Memories of Media: an Essay on My Fathers Journey with the News

My father currently lives in Kuwait, ten hours ahead of Vancouver. I managed to catch him at the right time, just before he starts his busy day and I end mine. Cycling around his neighborhood in a foreign land, my dad, whom I call “Appa”, spoke passionately about his experience with news as a young boy. Growing up in a small remote village in Kerala to a town with wavering electricity and then to the capital city of the country, my father has seen the evolution and adoption of mass media in India.

His earliest memory goes back to the radio. A single radio in a small house, broadcasted vernacular news in my mother tongue, Malayalam. The national radio channel “All India Radio” which was enjoyed back then is still actively listened to by millions of taxi drivers today.

In the 1850s, Kerala, the southernmost state of India, went through a newspaper boom. Every house that could afford the newspaper, would enroll in the distribution network. A highly efficient system, where the first buses from the city would bring in the papers, which were published by 2 AM. By 5 AM, the bus drivers would hurl a bundle of newspapers onto the street. Within the hour, the newspaper boy would have covered the entire village, ready to be read by first, the father, and then the rest of the household.

There were two main newspapers in Kerala. Malayala Manorama and Deepika – both are still very prominent today. My father’s family preferred the first, a consumeristic, more liberal coverage of Kerala news. Despite being from a devout Christian family, Deepika, a more conservative, church-based newspaper was not a part of the household’s morning routine. It was in the Malayala Manorama, that my dad, who was in the 12th grade, saw an advertisement for the Civil Service Examination – “You too can write the Civil Service!”. Cutting it out and pasting it on his wall, my dad began working towards a goal that he later went on to achieve.

Television took over the West in the 1960s. But in India, the feat was achieved in the ’80s. There was a single TV in the town municipal library. The townsfolk gathered to watch grand events like the Olympics and the Pope’s visit to Kerala. My dad’s grandfather, whom I’ve never met but know very well as “Papachachan”, was an artist. He made the wise decision to buy a TV for the house – one of the first to do so in Kerala. Bought on a loan of Rs. 1700 (29 CAD), the small 12 inches, black and white television, became my dad’s source of entertainment.

Doordarshan, the state-sponsored media channel aired Hindi content around 9 PM every day and a half-hour English news program. Then came NDTV, now the biggest English news channel in India. Watching the channel's “The World This Week” program, became a regular retreat for my father. It was at this time he began watching the BBC series “Yes Minister” and “Yes Prime Minister”, which would hone his skill in diplomacy. He still quotes the show to this day.

As a grad student, my father decided it was time to upgrade to an English newspaper. The one available at the time was The Indian Express. For Rs 30 a month, his family could not afford a second newspaper. So, my dad did the right thing and bought it anyway. My father began taking Editorial and Opinion clippings, with plans to read them, which he never got around to. But he built a familiarity with the newspaper and its headlines.

Now as a serious student, my father began listening to “Hotspot”, an English radio show that aired national, international, and analytical news. He would listen to this program for six years, till he joined the Civil Service as a foreign officer. It was through this show, my dad heard the news of Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi’s assassination, by a South Indian. Living in the capital city, was a time of great fear for the people of South India.

My father has always paid extra attention to anything he does. This is why it was so easy for him to recall his childhood without hesitation. By the age of 54, my father has traveled the world, representing his country in the highest regard. But if you ask him today, where he sees himself after all his work is done, he would say without a doubt, back in his home Kerala. Though he will head back home a much different person, I can say with admiration that not a day goes by where he doesn’t think of his childhood days, growing with a country that today holds one of the highest ranks in media consumption. When I got my first story published in the newspaper, The Indian Express, it was my father who told me to go out, to walk till I find a newspaper vendor, and to buy two copies - one for me and one for him.