The Christmas Carol

Christmas season is on and we all are enjoying it. We love the Christmas because of Santa, The Christmas tree, Chocolate cookies etc. etc. And another very sweet thing that we love on christmas is the christmas carols . A carol is a festive song, generally religious but not necessarily connected with church worship, and often with a dance-like or popular character. Here are few of my favorite carols with the complete lyrics:-

We Wish You a Merry Christmas

We wish you a Merry Christmas;We wish you a Merry Christmas;
We wish you a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year.
Good tidings we bring to you and your kin;
Good tidings for Christmas and a Happy New Year.
Oh, bring us a figgy pudding;
Oh, bring us a figgy pudding;
Oh, bring us a figgy pudding and a cup of good cheer:
We won't go until we get some;
We won't go until we get some;
We won't go until we get some, so bring some out here:
We wish you a Merry Christmas;
We wish you a Merry Christmas;
We wish you a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year.

Another very sweet carol that I like is:

All I Want For Christmas Is My Two Front Teeth

Every body stops
and stares at me
These two teeth are
gone as you can see
I don't know just who
to blame for this catastrophe!
But my one wish on Christmas Eve
is as plain as it can be!
All I want for Christmas
is my two front teeth,
my two front teeth,
see my two front teeth!
Gee, if I could only
have my two front teeth,
then I could with you
"Merry Christmas."
It seems so long since I could say,
"Sister Susie sitting on a thistle!"
Gosh oh gee, how happy I'd be,
if I could only whistle (thhhh)
All I want for Christmas
is my two front teeth,
my two front teeth,
see my two front teeth.
Gee, if I could only
have my two front teeth,
then I could wish you
"Merry Christmas!"

Here is a small one, easy to learn :

Silent Night

Silent night, Holy night,
All is calm, all is bright.'
Round yon virgin Mother and Child,
Holy infant so tender and mild;
Sleep in heavenly peace;
Sleep in heavenly peace.

For more Carols click here : Christmas Carols and thenorthpole. com

Kids Rule on TV

Most kids these days are exposed to technology at a very young age. A pre-schooling age toddler spends most of his day watching TV. Some health professionals find the situation very unhealthy for kids for the fact that kids should go out and have fun in the sun or at least there is a playtime outside. I have experienced many incidents in my life where kids of age group 4-8 talk about the TV serial / shows just as if they are 30+. Its really shocking to see the kids talking like elders and all because of TV . Television is a big knowledge book for all of us including the kids. We learn what we watch, we should let our kids watch the shows which are educative and for the kids. Especially now when the era of Tatasky DTH and iControl has emerged. Technologies like DTH & IPTV provide the features like Parental control. You can simply set the channels that you don't want your child to watch. Not only this they also provide educative applications with the help of which your kid can learn exactly what is meant for him/her.
Talking about the maximum amount of time spent on TV is by kids I would love to refer Nielsen Wire: A Kid’s Eye View on Television and Beyond. Nielsen Wire have shown some stats of how much time kids are spending on TV & Internet. I must say kids are watching a lot of TV and all because theres a lot to watch on TV. Kids are ruling on TV, either outside TV screen or inside. In both the cases kids are the boss. At all the homes TV is turned-ON on the channel that the kids like. At least I can find my nieces stick to TV. When they are watching the TV no one and I mean no one at all can watch TV of his/her choice. But the thing is they watch the informative stuff and thats something I prefer always. Watching TV 3 - 4 hours a day for Kids is enough, but unfortunately the thing is not followed. Kids watch TV whole day. From noon to night they are watching TV all the time. In fact kids are not only watching the cartoon channels, they also watch the daily soaps (TV Serials) that their mother is watching. So Dear moms please schedule your TV hours accordingly, try to keep away your kids from such non-educative non- informative shows. You can watch your show later on as nowadays a very advantageous facility of recording your Live TV is present. In fact iControl in India records all the stuff coming on your TV, so you don't even have to take the headache of pressing the button of your remote in order to save a particular show. With all such advance features kids watching TV for hours can be controlled.
Kids are not only ruling TV at homes but also ruling inside TV, what I mean is that kids are acting in the TV shows and leaving behind all the elders. They are not only making the TV shows hit in ranking but they are actually attracting all age group viewers. Kids are everywhere movies,serials, singing shows, contests,comedy and anchoring etc. I must say its the era of kids, they really rule this TV world.

Do Reality Shows Really Show Reality?

