cricket was a mere throwing of bat in the air hitting at something that was never there. Imagine watching test cricket at this level. So now you can not blame me for my poor analysis of our cricket team.
The benefit of such exceptional quality reception was way more than I thought it was. The best of them all is that you tend to appreciate mediocre anchor persons for their mediocre beauty. Since the stary sky never allowed us the privilege of getting a clear look at the faces of all those face plastered women folk on the TV we thought they were pretty beautiful. Or we took it for granted that they must be presentable to be on the national network. Body figures seemed miss world worthy. Colours were mistaken for a better combination. It can be easily assumed that under those circumstances our own imagination worked a great lot in improving the quality of 'home entertainment'. I must say atleast I was very good at it!
The other big benefit was that such a great quality of reception reduced the amount of time TV was allowed to show pictures. Hardly an hour or two of PTV was enough dose to tire the eyes and make them ask for rest. Now I know why my father always watches the tilawat in the morning while his eyes are closed as if he were sleeping. After all he has the whole full day ahead of him and there is no point in tiring the eyesight right there in the morning.
All this was good. Good for me good for my family. But then about 3 days back I took a radical decision. I thought enough of this experience we must launch into the present world. Since there is no provision of cable networking in my area (and you thought we were not blessed) the only option was to buy a satellite receiver. And thus began an exercise both in time and money and physical effort that culminated into me buying a satellite receiver.
Once funds were allocated for the task I set out to find a suitable receiver. I searched the net and found out for the first time that good old analogue receivers don't work anymore. I went to a contact who deals in this business and asked him about buying a receiver. The guy was smart and well trained in the trick. He was eager to tell me that he will give me the best piece in the market and that it is so good that it will display like a zillion Indian channels. "There are no vulgar english channels", he told me, "but if you want one there are provisions". I had to make an effort to make him realize that I didn't need one and neither did I need and Indian channels in the house. We finally struck a deal in Rs.4800. I came back home.
Yesterday was the installation day. The installation was done by a different guy who said he was a specialist in installation and that he had an experience of 25 years behind him. He charged me Rs.300 for connecting a wire from the dish to the receiver and then TV. The poor soul got drenched in rain that came mid way and had to work with clothes all wet.
Now I have a Star Track Digital Satellite Receiver 550D plus a LNB from Neosat and a dish from chughtai. Everything cost me a total of Rs.5070. This includes the installation costs and that of cable and transport. Not to forget the Rs.20 for the 'huqqa panee'.
Now after setting everything here I am a part of the digital world. The first feeling that I got while surfing through channels was that of suffocation. I think with minimal media onslaught in our home we were better off. There was more of a breathing space so to say. More room for my imagination to grow unaffected by what the media has to say. After all in the end all these channels are no better than noise.
There is no dearth of Indian channels on my satellite and not single one of them is worth watching. Hence they will be getting locked soon. The Pakistani media is no better. Geo has deteriorated to such an extent that one can not watch it without getting an Indian inclination to everything. More often than not it seems a spokesperson of the Indian media growing right under our noses. They are the worst. Not that any other channel is better but still watchable.
My family was shocked to see Pakistani girls wearing tank tops and dancing relentlessly on every Pakistani channel. It is not my family's fault but they have never been exposed to the metro culture of our ABCDs before. I could only muster a smile while the girls were being cursed for being 'so shameless' and 'loosing their Pakistani identity'. My family also had to agree with my analysis that I have been giving them about various actresses on our national network. Since the face plasters were clearly visible they had to agree that 99% of them are not worth presenting. There has been a unanimous decision that 99% of all presenters are low IQ, worthless presenters in terms of their technique and quality.
The moral of all this discussion is very simple. It is that our TV has been switched off and we are waiting for the rain to come our way! The sky is getting over cast and there is hope that there will be shower in the evening. That will be the time to sit and relax and absorb the true beauty of nature into our beings. Time to realize that we have to be part of nature to become at peace with it. I have spent a way long time fighting nature and trying to go at odds with it just to realize that all my effort has been in vain. There is no peace without harmony. Money and riches are indeed not the only things in life.
