I love Vividh Bharati for its sense of nostalgia. The time has stood still in its case. I have been listening to Vividh Bharati ever since I was born ( both my parents are radio fanatics) and it still has the same quaint programmes -Bioscope Ki Baatein, Chaaya Geet, Ek Pankar, Sangeet Sarita, Bhoole Bisre Geet and so on. It has never been on the wrong side of Indian Morality. Nor on the wrong side of Unity in Diversity ( they even had a special programme to promote Indian Tribal Music!!!!). All Great Indian Leaders were remembered on the Great Indian Occasions and Id and Diwali were celebrated on the Radio with equal gusto.

If any one of you are as fanatical about Old Hindi Music as my Dad is, you can’t have missed the Urdu Service of All India Radio which was just a celebration of old Hindi songs ( The presenter is a corpse rudely awakened by some stupid AIR employee :)) and every singer/musician/actor’s death/birth anniversary meant a soliloquy of that person’s songs the whole day! Of course, they also had Qawwalis and such stuff ( non-filmi) ( coz its a ‘Urdu’ service you see).

Oh, the title of this entry, BTW, is the name of a program I never miss when I am in India. It’s broadcasted in the evening, just after I come back from school. It is a recorded phone-in programme, where listeners from anywhere in India call up the Mumbai Recording studio and request a song. The most awesome part is the accent and cheerfulness of each caller. Most of them belong to the Great Indian Lower Middle Class, but their innocence and happinesss is most apparent, especially pronounced when they can actually get to speak to their ‘Messengers from Heaven’ ( The Presenters, if you still didnt get it ).

There are other programmes too. But the All India Radio was mostly for music and cinema. And for nostalgia.