TV mania cripples the modern man no end

by R Swaminathan

Jean-Jacques Rousseau, who immensely influenced political, sociological and educational thought centuries ago and is still remembered for his great saying, "Man is born free, and everywhere he is in chains" might be tempted to revise his statement as " Man is born free but everywhere he is hooked to the idiot box." The TV mania has become such a great and universal affliction that it is time for the medical fraternity to find an easy way to wean people away from it.

TV has grown manifold in recent years with all latest features of interactive viewing all thanks to technological advances. In the beginning the transmission channel was only one and was on the air for a few hours in the evening. Now they are available 24X7 in several languages. It mesmerises people of all ages and convictions, achievements and avocations and corporate giants and almost every manufacturer or promoter of goods, services and activity is sure that the purchasing decision is made before the set and works on subtle ways of influencing the human mind.

Some in every home sit before the set right from the morning till midnight and even beyond that if they find the programme/s interesting, seeking to gratiate themselves through information or entertainment. Priorities of living are readjusted to keep eyes and ears glued to the TV shows. Early in the morning, channels have found that what interests many are religious topics and astrological predictions. Astrologers of all affiliations and calibre carefully predict what will happen for the viewer through the day, and those who get a warning sit through the following programmes on places of worship so that their nerves are soothened.

Later in the day, the housewives and senior citizens sit for melodious music , culinary coaching or serials that try to portray the reality in that house or neigbbourhood. Familiarity with the characters and sequences keep them bound to their chairs. They don't mind if their lunch is skipped or is bare and frugal. Reality shows and game shows have become immensely popular with housewives as well as growing children who are goaded to do something similar to the participants. "Strive hard, work better, you can do it," they are exhorted.

The reality shows make viewers sit at the edge of their seats as they appear to know answers for most of the questions people are struggling in the show to answer what with lifelines. There are occasions when they learn many things simple but wholly new to them. They share their conquests with their spouses returning late at night. When young kids perform like the professionals for winning huge prizes., the parents marvel at their feats and preach the lessons to those who happen to be their pupils.

Sports events like IPL or world cup matches are a big draw and are watched from start to finish. Two matches a day is not a big thing as seen recently.

Of course, the bread winner must be cursing himself after he came to see the electricity bill. This analysis will be incomplete if we don't mention the programmes by doctors of alternative systems of medicine answering people's phone-in questions and debates, and discussions on current topics or recent crimes. Who will find a cure for TV addicts? Are they are not contracting physical ailments and stunted mental growth due to this fixation? Or is this problem not a serious one as yet?

What the D-Day meant decades ago

The results day, then and now

By R Swaminathan

The public examination results day nowadays is total contrast to what is was in the 1960s and 1970s. The present generation which gets to know even all details of the marks in what is now called the plus-two examination almost immediately around 11 a.m, thanks to the mobile and internet revolution will be simply astonished to know the highlights of the day in those days. Newspapers will give the numbers of successful candidates in special suppliments which mostly would be printed in the afternoon and sold at a special price. There will almost a stampede when boys will run behind the hawkers carrying bundles in cycles or crowd the shops where the paper is sold.

The heroes of the day will be invariably the students who appeared for the examinations, and the parents will be home bound syaing all kinds of prayers. Usually, the boys will be on the streets while the girls (much fewer in number in those days as compared to boys) will wait at home for their brother or father to get the paper and see what happened to them. The boys will be with their companions (and even support the unlucky ones in their moment distress) and reach their home only hours later. The parents would have no phone or communication link in those days as very few people could afford to keep a telephone at home and they had to wait for hours to book a trunk call to share the good news with relatives in different/distant cities.

The newspapers used to have their quota of mistakes in proof reading, and the acts of commission and omission had a telling effect on the lives of some students who used to take the extreme step when they did not see their number. The results will be given in paragraphs with the full number given only at the beginning and where continuous numbers of candidates successful had to be revealed it would just say from this number to this number. When the word "to" is omitted in such cases it meant disaster for all the students in between those two numbers.

The regular newspaper of the next morning sometimes used to issue a corrigendum for the errors of the special issue, setting the record straight as it were. By that time many a parent would have thrashed up the ward in public. Another special feature of the newspapers carrying the results was that they would have numerous advertisements put out by leading tutorials like Minerva Tutorials and Tiruchi Tutorials telling the failed candidates (more specifically their parents), “Don't grieve, there is September.” In those days supplementary examinations used to be held in September for the failed candidates to sit again for an examination in all subjects. In the later years, a scheme was introduced to allow examination only in failed subjects and to award a “pass” to those who were not keen on further study. Such students would not be admitted in the next class which was called Pre-University Course (PUC). There was no provision for retotalling or revaluation for a fee like now.

The failure implied a shock of their life for both the parents and students because those who sat for the examination in September stood lesser chance of admission in PUC the next year. One was not sure if one could /would clear the papers in the second attempt. There used to be some who would take several attempts to emerge successful in the SSLC exam. Worried parents would rush to the famous tutorials to ensure their ward passed with good marks in the next examination. The newspaper advertisements will proclaim that admission to the tutorial would mean “100 per cent pass” or “ definite success,” etc. Some used to move to other streams like Bombay Matric and Banaras Matric or Andhra Matric which the students and parents thought could be cleared more easily. The tutorials would specialise in coaching students for these types of matric examinations. They would have special classrooms or special hours for ladies (girls sometimes used to be overaged to be called so)! The coaching will be mostly by retired teachers.

Now we find girls outshining boys in marks as well as ranks year after year. The statement of this gender performance has more or less become a cliché now as in the case of elections when news headlines proclaim “Women voters outnumbered men” in some booths. There was no ranking subject wise or language wise in those days. In the later years some newspaper gave importance to the examination by awarding cash prizes to the toppers. Now we see every newspaper going after the toppers and their families and reporting the success story and the aspiration catalogue. It was difficult to know or even reach the top rankers. A few days after the results are announced, people would make a beeline to places like Tirupathi and Palani to thank the God/s for their spectacular or miraculous success.

There was a time when newspaper sub-editors and reporters had the privilege of getting to know the results in advance. In the days of the letter press, the results in hard copy would be made available to newspapers to get the text /numbers composed, (proof-read, this is more important) and then release them after the embargo is lifted. When the computer printouts started appearing, printouts in book form were given to the press and those close to the press would give the numbers in person or over phone to know the result a little earlier than others. That newspaper men were a respected lot in the season. Then came the floppy or disc. With the advent of the internet and websites, you get to see all information on your PC and IITs have started even posting the key and answered receipts after valuation on the net for the student to know how he has performed and how he has been valued. Thus there is a world of difference in knowing the examination results between then and now.

(Read a shorter version in the New Indian Express today)