Recently, on the last day of the billing cycle, I was surfing the net to download stuff to exhaust the remaining data quota. Taking a free course on Coursera or Udemy was out of the question as I wouldn't have been able to finish it within a day. I downloaded a lot of stuff from BBC - history hour and other podcasts. That site is a virtual treasure trove of infotainment. Anyone interested in history and world politics can remain occupied there for hours. Hats off to these folks!
Even after going through a couple of 'Best Podcasts' lists I couldn't find anything worth downloading. Sure, there were a few podcasts about cold cases and supernatural stories but downloading would have meant keeping tab on their latest updates - something I wasn't interested in doing on an ongoing basis. For a few minutes it really looked like the remaining data would remain unused.
Then, in a sudden burst of inspiration, I turned to Youtube. First videos to be searched for were those of Fireball XL5 - this 60s show was telecast in India in the 80s. Of course, in keeping with the primitive technology of the time it wasn't terribly sophisticated e.g. the Fireball used to cast a shadow while taking off. :-) But we were kids then and kids don't usually bother about these things - at least those of my generation didn't. And I loved Steve Zodiac and Venus (though she always sounded as if she was either drunk or sleepy!). So I downloaded 4-5 episodes before remembering Sherlock Holmes - the one portrayed by Jeremy Brett. There were very few whole episodes - I wasn't interested in downloading parts and seeing them in sequence. But I managed to download The Dancing Men, The Blue Carbuncle, A Study In Scarlet, The Case Of The Christmas Pudding, A Scandal In Bohemia, and - The Hound Of The Baskervilles! Can's wait to watch that one!
Thinking of the Holmes series brought back memories of childhood, good ole DD and the 80s-90s shows. :-)
Oh, that was one hell of a ride down the memory lane. I looked for R.K.Narayanan's 'Swami and Friends'. Found 2 whole episodes and, grinning from ear to ear, downloaded them. I had to restrain myself from watching them immediately. What next? Oh yes, देख भाई देख. Since I was out of my teens by then I knew that the happy joint family depicted in it couldn't be found anywhere in the real world. But this was the pre-Ekta Kapoor era. And so there was no devious plotting, scheming or screaming in any episode. Plus I had a huge crush on Sanjay Diwan (played by Vishal Singh). ;-) Next on my list was the late Jaspal Bhatti's Flop Show. If you want to know what clean comedy is, you got to watch one of its episodes. Bhatti managed to deliver his punchlines with an absolutely deadpan expression and yet never failed to throw light on the corruption, inefficiencies, contradictions and inconveniences that were part and parcel of living in India of that time - but all in good humor. An absolute delight to watch! I also downloaded a couple of episodes of 'इधरउधर' for good measure.
Of course, I suspect that some shows like Karamchand would sound rather primitive in this day and age when crime shows are a dime a dozen on any channel you turn to. Still, it would be great to watch an episode or two - just for old times' sake. I would have gone for episodes of Byomkesh Bakshi but I had watched the series when DD had aired it a few years back. But then there is so much more out there. Stone Boy, इन्द्रधनुष, यात्रा, Malgudi Days, बाबाजीका बाईस्कोप, दादादादीकी कहानियाँ , रजनी , देखो मगर प्यारसे, बिक्रम और बेताल, नुक्कड़, ये जो है जिंदगी, जबान संभालके......
I guess I don't have to worry about exhausting my data limit for a few upcoming billing cycles :-)
Even after going through a couple of 'Best Podcasts' lists I couldn't find anything worth downloading. Sure, there were a few podcasts about cold cases and supernatural stories but downloading would have meant keeping tab on their latest updates - something I wasn't interested in doing on an ongoing basis. For a few minutes it really looked like the remaining data would remain unused.
Then, in a sudden burst of inspiration, I turned to Youtube. First videos to be searched for were those of Fireball XL5 - this 60s show was telecast in India in the 80s. Of course, in keeping with the primitive technology of the time it wasn't terribly sophisticated e.g. the Fireball used to cast a shadow while taking off. :-) But we were kids then and kids don't usually bother about these things - at least those of my generation didn't. And I loved Steve Zodiac and Venus (though she always sounded as if she was either drunk or sleepy!). So I downloaded 4-5 episodes before remembering Sherlock Holmes - the one portrayed by Jeremy Brett. There were very few whole episodes - I wasn't interested in downloading parts and seeing them in sequence. But I managed to download The Dancing Men, The Blue Carbuncle, A Study In Scarlet, The Case Of The Christmas Pudding, A Scandal In Bohemia, and - The Hound Of The Baskervilles! Can's wait to watch that one!
Thinking of the Holmes series brought back memories of childhood, good ole DD and the 80s-90s shows. :-)
Oh, that was one hell of a ride down the memory lane. I looked for R.K.Narayanan's 'Swami and Friends'. Found 2 whole episodes and, grinning from ear to ear, downloaded them. I had to restrain myself from watching them immediately. What next? Oh yes, देख भाई देख. Since I was out of my teens by then I knew that the happy joint family depicted in it couldn't be found anywhere in the real world. But this was the pre-Ekta Kapoor era. And so there was no devious plotting, scheming or screaming in any episode. Plus I had a huge crush on Sanjay Diwan (played by Vishal Singh). ;-) Next on my list was the late Jaspal Bhatti's Flop Show. If you want to know what clean comedy is, you got to watch one of its episodes. Bhatti managed to deliver his punchlines with an absolutely deadpan expression and yet never failed to throw light on the corruption, inefficiencies, contradictions and inconveniences that were part and parcel of living in India of that time - but all in good humor. An absolute delight to watch! I also downloaded a couple of episodes of 'इधरउधर' for good measure.
Of course, I suspect that some shows like Karamchand would sound rather primitive in this day and age when crime shows are a dime a dozen on any channel you turn to. Still, it would be great to watch an episode or two - just for old times' sake. I would have gone for episodes of Byomkesh Bakshi but I had watched the series when DD had aired it a few years back. But then there is so much more out there. Stone Boy, इन्द्रधनुष, यात्रा, Malgudi Days, बाबाजीका बाईस्कोप, दादादादीकी कहानियाँ , रजनी , देखो मगर प्यारसे, बिक्रम और बेताल, नुक्कड़, ये जो है जिंदगी, जबान संभालके......
I guess I don't have to worry about exhausting my data limit for a few upcoming billing cycles :-)
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