Television

Points: Development from Radio to color TV — It brings the world   right in our room — Comparison between Radio and TV.

             Radio brought us voice; television has added vision to it. We have already entered into the television era. Formerly, television was in black and white. Now we have color TV. Television was not known before 1923. In 1923 it was the British scientist J. N. Baird who invented television. The first country in the world to start regular commercial television was England. It was in 1936.
             Television is a nice thing. It is a reporter-cum-talking machine at home. When a man is alone, TV can give him real company. The audio-visual effect of TV is tremendous. It it brings us close to the real world outside. On the TV set we can see the actual theatre and film, musical soiree and cricket match, the Prime Minister making a speech, and even the space-man hovering funnily in his space-ship. In recent times TV sets have been installed in villages and community centers. As a result, the agriculturists are hearing a lot of modern farming from the rural programmes of TV.
             TV is far more living than radio. Here news is actually read by a man whom we see. The weather forecast is made with the help of a map. Discussions are held by intellectuals or VIP’s right before our eyes. We are almost thrown into the event we are watching. Its effect is tremendous. With the help of the satellites even far-off programmes can be watched by us. In a country like India, educational and agricultural programmes on TV may be very useful. Like photograph, TV also can be in both black and white and color. There is no denying that color has brought in depth and diversity to TV programmes as it has to cinematic show. The only thing we would wish is that the color and black-and-white TVs were cheaper enough for the broad masses.

Advertisement

Points: Its purpose — Kinds and varieties — Its role in public life.

             Advertisement is an art. Its purpose is to attract the would-be buyer. If its approach be crude, it will fail to achieve its objective. Advertisement takes into full consideration the psychology of the buyer. It induces a sense of want in him. Then it supplies the adequate information to satisfy the want.
             Advertisement may be audio-visual— loudspeaker announcements or cinema slides, commercial broadcasts over the radio, or simple ads in the newspaper columns, slogans pasted on walls or Illuminated against boards or lamp-posts.
             Advertisement has been called ‘hidden persuasion’.  The advertisement agencies are expert in this arc of persuasion. They persuade the consumers.  Advertisement is the soul of business. It has an important role in the market operated by demand and supply. It is part and parcel of modern life. Commercial advertisement is not the only kind of advertisement. There are other kinds which are ads for publicity. These are adopted by the Government or by the municipal or social organizations. The slogans like ‘Keep your city clean’, ‘Donate blood and save life’ are parts of different campaigns helped by powerful ads.

The Dictionary I Use

Points: The name and description — Its special attraction — Personal liking.

             The dictionary use is The Concise Oxford Dictionary of Current English. I got it as a birthday gift. This dictionary is known by its abbreviated name C.O.D. It is called ‘concise’, but I find it profuse in its display of words. Whenever I come across a new English word, I get its meaning in the C.O.D. So I like it very much. It is called ‘concise’ because this dictionary is a shorter version of the very big Oxford English Dictionary known as O.E.D.
             When I open my dictionary, one word invites me to another. For example, the word ‘companion’ leads my eyes to the next word ‘companionable’ which means ‘sociable’. I did not know this useful word before. Similarly, the simple word ‘cow’ directs me to the word ‘cow-catcher’. Now I know the name of the device fixed before the engine of a train or tram-car.
It is not a pictorial dictionary. I have seen some pictorial dictionaries meant for children or younger boys and girls. They are printed in color and in larger types. But my dictionary is not of that kind. It is a dictionary for adults. It gives not only the meanings of English words but also their uses in brief. These are very helpful. I like this dictionary for all that.
             I keep the dictionary always on my table. I am really in love with my C.O.D.

The use of the Telephone

Points: Uses on urgent occasions — Uses on normal occasions — Misuses and their Remedies.

