Hello everyone,
I hope you all are in good health and If not it shall pass. Nothing lasts forever. But today I am going to talk about something that made an everlasting impact on me.
The year was 1996, and I was completely addicted to the kid's daily dose of Xmen, silver surfer, Iron Man, and small wonder. I could barely stay away from the TV. And one fine afternoon we packed and left for a place called Car Nicobar island. (The name has nothing to with Car there was only 2 bus running there and if one goes into a repair you will have to spend hrs waiting for the 2nd one. I mean the whole Island was... I think I am deviating from the subject.) As you can guess, It was the golden age of cable TV. Cable Network Industry was booming and daily new channels were getting launched. But Car Nicobar was different there was no Cable Network there on that Island or at least for a good 10KMs radius from the place where we lived. The only available channel was Doordarshan. A TV Network run by Govt of India. And you can guess the nature of programs that would be covered there. News, broadcast from the parliament house, Krishi darshan (programs on the farming), Yog Vigyan (something disease-related) you know all the kid-friendly stuff. Not going to lie but that channel was designed for the sole purpose of making kids read something more interesting than the program on the TV.
Anyway, It was one evening when I chose to switch on the TV just to see a face other than that of my family and there it was. That is when I saw her for the first time. Meena. An animate series on the DD network. And what a series it was. I fell in love with the show from the very first episode (the first episode that I watch). I remember loving the show very much. And I think I understand the reason now. The animation was nice and the colors were vibrant. The character's lovely and most important one was the message in the story.
Meena a kid from a poor class family was the hero. Fighting for rights, education, infrastructure, Social Issues, AIDS awareness, and whatnot. I still remember the episode where she stood up to the parent who were treating her unfairly when it comes to providing for her and her brother. She wasn't getting enough food while her brother was getting extra just for being a boy. And she told her brother to switch places with her for one day to make him understand the struggles of an Indian girl. And I remember finally the father accepting the “ladka ladki ek samaan” (Equality for both). I may have butchered the story in my narration but you get the point. The series deals with some serious social issues in a fun way. Which is never an easy task. And that too put forward some points that are considered taboo in society is too gutsy.
To sum it up, Bollywood’s so-called 100crores projects cant hold a candle to this animated series from UNICEF. And the new-gen social warriors can take notes on how to fight the real evil instead of just going on camera and screaming at people.
That is all folks.
I am inuke and I miss the good old days, when the NEWS was actual NEWS, Debates were among the experts and not just paid representatives with political ties and people still care enough to rerun something that actually matters rather than the Saas Bahu plague (Indian Serials). I think I am going to watch the entire thing again on Youtube. Just because it is 100 better than everything that Bollywood made in the last decade. Or I could be wrong and I was too young to understand it and fell for the colors and animation. Whatever it is added to my playlist.
While the world is full of nonsense and awful stuff, there are some good people too and you can meet a few in the IndiaUnited and BeAwesome community :D
❤️☮️