Reality is just a word that most of the shows today use to attract the viewers. They are calling their shows as the reality shows but actually all that they show seems to be a set up. The judges of singing and dancing shows are shouting and getting aggressive in one episode and in another episode all is well. I have never understood this stuff. The participants are crying on one day and another day they are fighting with other participants. All this is not reality for me. I never took these shows as the reality shows but yes for sure I find a lot of entertainment in them or lets say the "Masala".
There are various reality shows we have on television. The quiz shows like KBC (Kaun banega crorepati ) & Kya Aap Paanchvi Pass Se Tez Hain, the singing talent shows like Sa Re Ga Ma Pa and Indian idol, the dance shows like DPL & Dance India dance, the recent other so called reality shows were pati patni aur woh and Swyamvar. The very popular Bigg Boss (the Indian version of big brother) is also a confusion for me ( I always doubt its reality). Not only this even the cool, youth TV channels like MTV are also following the trend of reality shows. The shows like Roadies, Splitsvilla all are youth's favorite. Its a big list, lets now talk about what they are telecasting and how much we viewers are believing in them .
I have seen many reality shows till now but don't know why I never believed in the reality they show. How can I believe that the dancer who is dancing just stopped suddenly because he/she blacked out. I find it very filmy. And then a singer with a bad throat sings so beautifully, in fact more beautifully then the time when he/she was well. Are we dummies or do they feel that we are so much into TV that we believe whatever the TV says ? Last season of Big Boss had an incident where the participants jumped out of the house. What were these people trying to show? Do you think we will believe in this stuff ? The cameras are on , the people who monitor are there, even Big Boss is talking to them and still they were successful in it. Well I can't believe it. And how can I leave the shows like Pati Patni or Woh behind. This show was not at all a reality show for me. I never felt that its a reality show and may be thats why it wasn't that popular. Even the Perfect Bride its also a drama for me. I feel that the participant do as they are asked to do. I agree with Livemint's article , where it says that contestant picked those products which were its sponsors . All reality shows are making money through the sponsors and with the one word REALITY.
OK you tell me- Don't you feel you are being fooled ? The shows ask you to vote through SMS and then ? The contestant who wins is not the one you voted for. The popular and favorite contestants make it to 2nd or 3rd place only. I really feel bad when this happens. The only show where I felt reality was existing is KBC. But then even such quiz shows started making money by calling celebs and these celebs always win a higher amount. Does that show that celebrity are smarter or luckier than common people. Well I don't think so, I don't know what they do with that money. It might be used in charity or something else but the game should be fair. I don't know whether to call such game shows fair or not. I knew it already that Rakhi Sawant is not going to marry the guy who she choose in “Rakhi ka swyamvar” & I guess even you felt the same. And now Rahul Mahajan is ready to do his “Rahul Dulhaniya Le Jaayega”. Lets see whether he gets married to the winner or not.
Well at the end I would like to conclude my opinion by saying that these shows are partially real & scripted. Contestants do get the directions what they should or should not do, shows get edited. I guess most of the people feel same but still watch these shows, at least I do. After all we want entertainment. Please do give your comments below and also vote here : Tezaa

Note: I would like to inform all the readers that all the content written in this post is totally an opinion of a general viewer. It has got no offencive intentions against any body, any thing or any TV show.

TV - TV Everywhere

Television is something almost every home has. The supreme mode of entertainment is TV in India. Television sets are getting a great growth in number as well as technology. When TV came initially in India it was believed that it will bring people together. I remember the time when there was only one TV in my grandparent's village and the whole village used to sit together to watch Ramayan. In fact even at our home we use to sit together with our friends to watch movie on Doordarshan. We use to get VCR on rent to play a movie tape (the big book size tapes) and all neighbors used to sit and watch with us. As the time passed the number of group viewers decreased and now only families started sitting together to watch TV together. But still TV was bringing the families together if not the whole neighborhood.

Watching TV serials together was fun. Dekh bhai dekh, Zaban sambhal ke and Antakshari all such shows were our favorite at home. I still remember how my sister use to guess the songs on Antakshari before the contestants of the show could answer. She knew all the songs, their singers, writers, composers and everything. My parents use to praise this talents in her. Those were the days when we spent lot of time watching TV with the Family.

TV now is changing, the shows telecasted on TV have changed and even the choice of audience have changed. Kids today don't like watching what the other members at home are watching. They want a separate TV to watch their favorite shows. On one hand all the moms are watching serials all the time whether it is prime time serials or evening daily soaps. Almost all the dads(fathers) come to home in evening and turn on the news. And cricket matches are every men's favorite they just stick to TV when a match is telecasted. While on other hand kids want cartoon channels all the time. Another category of TV viewers at home is the teenagers and youth. They love watching reality shows, MTV, Star movies etc. When the choices differ in such wide categories of mother, father, kids ( including teens) then demand to have more than one TV at home increases. Now you can find multiple TV sets at most of the houses. If a TV is in the hall then another is in bed room. There is no harm in keeping multiple TVs. If you have some guests at home and you want to watch TV, then you can go and watch it in your room. Having multiple TVs is a advantage especially in the cases where you want to watch Bigg Boss and your father wants to listen to a news. Its a solution to those remote fights with brothers and sisters. You can watch what you want and not what your brother, sister or parents want to see.

