Television Comes to REC (NIT) Calicut

Television came to REC CALICUT on 16th June 1984.What a historic event. Most of us had not seen TV till then. Mrs. Indira Gandhi was the Prime Minister and one of her major acheivements was in launching TV broadcast stations all over the country in quick succession. The common rooms of all the hostels got a 20inch Keltron TV and one of the first institutions in Calicut to have this luxury.

I beleive the strike of 1983 would have never happenned in the first place had there been TV's in the campus as students would have been busy watching them with little or no time to participate in events that precipitate a crisis.

TV changed our lives in many ways. There was education as much as entertainment. Almost around the same time Siddharth Basu came out with his quiz contests "Quiz Time" with colleges from around the country participating in them and was a avidly watched program adding to education and increased awareness. Chitrhaar on thursdays;Humlog;Lucy Show;Sorry;Nukkad; Yeh Jo hai Zindagi;Jewel in the Crown; Ek Do Theen Char; Mickey Mouse ; Cricket and soccer matches were many of the broadcasts that had some spell on the student crowd. The Common Room where the TV was kept was open upto 10:00 in the night. Chitrahaar drew the maximum crowd. Amitabh Bachchan movies not to be left behind.

One of the key world event of our times was the 1984 Benson and Hedges cricket tourney in Australia where India emerged winners and was of continued interest for all. Every match had the hostels spell-bound and euphoria when Krishnamma Chari Srikkanth or Sandeep Patil hit a four when only one run was needed to win. I think this was one tourney where India gave consistent cricketing performance only losing the inaguaral match against Australia. Ravi Shastri emerged Champion of Champions but for once.

Note that there was only one channel in operation at that time namely DD-1 and there was no scope to switch channels. I dont know what is up today and the cable network must have made in-roads into the campus.Another notable event of our times was the news telecast on the 31st of October 1984 about the assasination of the Prime minister Mrs. Indira Gandhi and Shri Rajiv Gandhi taking over as the PM. Miss Shrivastav used to be the most favourite anchor among the students on DD and many would come just to hear her speak and smile. Programming on DD was good at that time with a good combination of educative programs and entertainment. james bond