             The telephone is the quickest messenger. We use it to call in a doctor, to invite a friend, to make an enquiry, to accept an invitation and so on. In emergency, we realize how invaluable & a telephone really is. When there is an accident or a fire, a sudden illness, injury or death, it is the telephone that connects us with the right person within seconds.
             Even on normal occasions the uses of a telephone are many. It is possible to call a taxi, hire a car or book tickets in advance for the cinema or theatre over the phone. One can chat or make appointment with a friend simply by lifting the receiver. The telephone helps office- work and business. A trunk-call may do what a long and expensive journey may not. The telephone is now our daily companion.
             The telephone is often misused. Sonic wicked people indulge in nasty or ‘ghost’ calls. Such things should be detected and severely punished. Innocent jokes may often prove fatal. These must he stopped. Another misuse is to keep the line unnecessarily engaged for a long time. Some house-wives are fond to continuing their small talks over the phone for Public-call telephone booths, too, should be properly guarded.

The Ticket-Counter at a Railway Station

Points: The location — The queue at the counter — The nerve-centre.

             Every railway station has a ticket-counter. It is a window with a small opening. It Is meant for receiving money and issue tickets. Inside the window is a booking clerk. He counts money, calculates the balance and presses out the proper ticket or tickets. For minor children he has to issue half-tickets.
             Outside the ticket-counter there is always a queue. There is always a last-minute rush for buying tickets. There is one window reserved for ladies. But even there, the rush is heavy, particularly on holidays. Some rough people try to elbow their way up to the window. They do not care for standing in a queue. Then follow exchanges of hot words. Challenges and counter-challenges are thrown. Appeals are made to supposed eye-witnesses. Luckily a third person may arrive just then to mediate and restore peace. This is a common scene at any big railway station.
             If anybody asks me, ‘Where is the nerve-centre of a railway station?’ I would at once point my finger to the ticket-window. They say, all roads lead to Rome. But at any railway station, we can say, all roads lead to the ticket-counter.

India's Unity in Diversity

Points: India one nation but there are forces of disintegration — The Indian tradition of unity in diversity — We have our national integration.

             In spite of diverse Languages and religions, India is one nation. But sadly enough. what is happening today in different parts of the country is alarming. Religious fanaticism of a section of people led to the assassination  of our great Prime Minister, Indira Gandhi. The trend is dangerous for the nation. It may lead to national disintegration if we fail to stop it in time.
             From time immemorial a sense of common history and destiny has bound us together. India has many languages religions and nationalities. Yet through centuries the people of India have lived together as a family The British introduced the policy of ‘Divide and Rules’. But the great Indians like Rabindnath Tagore and Swami Vivekanand made us aware of our great national heritage.
             The real unity is the unity of feeling, the unity of common brotherhood, unity of saving a common aspiration for the whole country. In fact, without a sense of common destiny and purpose, a natioion cannot thrive. People would travel from Kashmir to GangaSagar or from Assam to Ajmer, never feeling that they are strangers. Some kind of ‘Bharat Mela’ or India Fair may be organise1 in several parts of the country every year. More inter-mixing and interliving between the different communities in India should be encouraged. Learning more than one language is also necessary for a polyglot country like ours. Not by passing laws only, but by social mixing and mutual understanding may we ensure out national integration. 

Assassinations of Public Men

Points: The assassinations of Mahatma Gandhi and Indira Gandhi — Other recent assassinations of public men in other countries — Heinous acts universally condemned.

             Mahatma Gandhi was shot dead in Delhi on 30 January 1948. The whole world was shocked and the people of India felt ashamed. Everyone hoped that the martyrdom of Gandhi would be the last assassination of public man in India. But on October 31, 1948 our beloved leader Shrimati Indira Gandhi fell to the bullets of assassins, her own personal guards.
             Sheikh Mujibar Rabman of Bangladesh had likewise been assassinated. The memory of the assassination of John F. Kennedy, President of USA, is still fresh in the minds of many men. The killing of Martin Luther King, the black American Humanist is also unforgettable. The assassination of the Swedish Prime Minister, Olaf Palme who was a great friend of India and the Third World, is a more recent tragedy. More than two thousand years ago Julius Caesar was publicly assassinated in Rome. It is our shame that even today a person like Sant Longowall was murdered near a holy place.
             Politics is concerned with state power. But in a democracy, there is no place for violence. It is unfortunate that in a democratic country like India public men are becoming targets of assassination. The people of India condemn violence, specially assassinations of public men, most unequivocally.  They denounce such acts as savage and senseless.