But I don't know why I am not in favor of the families watching TV separately. The real fun of life is in those fights. I love fighting for the remote and then getting mom's lecture. I love changing the channel when something of other's interest is coming, my whole family starts shouting whenever I do this. Anyways this is what I feel but the time is changing its the high tech time. Kids want to play games on TV, they just want to sit in their room with their TV whole day. Lets have a look at the clip below that I saw on internet :

Reading these I feel that having separate TV gives you leisure and puts you in the direction of high tech generation, the play station, games etc. But these leisures slowly take you away from your social life, your family and friends. Anyways different people with different choices of TV viewing are resulting to multiple TVs at homes. Now you get no disturbance while watching your choice of show on TV, because you have choice in TV also. Just go to another room and watch what you want. I have no clue whether I should call this trend of multiple TVs a boon or not but yes it is something we all wish to have when we face the trouble of missing one show because your father was watching news. New Technologies in TV world (DTH and IPTV) are providing the solution to this in different direction, they are offering you option of recording shows on your TV in case you miss them. Hope this brings us together while watching TV.

The Advertisements I Still Admire

Going back in time has always been so much fun for me. I always enjoy talking about the days that have passed. Infact I guess everyone of us enjoy this and do discuss with our family and friends about our past. There's a lot to talk about past ; the childhood, the fun, friends & learning small stuffs like riding bycycle etc. Everything is so so close to our heart that we just feel touched when we talk about them. Even television is something that takes a special place in our memories. I talked about television and its memories earlier too and now I would like to talk about TV Ads – The Advertisements / Commercials. Doordarshan gave a great piece of collection to the advertising world. Ek chidiya anek chidiya was the doordarshan commercial to convey the message of Unity. Then Mile sur mera tumhara was another one. Sometimes when I think about an idea I use the words “Per jugat lagani hogi” . The advertisements that we still keep clear vision of is Lijjat pappad. Can anyone think about a simple product of pappad getting such popularity, all credit goes to advertisement. I always praise the advertisement world because of its creativity.




Not only today's Zoo Zoos of vodafone show the creativity but when it comes to art & creativity I always appriciate The 7 Up (cold drink) toon - Fido dido. I even got first price trophy when I made 7Up poster in my school's poster making competition and thats the hugest trophy I got in my life. I even loved the Pan Pasand Ad, short & sweet and the Jalebi Ad of Dhara, oh.. my mouth is watering. The boy in Jalebi Ad was sooo cute, he even acted in the movie Kuch kuch hota hai & Sikander. The ice cream Ads are always kids favorite, Amul's Doodh doodh doodh commercial was something that encouraged us at home to drink milk. The sunday ho ya monday roz khao ande jingle was also good. Though I am a pure vegeterian but still liked the commercial. The United Pressure cooker commercial – Khaye jao khaye jao United ke gun gaye jao, was another I remember.
There were few products who's advertisements were really nice and are still continuing with the same flow : Fevicol is one of them. The two elephants pulling a box & showing Fevicol ka jod. After this came the ad where a bus was completely covered with Rajasthani crowd sitting, hanging all over it again showing fevicol ka jod and then fevicol Ads became so popular. I always adore Cadburies Ads, they always show something special in their Ads something very chocolaty . Even Cold drinks ads have always been the point of attraction. Does anybody remember the Aishwarya Rai and Aamir's Pepsi Ad where Aish is named Sanju/Sanjana and even Mahima chaudhary was there. She looked so different in it. Pepsi's Ye hi hai right choice baby was a nice slogan.




When it comes to bollywood involved in advertisements there were many good, famous advertisements. Pepsi was one as I earlier said. Then a very nice classic ad that I remember was Dharamendra's Rajdoot Ad- Ek jaandar sawari, shaandar sawari. What an amaizing casting for the jaandar sawari. I love advertisement world also because of that, they know exactly what to do and how to do. Well coming back to bollywood, Complan's I am a complan boy, I am a complan girl was the debut of Shahid Kapoor & Ayesha Takeya. Then there was Mayor Suitings starring Shahrukh Khan – Shahrukh Mayor Khan, Digjam Suitings had Shekher Kapoor. Yes, the director Shekhar Kapoor. And remember the Titan's symphony (Check it here: You Tube ) well the girl playing piano in that Ad is Minisha Lamba.
Some of the classic rememberable Ads were Hamara Bajaj. I think at that time almost every common man had Bajaj scooter. Thats the power of advertisements. And Bajaj reminds me of Bajaj Bulb – Jab bhi roshni deta bajaj. It was an awesome Advertisement. Chip-chip chip-chip chip-chip Fevistick, another cute Ad of Dhara:Jalebi boy (Parzun Dastur). Feviquick's Ad was a hilarious Ad, the one where a man comes for fishing. Even Beauty products had some nice commercials Vicco's Ads were also good with nice jingles. Nirma's jingle - Hema, Rekha, Jaya or sushma, sabki pasand Nirma. It was a nice jingle and all Hemas, Rekhas, Jayas and Sushmas must have experienced its popularity. We use to sing it to naughtily tease our neighbor, Jaya Aunty & Rekha Aunty. Even Liril's jingle la lala la la la.... was cool.
At the end I would say that Advertisements have always been a source of creativity and have always brought something new in the world of media and arts. So Keep the good work going and we hope for more such amaizing memories in future too.

