Story Teller and the Radio License

I was an avid reader of Phantom Comics in my childhood and there is an old man who tells tales of all the Phantoms of bye gone eras.  I was fascinated by that character who appeared occasionally and would be telling tales to the Phantoms to be.  He was also the repository of all knowledge.  Little did I realise that I would be one; not so soon.  May be when I was a wizened up old man in my seventies.

Cover Page of the Radio License

I was a teller of such tales recently.  When I must have been about six years old my father bought a radio – which must have been pretty expensive in those days. A Telerad- Caprice.  Almost like buying a fancy TV these days.  I still remember coming back from school (my eldest brother had brought me home that day riding doubles on his cycle that day and he would not let me in to the secret till we reached home) and sitting next to the radio and staring with fascination at the green eyes of the radio closing and receding as the volume kept going up and down.  My dad had that radio till almost 2000.  Something bought in 1966 lasted for about 43-44 years.  It had, towards the end, lost its magic eye but was still working.  Then the main valves gave up and there was no way he could get a replacement for it.  So with a lot of reluctance it went out. This radio was part of our life throughout.  It played songs, gave us the news and still played the morning songs for my dad even though in later years the noisier TV had upstaged it somewhat.

But my young friends, did you know that you needed a license to own a radio in those days?

All this memory came back to me when the good old licence of this radio came out of a box I had kept it in.   I had kept it probably clinging on to it because of the fact that it contained some memories of my childhood.  It contained all the addresses where I lived in Kochi during my childhood and youth etc.   I again chanced upon it recently while emptying out some boxes.  All this memories came flooding back.

Inside page where renewal is paid as stamps stuck and cancelled with a seal every year

I just thought I should share my find with my friends on Facebook.  My students and young friends did not know what it was – but naturally.  The licence fee itself was stopped in 1985.  Most of them were not even born then.  My contemporaries recognised it for what it was and started going down their own memory lanes.  Some of my young friends were going “Wow”.  “Never knew that”.  “Can’t imagine you needed a license to own a radio”.  That is when I felt I have become like the teller in the Phantom comics.

Yes.  We did have a license fee to be paid for any radio.  To use the correct term, it used to be called Broadcast Receiver License.  Collected under the Indian Telegraph Act 1885! The Post Office even had a special stamp called BRF Fee worth Rs 15 and Rs 7.50.  The second radio one owned attracted only half the fee.  This fee probably was to cover partly the expenses to run the All India Radio (there were no private stations then!).  The fee in those days (1966) was Rupees 15 per annum and it was quite a stiff amount considering that the rupee had a great purchase value.  I do remember going with my dad those years and buying bagsful of vegetables for Onam celebrations and paying less than ten rupees and so.  Possibly the fee was kept high as radios were considered a luxury item which only the upper middle class and above owned. Others listened to the broadcast of the radios in the municipal parks over the public address system.

More than the revenue stream, the Government probably also needed to know where the radio sets were. Probably as a security measure.  In times when there were no dedicated wavelengths for the military and police, it would have been possible to eavesdrop with a radio.  I still remember, sometime we would get some random transmissions, I am not sure how, possibly police or ATC to pilot transmissions.  I was too young to really understand these. These would not last long and typically when you drag the needle to the very end beyond the stations marked on the dial.  But I suppose it must be possible for a regular radio to be bought and twiddled to listen to those transmissions. So a fee and making it illegal to own a radio without asking the government first was essential.

But then cheap radios (especially what we used to call pocket radios) started coming along in mid 70s.  These cost, may be, a hundred rupees at the most; often much less if it had only the medium wave. Most people were reluctant to pay a fee of 15 rupees on a radio which cost about 50 rupees or thereabouts to buy.  By then, the security of the military needs were more assured by the improved technology.  Government still collected the money from rule abiding citizens, like my father, till possibly the collection cost became more that the revenue.  It stopped in 1985; a full hundred years after the Telegraph Act was passed!.  And, that my dear friends, is the story of BRL fee in this country. 

Bala@Panaji

Hey – What is Your Name?

Recently, I bumped into a former student of mine in the bank.  Nothing unusual about that, most certainly.  I was in the bank at our old campus and this student had come visiting the old campus for old times’ sake. When I suddenly bumped into her, the problem was that I could distinctly remember that she had been my student, I remembered where she was from, remembered some of the details about her- everything except her name! I could even remember which batch she belonged to and how she was in the class.  The silly thing with my brain was that it had her name somewhere but was not revealing it to me.  I talked to her for a few minutes and since it was time for me to get back, I excused myself and got back into my car.  Then suddenly her name popped up in my head! By then it was too late to be of any use. All throughout my conversation with my former student, I was distracted trying to get her name out of cold storage. And, somehow it didn't seem right to ask her for it. Maybe it was the effusiveness with which she met me and I did not want to pour cold water over her pleasure of bumping into me.  Perhaps it is the feeling that it is thoughtlessness or rude to forget someone's name.........

