TV THOUGHTS: Is channel surfing reflective of loneliness? Glimpsing Fashion TV, and Tina Sani

And at times one ends up doing channel surfing. What does channel surfing mean really? Why does one do it? What are the compulsions that drive one to playing with the remote control, and making others in the TV viewing area lose their patience, and their nerves.? So many questions and perspectives come to mind as the number of channels grows in this society too.
I want to begin with channel surfing this week primarily because I have realised that I have also fallen a victim to this tendency to switch from channel to channel in the hope of finding what? Is this a kind of window shopping that I am doing/? What am I looking for when I am watching TV? This is a question that comes to mind as one contemplates the issue of restlessness and TV viewing, day after day. Evening after evening. Night after night.
Night. Which reminds me that at times when I find my sleep interrupted (forget the reasons, please) I find myself switching on the TV with my remote (sometimes an elusive gadget I have realised ) and tuning into some channel or another. Either I want to know if the world has been hit by some big event, or if there was an on-going story, what was the new development. Sometimes it is lighter, almost a frivolous reason for wanting to watch TV with a sleepy mind. It is a very short lived diversion, but channel surfing it is. Why?
Channel surfing and loneliness. Is there a relationship between the two themes. Is their an inner unconscious desire that drives a viewer to move from channel to channel, in the hope of finding something better. Is this playing with the remote, reflective of the conflicting states of mind that the modern mind, urban often, is seized by. Even agonised and desensitised by.? I do not know. As I write this column and tread this path here, I try and introspect. I try and look back at the days when Pakistan had just one TV channel. Black and white at that. Now see where we stand. The antenna and dish antenna have been replaced by the cable operator, and so on. But that is not quite the point. It is the mind and the values that it is being targeted with that I am focused on. I am even worried by the values that are thrown in, very gently, with subtlety. Unsuspecting minds like sitting ducks. Watching cricket from Holland (see where they are playing now, India and Pakistan) it was significant to see contraceptives being marketed with the commercials being Indian in content, style, and quality, and implying then cross border cultural changes that are gradually taking place. If India and Pakistan can play cricket, why can't such TV commercials be shown? As if that was the point.
But let me return to channel surfing. When families watch TV together, in a single TV home, the person who has the remote control appears to be a nuisance to others. And he is in command evidently. But what of the person watching TV alone, and with no one to compete and claim the controls of the remote control gadget? Why does that solitary individual do channel surfing.?
It is a natural outcome, presumably to move from one channel to another, and which reflects the inherent competitive nature of the medium, and the business that this. Channel surfing is not simply exciting, but challenging. Harmless,? in a way ,yes. But inevitable, nevertheless. And it has the potential of carrying nuisance value.
I have hated the idea of watching TV with someone else having the remote control, and me watching at his/her discretion. Now when I have the remote control I know what the others can feel, and probably do. But then is the answer another TV set in the house. Experience has shown that even a second TV or a third TV set, makes no difference to the dream and desire to go looking for some Utopian channel that of course does not exist. Perhaps it is our restlessness and the thought that something better is available on the channel that one is not watching.!!!
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And now some thought to kind of mood within which Television viewing has gone in this society, September 2004 is here and not only has the country seen a third Prime Minister move in smoothly into office, but the seasons are also changing. And weather reports carried by all our channels, local and international, take note of this fact. So the colours will change, and so will our moods, desires, and in a way one contends that life will move indoors. More time for TV sets, and TV managers and planners will presumably take this into account. In passing I would like to mention that TV channels, Pakistani, have made some format and presentation changes, and I am somewhat disappointed and perturbed that PTV has gradually become gaudier and even unsophisticated with these changes. A certain grace and dignity that its appearances had often, is being given up with a desire to get more viewers.?.
The change in mood and season reminds one that the holy month of Ramazan is due to begin in the middle of next month, and one hopes that PTV, which has more channels than it had in the past, will be able to devote ample time and come up with meaningful and original programmes for that month, and not make it a mere formality. Which reminds me that the religious programmes appear (I hope I am wrong) to have gone down in number. That the time for the religious programmes seems to have been reduced? More on this later.
Which reminds me that the QTV channel, which is a round the clock Islamic channel, and which is popular as well, its live question answer programmes being often discussed and quoted, has completed one year of its successful existence. I noticed on Tuesday evening that this was being celebrated .A glimpse that I got (while channel surfing) was encouraging. Shabash. QTV. Well done.