IPTV & Internet TV - Two Different Technologies

I came across many people, who were confused between Internet TV and IPTV or say Internet Protocol Television. Just because both technologies contain a common word - "Internet" doesn't mean they are same. IPTV is a TV service such as those present today on cable services but delivered via IP-based secure channels. Note that the delivery of service is through Internet Protocol based secure, safe and private channel. Whereas Internet Television is an open framework in which a large number of medium sized video producers contribute highly. Here no secure channel delivery occurs, the data travels publically.

"IPTV is generally funded and supported by large telecom providers who have undertaken the mission of creating a competitive replacement product for digital cable and satellite services." (Jeremy Allaire)

"While the "IP" in its name stands for Internet Protocol, that doesn't mean people will log onto their favorite Web page to access television programming. The IP refers to a method of sending information over a secure, tightly managed network that results in a superior entertainment experience."
(Source: Businessweeek - " The real meaning of IPTV ")

As I said earlier both IPTV & Internet TV have only one thing in common, the word Internet. Other than that nothing else is common. The primary difference is the way in which the content is delivered. While Internet TV travels over the open, public, global Internet, IPTV uses a private, managed network.

"Carrying video over a proprietary network allows protection of content and control of video quality without worrying about the privacy and quality issues inherent to the public Internet," said Marty Richter, spokesman for AT&T, which is in the process of rolling out its U-verse fiber-to-the-home IPTV service. "Best-effort Internet video can be subject to delays due to lower bandwidth, high traffic or poor connection quality," he said. The end result of IPTV delivery is a higher quality, more reliable, and more consistent viewing experience, he added.

IPTV is particularly good for the established media content production business. Internet Television, is quite different in terms of the model. IPTV has total control of the content distributed. Also it reduces chances of theft and piracy. IPTV is an end-to-end system or say semi-closed network. IPTV approach is a geographically-bound approach. It offers everything that digital cable and satellite providers do, but with some additions of voice, and lower pricing.

In the Internet Television approach, the model is open to any rights holder, as it is based on the same publishing model that exists on the Web. Anyone can create an endpoint and publish that on a global basis. In the Internet Television approach the publisher has a direct communication channel to the consumer. In simple words anyone can upload his/her videos and anyone can watch video on Internet Television. Internet, though for secure video sharing password are used. Television is widely used by users for different purposes. Remember that Internet Television is an outgrowth, not a service.

IPTV uses standard networking protocols hence promises lower cost for both operators as well as users. IPTV uses Set Top Boxes with broadband internet connections using which video is streamed. This streamed video is more efficient than current coaxial cable. Both Internet TV and IPTV offer interactivity, but IPTV brings these capabilities to the TV screen. This includes features such as shopping and SMS (short messaging service) along with more targeted advertising.

IPTV and cable carriers will offer internet video as a means to defeat churn and build loyalty among subscribers. The addition of Internet video to standard cable-like IPTV programming could attract viewers who would otherwise be glued to the computer screen.

What I feel is Internet TV in India is quite not suitable (user friendly) service as we lack in channel availability on internet. While IPTV is establishing well in India since last 2-3 years and is providing almost 150 channels to its viewers. At the end, from a typical Indian TV viewer's point of view: Use IPTV to watch TV on your TV set, use Internet TV to watch TV on your computer system (which is less user-friendly for huge Indian masses).

DTH - Making Indian TV Viewing Better

DTH is becoming prime mode of entertainment nowadays. Its bringing a revolution in TV viewing. The quality of picture got improved. We are now moving towards the digital picture quality. No VCD and DVD collections required if you are a DTH user. DTH has a collection of movies, its video on demand provides a good collection of movies. In fact now the multiplexes are scared of DTH, since DTH is show casing latest movies.

Some of the attractive features and applications of DTH, making it popular among the people are : Pause-Play Live TV (no Rewind Live TV), Save TV programmes on STB for Later viewing, interactive games and applications like (telephonic) shopping etc. I even read an article or rather say a blog saying DTH now reaches 18 million homes, it is the 13 percent of 134 million TV homes in India. It is getting Rs 3000 odd crore. For more Read : http://www.indiandth.com/2009/11/dth-industry-glimpse-of-profits-at-last.html

DTH for sure is better than Local Cable Operator. Though a new user switching from local cable to DTH faces the common adjustment problems. But once you are familiar with it, you find it easy to use. With additional options of shortcut keys, list of your favorite shows and storage of shows for later viewing, DTH is able to attract its customers.

Now the challenge for DTH is not only to attract Local cable users, but also to compete with its competitors. We got many options for the DTH services: Dish TV, Tatasky, Airtel, Sun Direct, Reliance Big TV and Videocon d2h etc. The competition is tough, each is trying to lower the price in order to attract customers. Though the price is more or less same, but what customer wants is a complete package of entertainment.What I found after researching on internet is that today Dish TV is leading and Tatasky is next to Dish TV. In my words Shahrukh (Dish TV) beats Aamir (Tatasky) and wins the top title. The competition is even going one step ahead, DTH Vs Multiplexes. On one hand I buy a ticket of Rs100 – Rs 150 from multiplex to watch a movie, plus other expenses. While on the other hand I am watching a movie for Rs75 – Rs 100, without spending on expenses. Not only this, you can watch it with your whole family and friends at one person's ticket money.

