Cynthiachandran’s Blog

Happy Birthday!

While scanning through the website of India’s prime news channel, I was surprised to know that NDTV had celebrated its 20^th birthday on 25^th November.  I feel that it was only couple of years back; I was watching their most loved programme, The World This Week.

 

This programme had created an impetus in Indian television history.

 

I have several sweet memories of this program.  Since I was studying in the high school then, my parents had given me strict instructions not to watch too much of television programmes.

 

However, they would allow me to watch ‘TWTW’ every Friday night at 10 pm, because it improved your general knowledge watching the analysis on the world news in half an hour.  That is what my parents told me and infact their observation was very true.

 

I still remember listening to Prannoy Roy’s soft mellifluous voice and believe that his program had inspired me to be a television journalist.  Even before he had started anchoring this programme, he was quite popular among the viewers of Doordarshan with his election analysis in the early 80’s.

 

Prannoy Roy is the country’s first psephologists (the study of political elections) and he used to present it with Vinod Dua.  When Dua goes on speaking in Hindi, I as a kid would keep asking my father that I wanted to hear the analysis in English only. 

 

The Hindi words I had known then were basic words only.  Later on I tried to learn the language by watching the available Hindi films from the video cassette libraries, which is another story.

 

Success on ‘Psephology’

 

I remember that Prannoy Roy had interviewed thousands of people for the exit poll with MARG (Marketing Research Group) and he predicted that the INC (Indian National Congress) would win the elections in 1980.  He had hit the target with his point blank predictions and many a politician dread to reply to his questions. 

 

Prannoy Roy was one of the premier anchor persons in India’s television history.  I felt very happy to hear him saying about his wife and the founder of the New Delhi Television, Radhika Roy.  However, for the first time in my life I saw how she looked like.

 

She is famous for her aversion to publicity and it is impossible to find her photo anywhere.  So it came as a surprise when her black and white pictures (don’t know whether the colour photo was changed to B/W or not) were shown.

 

Prannoy Roy was beaming when he was showering her with all the credits of the channels success.  He should indeed be proud of her.

 

The first episode of ‘TWTW’ was aired on 25^th November, 1988 and the clippings which they re-telecasted it now have rekindled back my memories.  The first thing hat had come to my mind was about the signature music of tabla playing.

 

‘TWTW’ reporters were all serious looking journalists with most of them sporting beards and dark complexioned.  I don’t mean to be rude but NDTV had created a status then that looks did not matter when reporting news. 

 

 

 

As years passed, I was shocked to learn that one of their senior reporters, Appan Menon had passed away in his sleep.  Another well known reporter’s face that comes to my mind is about Sutapa Deb.

 

The first edition of ‘TWTW’ had reports from US on George Bush senior’s elections; a young Benazir Bhutto speaking to a sari clad Tavleen Singh and on PLO (Palestinian Liberation Organisation) leader, Yasser Arafat.  In 1998, the production house gradually climbed up the ladder to bring news with Rupert Murdoch’s Star operations in India.  Then on, there was no turning back for NDTV.

 

Keep going

NDTV has always stood for the unbiased news with highest quality and it has always been a part of my life.  At this juncture, I have only one thing to wish them.  Keep giving us better news!