In this age of cable networking and nifty gadgets I was left alone with my terrestrial PTV antenna for the last 9 months. The reception was so poor that during the whole world cup we could see the players moving and running here and there after something that eluded our sight. At times cricket was a mere throwing of bat in the air hitting at something that was never there. Imagine watching test cricket at this level. So now you can not blame me for my poor analysis of our cricket team.
The benefit of such exceptional quality reception was way more than I thought it was. The best of them all is that you tend to appreciate mediocre anchor persons for their mediocre beauty. Since the stary sky never allowed us the privilege of getting a clear look at the faces of all those face plastered women folk on the TV we thought they were pretty beautiful. Or we took it for granted that they must be presentable to be on the national network. Body figures seemed miss world worthy. Colours were mistaken for a better combination. It can be easily assumed that under those circumstances our own imagination worked a great lot in improving the quality of 'home entertainment'. I must say atleast I was very good at it!
The other big benefit was that such a great quality of reception reduced the amount of time TV was allowed to show pictures. Hardly an hour or two of PTV was enough dose to tire the eyes and make them ask for rest. Now I know why my father always watches the tilawat in the morning while his eyes are closed as if he were sleeping. After all he has the whole full day ahead of him and there is no point in tiring the eyesight right there in the morning.
All this was good. Good for me good for my family. But then about 3 days back I took a radical decision. I thought enough of this experience we must launch into the present world. Since there is no provision of cable networking in my area (and you thought we were not blessed) the only option was to buy a satellite receiver. And thus began an exercise both in time and money and physical effort that culminated into me buying a satellite receiver.
Once funds were allocated for the task I set out to find a suitable receiver. I searched the net and found out for the first time that good old analogue receivers don't work anymore. I went to a contact who deals in this business and asked him about buying a receiver. The guy was smart and well trained in the trick. He was eager to tell me that he will give me the best piece in the market and that it is so good that it will display like a zillion Indian channels. "There are no vulgar english channels", he told me, "but if you want one there are provisions". I had to make an effort to make him realize that I didn't need one and neither did I need and Indian channels in the house. We finally struck a deal in Rs.4800. I came back home.
Yesterday was the installation day. The installation was done by a different guy who said he was a specialist in installation and that he had an experience of 25 years behind him. He charged me Rs.300 for connecting a wire from the dish to the receiver and then TV. The poor soul got drenched in rain that came mid way and had to work with clothes all wet.
Now I have a Star Track Digital Satellite Receiver 550D plus a LNB from Neosat and a dish from chughtai. Everything cost me a total of Rs.5070. This includes the installation costs and that of cable and transport. Not to forget the Rs.20 for the 'huqqa panee'.
Now after setting everything here I am a part of the digital world. The first feeling that I got while surfing through channels was that of suffocation. I think with minimal media onslaught in our home we were better off. There was more of a breathing space so to say. More room for my imagination to grow unaffected by what the media has to say. After all in the end all these channels are no better than noise.
There is no dearth of Indian channels on my satellite and not single one of them is worth watching. Hence they will be getting locked soon. The Pakistani media is no better. Geo has deteriorated to such an extent that one can not watch it without getting an Indian inclination to everything. More often than not it seems a spokesperson of the Indian media growing right under our noses. They are the worst. Not that any other channel is better but still watchable.
My family was shocked to see Pakistani girls wearing tank tops and dancing relentlessly on every Pakistani channel. It is not my family's fault but they have never been exposed to the metro culture of our ABCDs before. I could only muster a smile while the girls were being cursed for being 'so shameless' and 'loosing their Pakistani identity'. My family also had to agree with my analysis that I have been giving them about various actresses on our national network. Since the face plasters were clearly visible they had to agree that 99% of them are not worth presenting. There has been a unanimous decision that 99% of all presenters are low IQ, worthless presenters in terms of their technique and quality.
The moral of all this discussion is very simple. It is that our TV has been switched off and we are waiting for the rain to come our way! The sky is getting over cast and there is hope that there will be shower in the evening. That will be the time to sit and relax and absorb the true beauty of nature into our beings. Time to realize that we have to be part of nature to become at peace with it. I have spent a way long time fighting nature and trying to go at odds with it just to realize that all my effort has been in vain. There is no peace without harmony. Money and riches are indeed not the only things in life.
Comments