The future of DTH is bright, but with lots of competition. Because IPTV is also emerging in India, which I already talked about in my previous posts ( IPTV - big leap in Television viewing and WHY IPTV ). And not only this DTH till now is investing more than its gaining. The investment in each new movie telecast is really a challenge for DTH. Unlike multiplexes its not getting paid per head, its getting paid per home. Even the content cost is more than 50 percent for DTH services. Well every new technology faces competition but lets see how DTH beats the competition and gets customers.

Our Favorite Foreign TV Shows

I was talking about TV shows at home before writing my last post and my mom popped into our conversation saying "Lucy was a fantastic show". And then a list of favorite foreign shows started building. Everyone had one or more to talk about. So I decided to write about Our Favorite Foreign Shows.

Since my mom finds Lucy fantastic, I'll talk about it first. I LOVE LUCY, four Prime Time Emmy winner. It was telecasted in mid or late 80s in India. Lucy Ricardo had funny situations in her life along with Ricky, Ethel and Fred (some other characters of the show) who were loved by everyone at that time.

Well when I was a kid I loved watching I DREAM OF JEANNIE (IDOJ) . Tony Nelson finds a bottle, opens it and Jeannie appears. I found the way Jeannie use to blink her eyes to do magic cute. Even her bottle house & her dress was cute. Me and my sister tried a lot to make a house like it for our doll. When it comes to magic shows I always remember Jeanie and BEWITCHED. Darrin Stephen after marring Samantha finds that Samantha is a witch and then the trouble in Darrin's life starts. Samantha's moving of her lips while doing magic was a style we use to try a lot to copy. I bet very few people could copy that. We used to find Samantha's daughter Tabitha very sweet and her voice was soooo innocent. The three shows IDOJ, BEWITCHED and THE THREE STOOGES came together on Sony TV. The Three stooges : Lary-Shemp-Moe, were three naughty guys fighting and arguing all the time. Their way of hitting each other and making weird faces, all those things were hilarious. Do you remember Mr. Wilson? Yes! I am talking about DENNIS THE MENACE. Dennis use to shout Hellooooooo Mr. Wilson and Mr. Wilson used to hide the moment he hears this sound. Martha, Henry and Margaret were also interesting characters of the show. Remember Margaret? She always tried to flatter Dennis. Another such show that I can watch a hundred times, is SMALL WONDER. Loved Vickie's Robotic accent and Harriet flirting with Jamie (Vickie's brother). I just wanted to see Vickie turning into human, but nothing exactly like that happened.

"The Three Stooges" Video

Not only Dubbed shows but the original English series on Zee English, Star World etc. were worth watching. My favorite were FULL HOUSE and FRIENDS. Love the friendship bond shown on these shows and one thing that I liked in Full House is that they have shown the same cast growing with time. It feels good seeing little Michelle growing so young in the series. And Friends is a I guess I don't need to talk about. One thing I would say, is that I liked Jennifer Aniston a lot in friends. Then there was HAPPY DAYS, SILVER SPOONS and DIFF'RENT STROKES. I still watch repeat telecast of Diff'Rent Strokes whenever I get time. Oh!! how can I forget REMINGTON STEELE starring Pierce Brosnan. Its mysteries where cool, it was a nice detective show, then there was hilarious DiDi's COMEDY SHOW also. Still Foriegn shows are loved by us. Disney is showing some really cool shows like HANNAH MONTANA, SUITE LIFE OF ZACK AND CODY, THAT'S SO RAVEN AND WIZARDS OF WAVERLY PLACE etc.

From Lucy (I Love Lucy) to Miley (Hannah Monatana) foreign shows are always loved by us. Hope my post refreshed your memories.

TV Shows You May Have Forgotten

Got a link last week, showing Flop Show's visual. It was hilarious and with that I realized that with time we are forgetting the shows we loved once. We still talk about Ramayana, Mahabharat, Humlog etc. but Flop show was also our favorite. I don't know you remember it or not but I do. It was Jaspal Bhatti's comedy show and another show Ulta Pulta was on his roll of comedy.

Comedy shows on doordarshan and other channels are now not seen even in our conversations. Do you remember Ye jo hai zindagi starring Shafi Inamdar (Ranjit), Swaroop Sampat (Renu), Rakesh Bedi (Raja), Jhumru and Chachi were also there, can't remember their original names. It was everyone's must watch show at my home. When it comes to comedy how can we forget Mongerilal ke haseen sapne starring Raghubir Yadav. The way he used to blink his eye before day dreaming. Wagle Ki Duniya was another comic show starring Anjan Srivastava and Bharati Achrekar. It was comedy in real life on ordinary people. We at home still laugh on its episode where Wagle goes to zoo(or may be picnic) with his family. I must say R.K Laxman's cartoon characters were very close to heart. I even loved DiDi's Comedy show (originally a German comedy show) a lot. The way Didi used to get stuck in funny situations made me laugh a lot in my childhood. There were many Foreign shows that we all must have seen and admired but now they are vanishing in the thin air. I'll do my next post on these shows.

