I was just trying to imagine what it would be like to shift to a remote region with no high-tech devices or good roads that allowed for speeding or facilities like cable or satellite connections (because the connection was too costly for my pocket)–and my mind boggled at the consequences! Television with its myriad channels has become so much a part of my life today, that I would feel totally lost without it! And if it should happen that all the TV networks are cut off except one–it is a situation I would not even wish to consider!

That sort of happened to me recently-six days ago, actually. I moved into the deepest woodsiest area on purpose, buying a little trailer so I could get away from barking dogs, jungle music and the accompanying jogging on the ceiling over my head, the booming, in-your-face ghetto blasting car stereos, the drunks, the gun shotswell, you get the idea. I did this so I could write, write, write, WITHOUT inane interruption. (Any focused writer will tell you that to even SAY, “I am busy” interrupts the tight and steady flow, breaks into the “zone” a writer has his or her head in.

My friends who accompanied me, had come for the sole purpose of setting up the TV with its satellite dish system. There was a remote too. I was not familiar with either of them. Despite having numerous boxes and bundles to put into their right places, I left it aside to give more attention to the TV. It was only after my friends had left, that I took up to settling the place a little. I had come here to spend a long period. Tired out after my labors, I switched on the TV with the help of the remote. The only channel that I could get hold of was showing a scene full of violence, full of guns and explosions. But I was stuck with it, since I had no idea of how to go about switching channels! And my friends were too far away to help and would return only after a few days!

This of course made me revert to that old clich, you don’t know what you got till it’s gone, and to feeling sorry for myself-that I had one choice, one TV network, though it was the sort of company I needed to keep from going completely bonkers. This also got me to thinking about those hypothetical exercises you fool around with in an interpersonal dynamics class, wherein you decide, of the ten people on the list, whom you will choose to go with you in the boat that fits only seven and whom you will abandon. Which TV network would I choose if I were allowed only one? That’s a tough one. Turner Movie Classics is a frontrunner, especially since is commercial-free. But then whichever station carries the most reality TV shows might be better, cause then you could force yourself to catch the news, as well. If affordable to you, you might choose to go with the Indy Channel, or another fascinating, educational and entertaining network that would cover more than basic TV-viewing needs.

Argh. I cannot decide. Can you? Thank God and the network powers that be, as well as the many stupendous artists, that we have more than one optionthat we have hundreds.

Tags: Biology and Technology