 

Is it that I am getting old? Is it that I am now meeting far more students than earlier?  I am sure many professors must be going through this agony every time they bump into their former students after some time.  Some faces are so clear in your mind and yet the name eludes you when you want it the most.

The dilemma one faces is that, sometimes, you may have spent some time with that student helping him/ her academically.  Maybe the student has been one of your advisees and one ought to remember them.  There could be a student who has been particularly memorable because one has pulled up that student time and again.  The student may have a dozen reasons to expect you to remember the name and details.   But the synapses do not always connect up in the professor’s mind!

I wish students would help out their forgetful former teachers and mention their names the first thing when they meet them.  Conversation and catching up could then be more pleasant for the professor rather than his being in the agony of trying to remember his student's name.  Please remember that your teachers are no longer as young as they used to be.

Bala@Ranchi

It is a Communication Gap!

The Congress party amazes me by the priceless way they work! It is a political party and they can do what they please.  If the voting public like them they will remain in power or else they would get booted out.  Why should it matter to others?

It would when they deal with people outside the party.  The Congress President is not a mere president.  She is now close to a monarch, an empress, whose wishes are commands for the people within the Congress.  Within the party, a glance from her would ensure that her desire shall be done.  Any one daring to question her would be immediately pensioned and put to pasture. Now, Congress party leaders and members know that very well.

So when Sonia Gandhi meets you, non-Congress fellows should understand this.  They should understand even before audience is granted to you, your case has been cogitated by the spin doctors and they also agree that an audience can be granted.  So the students from JNU and such organizations should realise that they have got a royal decree when she tell them that she would look in to it.  These kids do not understand that emperors and empresses are not to be questioned or doubted!!

When Shinde (Home Affairs Minister) tells us on TV that “Soniaji has met them, what more do they want?”, his surprise is genuine.  Even reasonably senior Congress men do not get to meet her.  So anyone who gets to meet her should consider it a blessing.  When an emperor promises you that you have been heard, you are supposed to genuflect and come away.  And wait for the minions to come to you with the purse.  One is not supposed to say things like “We have heard assurances before” kind of stuff.

While the Congress party is living in the feudal times of 18^th century, the youngsters are living in the 21^st Century.  Their incredulity is born of their natural scepticism of most establishments; the Congressmen’s amazement that anyone could doubt the promise made by Sonia Gandhi is also genuine.  The communication gap is understandable.

Bala@Panaji

Avoiding a Barbarian World?

I have no doubt in my mind that the maximum punishment under the law has to be given to the rapists in the most recent incident in Delhi. I am sure that the no judge is going to spare them if the evidence is presented. I have no issues in the India Gate protestors highlighting the issues connected with the recent rape and trying to broaden the debate to the wider issues of definitions and bringing about a more acceptable definition of rape or molestation. An FIR to be filed, police sensitisation is all necessary.

What I cannot understand is the cry for some punishment which sound barbaric.  Some of the banners hold out demands like “Hang them now”, “Castrate them” and the most horrific one “Treat them the same way they treated the girl”.  That to my mind is unacceptable.

The whole protest is to bring about some order in the society.  A society where each person is able to go about with his or her own life without hindrance. To go about without getting commented or molested or worse raped is a part of that.  More civilised we want the society to be, the more we need to respect the other person’s right. Right to go about the life and let other live their lives.  This also includes how we will correct the wrong doer.  What punishment we will give out and how we will give it out.

Remember, we as a nation got the admiration of the whole world in the way in which we treated Ajmal Kasab.  He waged war on India.  We did not just string him up on the nearest lamp post.  He went to a judge, had lawyers “prove” that he did do wrong and had lawyers defending (at least ensuring that the legal process was correctly done) and then it went all the way up to the Supreme Court and then the President and then he was hanged.  It was probably a forgone conclusion that he would be handed the death penalty. We could have just done it without too much of ado.  Then we would not be a civilised society and pretty barbaric.

In the distant past, before we became civilised, it was common for men to have sex with whomsoever he pleased? Rape was not an issue then.  It is in a civilised society that there is a concept of rape? So those who argue strongly for a civilised society should stop arguing for barbaric punishments? Even if we amend the laws we cannot probably make it applicable for this case? As they would have to be tried under the current rules. 

However we much we may detest them, however much we feel that they deserve more stringent punishment, we have to be law abiding.  Else the difference between the rapists and the rest would cease to exist.

Bala@Panaji