As a kid I was a die hard fan of Dada dadi ki kahaniya, Potli baba ki and Sinhasan Battisi – The 32 stories of Vikram and Betaal. Me and my friends used to sing in chorus आया आया आया रे बाबा... छेन्नु की झुन्नू का बाबा.. The title song of Potli baba ki. My brother and sister as school students never missed watching Chunauti and Neev. Arif Zakaria and Suchitra Krishnamurthy did their debut in Chunauti. Talking about inspiration and motivation : Udaan gave me a great inspiration. Its this show that made me strong enough to handle critical situations of life. Everyone in my neighborhood use to call me Kalyani. Rajani too showed real women power. Priya Tendulker gave marvelous performance in it.

Many known stars of today, were struggling and new actors of that time. Shahrukh Khan's Doosra Keval is rarely recalled now, though his Fauji and Circus are still known to us. R Madhwan became famous in Seahawks – a show about navy merchants. Bhagyashree acted in Kachchi Dhoop opposite Ashutosh Gowalikar and I am quite sure very few people remember that now. Its title song was like this : कच्ची धुप, गुनगुनी धुप.... Well title songs are identity of serials and one such title song was Ghalib's :

बल्लीमारान के मोहल्ले की वो पेचीदा दलीलों की सी गलियां

सामने टाल के नुक्कड़ पर बटेरों के कसीदे

गुड़गुड़ाती हुई पान की पीकों में वो दाद वो वाह वाह

चंद दरवाजों पर लटके हुए बोसीदा से कुछ टाट के परदे

एक बकरी के मिमियाने की आवाज़

और धुंधलाई हुई शाम के बेनूर अँधेरे ...

ऐसे दीवारों से मुहं जोड़ के चलते हैं यहाँ

चूडीवालान के कटरे की बडी बी जैसे अपनी बुझती हुई आँखों से दरवाज़े टटोले

इसी बेनूर अँधेरी सी गली कासिम से

एक तरतीब चरागों की शुरू होती है

एक कुरान-ऐ-सुखन का सफा खुलता है

असद अल्लाह खान ग़ालिब का पता मिलता है

remember these lines? They are from Mirza Ghalib.

Gul Gulshan Gulfaam beautifully framed Kashmir. Even era after 1990 gave superb shows like Choti Si Asha, Ek Mahal ho sapno ka , Tara (Ta ra ra...ta ra ra..) and Junoon (Junoon Junoon Junoooon...). And at the end few more my favorite serials are : Daane Anar Ke, Sword of Tipu Sultan and Tamas. Tamas was a mini television series about India Pakistan after partition life. If you want to add more such shows, you are most welcome. I would love to recall my memories.

WHAT PEOPLE SAY ABOUT IPTV

Till now my posts were saying what IPTV (Internet Protocol Television) is, but now I just wanted to know what people say about IPTV in India. What are their views about it. As I strongly believe every research begins at home , so I asked my brother who visits regularly from here to there outside India that " IPTV is now in India so what do you feel its future is? " Firstly He was amused that India is having something that Developed countries like USA are following successfully but he doubted for India as our infrastructure lacks when compared with developed nations.

This was something my brother felt and people in India too feel something like this – ready to accept new technology in India but with some doubts. Doesn't matter I think every new invention goes through phase of criticism and doubts first and in a way its good. A major issue I felt IPTV in India is facing is awareness about it. 98% people are not even aware about IPTV in India ( says just4kix - an Internet user). A very true statement and I really would like to see IPTV industry promotion in India. Infrastructure is my brother doubted on and many other Indians feel the same. But by introducing IPTV in India, India is actually trying to come up from these myths that we have and successful implementation of IPTV proves that Indian infrastructure is not that weak. Some people feel third party involvement in IPTV industry is an issue but if its functioning well and the roles of all parties are well defined and published then that is not a problem. Who knows tomorrow we might have more options of third parties and direct parties too.

People in India are very optimistic, ready to accept challenges, willing to experiment and always welcome new technologies, so is the case with IPTV. Indian are taking initiatives of using IPTV at their home and existing users are loving its features of Time Shift, Video on Demand (VOD), interactive applications, classifieds and so on. Not only the features even picture quality of IPTV is appreciated by its users. Time shift is the TRP of IPTV, IPTV saves all the programmes on your TV 24x7 automatically. VOD too is user favorite, of course with DVD-like features that too latest list of movies are heart winning (iControl is showing Bolt, Kambakhat Ishq on its IPTV -Tweeted on Twitter). No manual efforts for Time shift are needed, working Indians need this only. Working people can now watch what they want whenever they want and that is the reason IPTV is becoming their favorite.