The change of political mood in the country with Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz being sworn in has been conveyed adequately by the PTV, ARY and its network, the Geo and Indus TV news channels, and reflecting the deeper and wider changes is the fact that along with the print media speculating on who could make it to the new federal Cabinet, and the power game that was on in the corridors of Islamabad. I am not sure whether the electronic media has been exercising the degree of freedom and latitude which the print media has always done. One senses a certain restraint that the TV channels have demonstrated.
Some of the other themes that seem to dominate the mainstream have been the events in Iraq, where 12 Nepali hostages were killed, and the threat to the lives of two French journalists in Iraq was discussed. This was linked to the French government's decision to ban the wearing of the headscarf by school. . A Reuters report on 31st August said that "the Arabic TV station Aljazeera "showed a tape of the two journalists urging the French people to hold protests to persuade their government to retract the headscarf law or they mighty be killed". Besides the head scarf issue one also underlines the role that television is playing in our lives, even in the most grim situations, TV is not just a fun thing, it is serious business, ultimately it is being reiterated by the medium itself.
The American Presidential election in November this year is steadily enlarging its presence on the television screens not just via the CNN and BBC, but also thorough the Urdu language channels that we get here. The prospects of President Bush and its implications for Pakistan are being discussed, and debated. I enjoyed watching live Laura Bush on Wednesday morning on CNN as she spoke at the Republican National Convention and gave reasons why she was supporting her husband! The emphasis that she laid on her family, reflected the value that is attached to the institution of the family. I wonder how many Pakistanis heard her. She came through as a simple perceptive woman, and she spoke extraordinarily well.
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I spoke of the PTV programme Aap Key Roo Ba Roo last time and have recommend this to those who seek to understand the Pakistan they live in, now. This time the person being interviewed was the Sindh Chief Minister, Dr Arbab Ghulam Rahim, and this was perhaps the first time that he was coming through, on such a wide scale ,as a person who expresses himself fluently, and comprehensively. He appears to have a grasp of the issues that Sindh faces, today, and to the questions that he was asked, he gave careful tactful, honest answers.
Now that is the question. I am not sure whether the questions that came from the audience reflected the full range of issues that the Sindh province faces today. An APP story sent out after the programme went on air said that the Chief Minister had said that "law and order has been his top priority since he took charge of his office." He was quoted as saying that "the situation is not ideal and I don't want to lie to the people" and added that there were some defects that needed to be removed.
Without commenting on the composition of the audience I want to reproduce what APP narrated, "Ministers, social workers, businessmen, industrialists, educationists, intellectuals, students and others were present." I am surprised that journalists were not present. Was that the reason why the questions appeared somewhat tame. Naeem Bokhari who does the interviews not only sounded downright superficial in his understanding of Sindh, but also got to the name "Karo Kari", and yet to sound acceptable to the feminist lobbies in the land he picked up this theme. The Chief Minister had to correct him about the pronunciation.!
Naeem Bokhari or not, it is a strong weighty programme , and enriches one's perceptions either way.
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I have noticed that the first Pakistani Punjabi TV channel, called Apna TV promises to be available to viewers very soon and its testing was being beamed across the land on Sunday. That much for the cable operator that I have in my locality. There was the usual Punjabi song and dance mood it conveyed and from the congratulatory messages that were being aired it seems that it is going to be a comprehensive Punjabi channel. A Pushto channel has also begun in the NWFP and a Sindhi channel, KTN, is doing well in this province. It is a healthy sign and needs to be welcomed.
I have also noticed that the Fashion TV channel is also available in certain areas of the city, including the locality where I reside though not available always. But the fact that it is telecast is an interesting comment on the times that we are in. In fact it is pertinent to mention here that the Indian channels with those daring baring glamour girls continue to grow on the popularity graph, and Pakistani channels follow in vain to keep up with them.
I have also noticed that the concept of the On Line interaction is rising with more and more channel time being given to this form of communication. If QTV has Islam on line, Geo and ARY have Shadi on-Line, and Career on Line (Geo) and so on. Music request on-line is a much older success story in this regard. Marriages via TV channels Cultural departures.
Music .A very promising programme is likely to go on air this week end from PTV. It is a Khawja Najmul Hasan presentation and it seeks to pay tributes to the leading Muslim female singers of the subcontinent. The programme is called Duniya Meri Jawan Hai.Which reminds me that during the week, I watched for a short while a very engrossing interview of Tina Sani on PTV. Only in part, I confess, for I was sleepy. Even as I write, tonight, sleep is around the corner.