[cr-india] Muzzafapur Calling...

[Frederick Noronha (FN)]

http://www.delhidoorhai.blogspot.com/

Tuesday, February 28, 2006
Muzzafapur Calling...

I can't resist this post. There is all that possibility it seems to
offer, of an underground radio network, freedom from the
self-righteousness of All India Radio (and AIR 'Rainbow's' catchy,
head-bashingly awful jingle). Raghav FM Mansoorpur 1. Radio for the
people it seems to suggest - and certainly by them.

Bhojpuria Samachar carries a page devoted to to Raghav Manto who has
diversified his trade in fixing radios to (miraculously?) broadcasting
from them.

"CD nikala to dekhe ki agal bagal main catch kaar raha hai. Cordless
mike dekhe, issi ko soch kaar apna banaye. Isme 50 rupiya laga hai. 3-4
part laga hai, Rs 50 rupaiya kharcha hai. (When we took out the CD, we
realised that the radios in the neighbouring areas were also catching
the frequency. Then we saw cordless mike and replicated it. The cost
came to Rs 50 and required about three-four parts)", explains Raghav.

Received in the 15km around this is local radio for local taste. While
I'm not sure about the direct comparability of Delhi to Muzaffarpur, I
suspect both are equally avid consumers of radion. Bathed in radio (and
much else ariel matter besides), in Delhi, bus passengers (well, private
buses - i.e. the majority) pass comment, enjoy one DJ's switching
between Harayanvi and maybe a Punj joke, a popular song or poignant
lyric is appreciated. Likewise in dhabas and chai stalls, a boring song,
or worthy interlude is greeted by a fuzz of static while the station is
changed. The jokes and appreciations here are local too, a kind of
regionally inflected localism, hence the switching of dialects,
references to the Najafgargh's local boy Virender Sehwag, of Dhandiya
parties in Rohini or Durga Puja in CR Park; at once local to Delhi - in
this city, and at the same time regional, even national, appealing to
people's other identities.

'National' appears most saliently in the shape of cricket matches, the
only time 'talk radio' ever makes it inside a bus, and then one over in
Hindi, and one in English. Here men walk round in the street, enquiring
of strangers of the score, or sitting, crouched over a small transistor
receiver. [speaking of cricket, I'm not sure how much the score will be
in doubt in the coming England-India series]

But there are not just radio waves - there are radios themselves too,
which as Raghav, above, shows can be made, may need to be mended and in
good juggard fashion can be engineered 'up' and reconstructed and
improved for local preferences, manufactured 'down' too. Here are jobs
and factories, work and skills worked on, and lives. (Care of: "Radio
Kotina" Lokesh @ Sarai)

CLIPPING:
SANTOSH RADIO

It is the decade of the 80s. The presence of radio among the working
classes was a rarity. Owning a clock, a radio, or a cycle was a matter
of great social prestige. These items would be high up on the list of
demands for dowry from a bride at the time of marriage. Then arrived
Santosh Radio, a made-in-Delhi brand which gave established brands like
Phillips and Murphy a run for their money. It even replaced the brands
manufactured in Nepal, which carried the made-in-China mark. With low
cost as their biggest virtue, Santosh Radio or 'Delhi Brand' becma the
most common object in the bridegroom's luggae as he left home after
marriage. Over time, with increasing waves of migration from Bihar to
Delhi, people curious about what their children did in that far away
city began to talk of them as 'Delhi Brand' - good-looking, promising,
but a little unreliable

(Sadan Jha, sadan at sarai.net, Sarai-CSDS.)

Which is a circular route back to Raghav. From consuming and copying for
yourself, or hiring Bhojpuri movies in Punarvaspur and it's likes in
East Delhi, all out of your neighbour's front window-vcd library, to
dressing like Salman Khan in Tere Naam, to sas-bahu repeats in the heat
of the afternoon, now to broadcasting too. Raghav may be for real, or
not (see comments), but rumour is a fine medium too. In the meantime, I
shall hope that the tables are turned and recomed pirate radio in
Muzaffarpur.

Good morning Muzaffarpur...

posted by firang larki @ 1:37 PM 0 comments