New Media Promotions are Producers Gain

India’s biggest export to world is bollywood. I totally agree that bollywood is one of the biggest money gainer for India. People today outside India know about bollywood as much as they know about Hollywood. Advertising is also another reason of popularity and not only this its giving additional business to bollywood along with movies. When it comes to advertising, the advertising medium have expanded a lot. Earlier advertising was through hand-painted billboards and posters. Now computer printed billboard and posters are used. Not only the change in technique of advertising, even other things like trailers of movies, movie stills, behind the scenes and music launch etc. are the ways of promoting or advertising movies.

Remember Krishh starring Hritik Roshan, it had product placement of Samsung, a way to advertise a product in your movie. Here producer is gaining from Samsung, for endorsing its brand in the movie. On other hand samsung is getting promotion as benefit. In order to attract new customer and to retain existing ones, Television channels and service provider like DTH are telecasting latest movies. Recently 'What's Your Rashee' got released on DTH. Even 'Kaminey' was released on DTH, which was a great success. More movies are following this path now and are taking advantages through such TV channels and service providers by making good business deals, while these TV channels and service providers bear the cost of telecasting these movies and sometimes doesn't even get enough revenues . Some even spent 53% (approx.) of content cost in order to show these movies.

What I feel is on one hand bollywood producers are making profits while on another risk is beared by television channels and service providers. Slumdog Millionaire, a big hit was telecasted on PIX. Now what we generally feel is, PIX is the one getting profit while actual gainer is the producer. Producers are the one getting what they want through their advance deals while service provider’s take the risk and if movie fails on Television then they bear it. iControl IPTV, one of the IPTV service provider in India, telecasted Hanna Montana, movie did good and as far as iControlIPTV is concerned i have no clue about it. Now they are telecasting BOLT (Tweeted on twitter.com :" Watch & win. The Biggest Blockbuster BOLT is now on @iControlIPTV " ) and Lets see what results will BOLT show.

Now the question arises is why TV channels and service providers are still following this pattern? They are getting more customers at a very high cost by following this approach and I guess in future too such investments will be there.

Doordarshan to Realty TV - How TV has changed

Earlier TV was a mode of entertainment with limitations. Doordarshan gave India a start of TV with entertainment. Ramayana and Mahabharata were two very popular mythological programmes, everyone was crazy about them. But limitation was Timing/schedule, Ramayana used to get telecasted on Sundays, that too once missed no chance of watching that episode again. Then people got an increase in the choices of channels, atleast now you were not forced to view only Doordarshsan. We had DD1 and DD metro, two channels of Doordarshan. Humlog, Buniyaad and Nukkad were classics of Doordarshan.
After this even more TV channels got increased in number, Star TV, Zee TV and MTV came into existence. They found the solution of missed shows by re- telecasting them. Evening shows used to get re-telecasted in noon. A good approach but still with the constraint of timings. Its not necessary that you missed a show at 8 PM today and you are at home to watch its repeat telecast at 2 PM noon next day. But still a new thing came into existence with the demand of colored TV and cable network. Malgudi days, Dekh Bhai Dekh, Zabaan Sambhal ke, I Dream of Jeannie and Disney Hour made this era of TV rememberable.
This era also got a new thing for the viewers - The News Channel. People got exited with the arrival of an individual, 24x7 news telecast on a channel. Kids were upset with this as now their father comes from office at 6 PM and watches News channel as and when he wants. But then people got to see news updates all the time.
Another new thing that came into the TV world was characterization of channels. We now got entertainment channels like Zee TV, Start, Sony, News Channels like Aaj tak, NDTV, India TV, Kids Channels like Cartoon network, Nickelodeon. It not only gave the rise in number of channels but also rise in competition between the TV channel providers. This competition benefited the viewers, they got more and more options and services. Colored TV got new names now, Flat screen, LCD, Plasma, LED. This approach of improving the quality of TV for the viewers made the service providers active and even they started improving quality of picture from their end. This change in service provider's quality of service gave rise to HDTV, DTH is something that came few years back and people are very much aware of it. Ekta Kapoor's serials like Kyunki saas bhi kabhi bahu thi, Kahani ghar ghar ki, etc. and Reality shows - current favorite of viewers are the programmes seen on these new technology TVs.
This new technology gave birth to a new term added to TV - Interactivity. Interactivity, not only gave TV viewers more services like games, Video on Demand (VOD) etc, but it also gave the solution of missed programmes. DTH today is coming with the features with the help of which you can save your programmes for later viewing. Where DTH provides saving of TV programmes for a limited memory storage, the latest upcoming technology IPTV comes with even more higher technology where limited memory storage problem is resolved. IPTV stores all shows on TV on its server 24x7. Now we have more than 200 channels, so writing this era's popular shows is a tuff task and time taking too. All that we can see is its the era of reality shows and interactive TV.

Why IPTV ?

