Requiem for the good ol’ television set
As I turned around to go out of the shop
my eyes fell on it. It was lying in a heap, amidst others of its ilk, in a
corner. I suddenly felt very bad. I had come to this electronic shop to
exchange my old portable TV for a new one. It had been with us for the last
fourteen years – our first colour TV. It was through it we had made our
acquaintance with the cable revolution. While I had my dose of news analysis,
necessary for my Civil Services examinations, from the news channels, my
parents had their fill of the family sagas and religious discourses from it.
The number of channels then was limited and the twenty programme capacity of
the TV set was sufficient. With the growth in the number of channels down the years
the set’s features started seeming to be small. But the thought of a
replacement was still far off as we were not very voracious TV watchers. With
time however, its age began showing. It would get switched off by itself, the
colours would leave the screen or the sound would get muted for small moments.
The TV mechanic’s visits gained in frequency. As my infant turned into a
toddler, the TV’s remote became his favorite toy, rendering it unfit for any
control of the set. One had to go to the TV set to give it any command. When I
heard about this exchange offer I decided to avail myself of it. And here was I
getting the new big TV set packed.
That, a lifeless common thing as an
old TV set can raise the feelings of an attachment, had never crossed my mind.
I felt hurt seeing the way it had been shoved in a dusty corner. “It is of no
use to us Sir”, I heard the salesman telling a prospective customer who had
come to exchange his electronic good. “For us it is all scrap and the offer is
just to enable buyers to move to better electronic goods”. It saddened me and I
felt like telling the salesman that mine was still in a working condition and
that it deserved a better treatment. The thought of taking it back with me
crossed my mind but, before my emotions could have the better of my decision, I
immediately moved out of the shop.
“Didn’t it feel bad the way our TV set
was lying in a heap of disused TV sets?” my wife commented as we drove away
from the shop. With a lump in my throat I could only nod in affirmation.
