Simplicity Is Something Priceless
I remember the good old days when everyone in my family used to gobble their food quickly just to run downstairs and enjoy a laughter riot by the hilarious Maha Jodi. Sometimes at the dinner table, they would start talking about Hijo Aaja Ka Kura as though they were discussing their own problems with it. The heavily social message-embedded dramas were sometimes incomprehensible for me, but my mom would laugh, remembering the jokes even 24 hours after the program.
I, of course, was very young to understand the deeper meaning these shows, but even so, I enjoyed them. At one point, I had even started saying Hari Bahadur’s popular line again and again, “Yeso gare kasto hola?” I still cannot forget Santosh Pant eating masu-bhaat in Hijo Aaja Ko Kura—his simple emphasis on how masu-bhaat is so important for Nepalis was relatable to all middle class homes. Even to this day, Saturday isn’t Saturday until my mom cooks masu-bhaat.
A lot many actors of the 90s have been instrumental in bringing awareness to homes; television was really a means of communication. Characters like Santosh Pant, Hari Bahadur, Madan Bahadur, Chature, etc. played an important role for society to understand reality, and to act upon it.
It’s sad that the new generation will never know what it was like to watch television with family together; they will never know the simplicity of the jokes and puns; they will never know what a small television set meant for a family; they will never enjoy the pride that came with television and radio sets; that compulsion to click a photo with the television and radio.
However, the perks of the new technologies are that you can always search for these golden series in YouTube any time you want, and share them with others through various social media. Just a few days ago, I had a good laugh watching Hari Bansha and Madan Krishna’s tato dhido scene from Pandra Gatey, which I had shared with my friends in Viber.
Looking back, things have definitely changed, and I guess that is how time works: the old fade out to make way for the new. But, it doesn’t mean we cannot flip back through time and enjoy the journey we have made. Here, in this issue, we bring you a collective of the television and radio days.
Let’s celebrate the priceless simplicity of the 90s.
