I was a little taken aback when I recently read on one of the internet sites that our very old Doordarshan has completed 50 years of its existence last month. No fanfare, no full page ads in newspapers, no nothing! Of course, I must admit that I rarely tune in to the channel so any mention of this milestone on it would have been missed by me.

I sat back and thought about the serials of my childhood. Strangely enough, the quality was better by leaps and bounds on this single channel than the daily soaps that are dished out on the multitude of channels that have mushroomed up these days. And I can say that without looking back at that era through the rose-tinted glasses of nostalgia.

Of course I couldn’t help but trawl the net looking for any videos or title songs of the DD serials from the 80s. And here are 2 of them that I found:

To listen to title songs of serials like Ajnabee, Subah, Yeh Jo Hai Jindagi and Chunauti, check http://www.getalyric.com/index.php?search=title+song+of+doordarshan+serials&criteria=listen

Visit
http://passionforcinema.com/doordarshan-down-memory-lane/

and read about the serials that were integral part of childhood of many like me. I felt as if I was meeting long lost friends of mine when I saw the serials like Stone Boy, TenaliRama and Mungerilal ke Hasin Sapne mentioned.

Can the powers-that-be arrange for these serials to be telecast on DD again on the occasion of its 50 years’ of service? I would love to step back into my childhood days. :-)

The Narrows - by Michael Connelly

It’s not a book I would have picked up – not this month at least. And that’s because I have had enough of reading about psycho killers. But as I stepped into the library I got 2 consecutive calls from colleagues so I was distracted as I hunted for the book. I took a cursory glance at the back page summary storyline and got it issued - the book name, “The Narrows” – and the author, Michael Connelly.

When I turned to the book at night, I thought the characters of detective Bosch and Terry McCaleb sounded familiar. Then I remembered that I have read Connelly before.

The storyline is a bit creepy on this one, what with FBI”s worst nightmare, the killer called “The Poet” – named so for the lines of Edgar Allen Poe’s poetry that he leaves next to the bodies of his victims – resurfacing after a gap of a few years. This time he strikes in the Sin City, Las Vegas, where the disappearance of 6 men sets the wheels of investigation turning, finally. What is surprising is that this time The Poet has sent his calling card to his two protégés – Terry and Rachel. Will this spell the doom for Robert Backus – the erstwhile head of FBI’s famed Behavioral Sciences Unit? Will Bosch be able to help the widow of his friend?

If you don’t mind half a dozen or so rotting bodies in the Nevada desert and a few peeks into the deranged mind of a killer, this book is an excellent crime mystery for your night stand. Me? I could have done without it for another month at least :-(

My search for the next book on my night stand was equally frustrating this weekend. I was going out of the city for a much-needed day-long trip and thought I could exchange book at the library which happens to be located on the way.

To my chagrin and to the growing annoyance of my family I couldn’t find a single book worth reading. Ten minutes later I had almost resigned myself to returning empty-handed when I spotted one by Steve Berry – The Alexandria Link. I read the storyline at the back and it was all I could do not to jump in the air :-)

I have managed to read only a few pages so far but I can say that I am happy to be back in the company of Cotton Malone, Henrik Thorvaldsen and Stephanie Nelle. :-)

Check this out - http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/sports/cricket/top-stories/Younis-quits-captaincy-after-grilling-by-MPs/articleshow/5119901.cms

Can someone please tell the Pakistanis that India has better things to do than devise plots to undermine her pint-sized neighbor? Why do we need to waste our precious time when they themselves are doing such a marvellous job of being the laughing stock of the world!

Clearly Pakistan's National Assembly Standing Committee on Sports hasn't heard the line "It’s better to keep your mouth shut and appear stupid, than to open it and remove any doubt.”