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The Roundabout To The TV Channel

 I sat on our living room sofa, quietly surfing through my English textbook, making sure I didn't miss any synonyms or word meanings to read for the next day's exam.

Just as I was doing so, my mom shuffled over to the living room and switched on our TV.

She started pressing a few buttons, and I decided to move on to biology, the bigger challenge. Biology has never caught my interest - and I won't say it's easy to read, either.

Just as I grabbed my biology textbook, I heard my mom grumbling. I looked up and saw that she was still fiddling with the buttons of the remote.

"What are you trying to do?" I asked her.

She continued with her muttering, and after a few seconds of hopeless clicking she replied, "Your grandmother just called me over phone to tell me that Shankara TV is displaying an impressive dance program."

"And you're having trouble navigating the app?" I asked, not needing to hear the answer, since I already knew what it was.

"It's weird, the names people give their apps. Look - there's an XStream Play, whatever that is - and there's a category that says TV Channels, and then there's a section that says Top Channels You Watch - which place should I be searching?!" is my mom's way of saying she doesn't know where to find Shankara TV.

I sighed, and grabbed the remote from her. I clicked a few buttons, switched between different apps and all that took me less than two minutes. 

My mom snatched the remote back from me, and she admitted, "I REALLY do have to learn this stuff from your father, shouldn't I? And so should you."

You see I agreed with that whole sentence until she slipped in that last bit. I argued, in my defence, "You barely let me search for two minutes!"

But I couldn't finish, as she had commenced her grumbling round and had now went to the TV Shows category. I sighed, concluding that we should wait for my dad to come.

Then, after a few more minutes of her clicking and my hopeless staring-at-the-pages-of-my-biology-textbook, the door was thrown open with a slam and my sister came strutting/bouncing/jumping in, followed by my dad.

My mom handed the remote to him and pleaded, pleaded for him to play Shankara TV. I watched the scene quietly, debating whether or not to tell my mom again that I knew all along - then my dad clicked on the Home Screen - the very first screen that it is always displayed, and calmly pointed towards the middle row displayed.

"What is it?" my mom asked. 

And then my sister said, "AMMA!! Can't you see??!!! Your SHANKARA TV!!! Right THERE!!!"

My mom looked again at the screen, and after a few seconds, she said, "Aaahhhh!!! It was there!! How was I supposed to know to look there??!!"

She clicked on it, and to her dismay, the show had ended and a long round of advertisements had started.

 

Comments

  1. AnonymousMarch 16, 2025 at 7:56 PM

    Fine write up.

    Babu Thatha.

    ReplyDelete
  2. T.SrinivasanMarch 16, 2025 at 10:01 PM

    Ending is the happening in all houses .If we are not familiar with new technology we are dependent. Your description about situation is intresting to read as it reflects many houses scenes.super
    From
    Pushpa patti

    ReplyDelete

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