JL Gomes kokaNeetyla khabaro deta…

For a long time, radio played an important role in our household. My aji (grandmother) had outlived her own retina and was almost blind by then. An avid reader, she had taken that brunt of nature with a rather stoic demeanor. The age had also deprived her of sleep. She would wake up early with nothing better to do. Not able to see the old clock on her night stand, she would turn on the radio; only white noise and no birds chirping yet – turn the radio off and wait in darkness and silence. This episode would repeat in the wee hours of every morning, till the birds started chirping and till the All India Radio started playing the mandatory beep. This beep would wake my sister or me up sometimes. “ajoon veL ahey – 5-10 miniTa taree” (5-10 more minutes) we would tell her in sleepy voices glancing towards the clock. But rarely did she miss the opening tune of akaash waaNee (As Radio is known in India). Then the national anthem (compulsions of state run media), news in Hindi followed by news in Sanskrit and then in Marathi. Weather Report. Advice for Farmers. That was the alarm when my parents would wake up. My sister and I would doze off; listening to the radio in the background and hoping mom would allow us to sleep some more…. Many different and good quality programs on Medium Wave 535 – Bombay B would follow. Devotional Songs, swasthya seva (health advice), prabhate manee (program on news analysis), regional news, national news, programs for kids etc.

Living in far off suburbs of Mumbai can be painful. The commute is long and tiring. The merciless train schedule did not allow simple pleasure of waking up a few minutes late…. But we learned to manage it all. The radio running in the background was a constant reminder of what time it was. And so it was for countless families.

Ah, devotional songs – time for bath. News started already, stepping out of bath – too late, better hurry up now. The schedule was bound rigidly to the clock. The radio would tell time – whether you needed to come up with some excuse for being late to school or there still was some time to finish reading that newspaper column.

After running continuously for two hours, the news in Konkani would start, always with a deep baritone voice of one JL Gomes – Mumbai aNi Panaji, JL Gomes kokaNeetyla khabaro deta (JL Gomes reading the Konkani news for listeners from Mumbai and Panaji). With that declaration, the radio would be turned off. It would be bright outside by now and half of our town would be speeding towards south Mumbai. The frail silhouette of my aji would then set out on much traveled pathways inside our home and complete her chores.

The days of radio are long gone. Despite of many good programs, it seems the radio utterly failed to tackle the brutal invasion of TV channels and my aji was long gone before the radio in our home conked off and was forgotten.

Despite of the fact I see a lot of TV; I have retained some affinity for the radio. There was one winter when I lived without TV. And Radio helped! In the morning, it would be Morning Edition (of course!) and in the evening, it would be All Things Considered. And then the Market Place, Radio Mystery Theater and countless symphonies and concertos and chamber music. Weekends would be enjoyed with Weekend Morning Edition, Car Talk, Sunday Baroque, Saint Paul Sunday, From the Top, A Prairie Home Companion and Weekend All Things Considered.

Eventually TV invaded again with a resounding defeat of the radio. And I still miss telling time by radio!