Internet Protocol Television (IPTV), is something that attracted me. IPTV, sometimes referred to as broadband television, is becoming a more popular means of receiving one's television programming. It is estimated that IPTV will conquer a huge number of users in the coming few years

Why IPTV is the question arose in my mind when I first heard about IPTV. We have an N number of options to go for, then why should one go for an IPTV? May be because its a new technology, its something different or may be because its a term related to internet – the future. My mind was juggling with these answers which were not satisfactory, so I searched for my question's answer – WHY IPTV?

So here is what I found. Not only the technology but the idea behind creation of IPTV is to provide the comfort, the ease and the INTERACTIVITY. Its the time when we all believe in interaction with our machines, gadgets, devices etc. And IPTV adds television in this list, yes now even our TVs are interacting with us. Not only this, IPTV comes with solution of the problems faced by existing Television technologies. IPTV provides the benefit of a more efficient means of delivery, allowing for higher quality and more interactive features. When compared with other existing TVs, IPTV gives you a clear vision of what benefits it is providing you.

Lets talk about the satellite television (DTH services) the one requiring a dish antenna for the channels to be telecasted . One of the most common complaint about satellite television service is that there may be a loss of signal in poor weather conditions. When the weather is particularly bad, you can lose all reception, missing your favorite shows. Also, the weather does not even need to be particularly "bad". Sometimes, only partially cloudy skies or windy conditions have been known to interfere with the satellite signals.

While satellite TV is not necessarily a poor service, IPTV does provide more reliable and higher quality service every time. The weather plays no role in the quality or consistency of IPTV service. Still if you missed your favorite show because of the power cut during bad weather, a very common problem faced, your IPTV service provider auto saves your TV shows 24x7 so that you can later on watch the show you missed.

Another common problem with satellite television is that the satellite dish needs to have a clear view of the southwest sky. If there is a particularly high, or very close tree line or building blocking the view, service cannot be provided. This can also be a problem if you live in an apartment or condominium, which is facing the opposite direction, as there may not be a proper place to mount the satellite dish. As far as IPTV is concerned it works through your telephone line as its name broadband TV signifies. So no worries for the installation and placement of equipments.

That was the problems faced by a satellite user, another range of TV users are the traditional cable television users. It is a simple and old method of television viewing where your local cable operator provides you the service. Its not an interactive TV, all you can do with it is just watch the limited number of channels your cable operator is providing. IPTV is definitely benefiting from a competitive edge, provided by new capabilities that integrate Internet content, features, and usability into the TV set.

IPTV has many advantages over conventional cable, including high-speed internet access, Video on demand, hundreds of channel choices, games, educational contents, classifieds and benefits that traditional cable does not provide.

IPTV is growing in popularity due to these advantages over alternative television service. And I guess this is the answer to my question – WHY IPTV? And I am quite satisfied now. If anyone having more about IPTV and its benefits, I will be glad to know.

IPTV - big leap in Television viewing

Okay so what is IPTV. A big jargon or something that's going to change the way I watch the television today. IPTV or Internet Protocol Television is a big leap in TV viewing. It will change the traditional TV world with more interactive feature like Video on Demand (VOD) and many more Services. IPTV basically receives and display encoded video stream through Internet lines laid down for broadband purposes, thereby offering a new concept of affordable televiewing. These internet line are connected to your TV through a set-top box. This makes IPTV, a technology more advanced and better than DTH technology. With DTH customer has to install a Dish antenna and still face problems of distorted videos due to bad weather. Whereas for IPTV only and most important is broadband connection on your existing telephone line. Some of the features and services facilitated by IPTV are:

Video on Demand(VOD)
Security/Parental control
Stop-Play-Forward-Rewind
Ability to watch Television Programmes missed

Messaging through your TV
Games
Classifieds

IPTV is a TV just like restaurants, you sit and order and get what you want. Thus unlike DTH or any other mechanism you can watch the movies of your choice at a time convenient to you. IPTV has a good video quality, giving competition to DTH. No Worries if you feel that there are some channels you wish not to let your kids watch, you can lock the channels disturbing your child's studies by simply putting a code (just like your passwords) and you are relaxed.

The Stop-Play-Forward-Rewind feature works just like your DVD player and hence no need of wasting your money in buying a DVD player. And if you missed your favorite programme or movies, no worries IPTV saves Automatically all your programmes/movies telecasted. That too 24x7 all the things appearing on your TV are saved. So don’t worry if you missed your country winning the cricket finals or that shot being talked about.

Not only has this you can communicate using IPTV as it provided the messaging feature just like SMS in your mobile phones. You can make your own address book save your contacts and whenever you feel lazy to pick your mobile phone simply use your IPTV's remote to send messages to other IPTV users.
Gone are the days when you use to buy a gaming console for playing games, its the time when people get to play games in almost all gadgets/devices then
why leave your TV behind. Yes, IPTV has interactive games not only Entertaining you also increasing your knowledge.
Well what else? You get Classifieds too, so no need to go and find some papers or connecting your internet and search for your things. Simply press your TV remote's button and there you go. Everything is on your fingers.

I have a good news for all Indians – you can get IPTV through MTNL and BSNL lines (the widespread network and cheap too that we all know)