Ameya Paleja

Growing up in the 1990s in India did not give you a lot of options when it came to watching television. Doordarshan or commonly known as DD was your sole source of entertainment, news and learning. Cable TV ushered in a large variety of channels to watch from, while recent advances in Satellite television, give you the option to actually pick the channels you would want to see.  Although, I have stopped watching direct television for over a couple of years now, television content (without the irritating adverts) continues to garner my attention.  It is needless to say that I am no fan of the Ekta Kapoor drama series, the laughter bouquet of SAB TV is something I keep going to. Whether the light hearted comedy of Tarak Mehta ka Oolta Chasma or the politico-social satire of Lapatagunj, the channel offers laughter to all and also at all times.  The comedy is natural, simple and unlike the comedy challenge shows, unforceful. SAB started another series in Novembe...

With the election results out, the government has wasted no time to hike the prices of petrol across the country. A commodity that increased once the pace of our life, is now rapidly making a niche for itself in the ' luxury market '. There is no blame game, nor is this a blog to say that the government does not care for the common man. Fuel price hikes are global. I have championed the move of deregulation of prices for quite some time now. Today, when the prices of a litre reaches Rs 71, there is definitely a cause for concern. Common concerns will be the imminent call for a strike from our auto-wallahs, unannounced and unnoticed by the media hike in bus fares, helpless and mandatory deeper holes in your pocket when you fill up your vehicle. But, when I came across the news of the hike today, my immediate concern was the prevalent ignorance of our countrymen and willingness to shell more rather than change habits. No matter how many jokes are cracked about the bicycle bei...

On my way to work this morning, I saw a man, say 30 years old, waiting on the road. He had a back-pack and kept looking at something above usual sight and making notes. While some may think, he was crazy and was counting stars at 10 in the morning, I am guessing he was some sort of telecommunications technician. What was interesting to see, was that he made his notes on a a small, portable computer. From his looks, (probably its inappropriate of me to make these comments but still) he dint look like an advanced programmer or something, but what really caught my attention was the fact that technology has penetrated in our country as a necessity. It is available to the common man and is there to help him in his everyday work. Another example, is the courier delivery person, who came to my house a month ago. Starting early to reach customers before they leave for work, this man must be visiting a good 50-60 houses in his day's work. After handing me my parcel, he pulled out a small ha...