Neighbour's Envy, Owner's Pride

It was in 1985 that I purchased a colour TV. I vividly remember making a trip to Hyderabad for a sales meeting in May, 1985. Our Company Distributor was also distributing white goods in Hyderabad City. Since many of the dealers also sold many brands of Televisions, I requested Mr. Ramakrishnan, manager in our distributor's office, to help me to purchase a good TV. Eluru, where I was living at that time was a small town and my options were limited for selecting a good TV. Hyderabad offered more brands and broader options being a big city. In 1980s TV Brands available In India were

Teltronix, Dyanora, Salora, Weston, Onida, Bush, Beltek, Nelco, Uptron, Oscar and BPL. Which one to purchase was a question uppermost in my mind. After discussing the matter with Ramakrishnan, I zeroed in on Oscar Color TV (a rectangular conventional model) as my choice. He took me to a big electronic dealer in Secunderabad and got me a good discount in price. I thus became a proud owner of a TV. 

Those days, TV programs were aired only in the evenings and Doordarshan was the only channel available. DD Delhi programs were relayed from Vijayawada and the signals were received in Eluru with an antenna erected on a long pole on the terrace. The direction of the antenna was crucial for a good picture on the TV. Strong winds affected the antenna direction sometimes resulting in poor picture reception. A little change in the direction of the antenna used to catch Rupavahini, the national (government) television network of Sri Lanka. 

The person who delivers the news on TV or radio is called a “news reader”. This is because on TV many of them read from a teleprompter ( a device which scrolls with the script of the news) whereas on radio they have a script in front of them. Even when our Door Darshan news readers were reading news from a script on a paper in front of them visible to TV viewers, Rupavahini was using teleprompters in those days.

On my return to Eluru from Hyderabad, I installed my new TV at home. On the day of setting up the TV at my home, my close friend BK Rao (my industry colleague from GSK Pharma) dropped in to see it. He was highly impressed with the TV and decided to take it away saying that I could use my distributor's influence to get a new replacement for myself. Thus within a few hours of installing my first TV, my dear friend took it away from me. My house owner's son, Sarma had felt that my choice of Oscar TV was not right because technologically better TVs were available in the market. His recommendation was for Onida (vertical model) but it wasn't introduced in Hyderabad market yet. He, therefore, prevailed on me and didn't want me to contact my distributor's office for a fresh Oscar TV. 

It so happened that within a few weeks, I went to Bangalore for a sales meeting in June,1985. As Onida was available in Bangalore, I decided to buy it. I took the new TV from a shop in Brigade road and directly carried it to Bangalore City railway station where I boarded the train and returned to Eluru. My father who was visiting Bangalore at that time made a promise to visit Eluru and be with me for a little time and enjoy viewing the TV there at my home. He planned to reach Eluru on 25th of that month. It is my misfortune that he fell sick on the 24th and passed away on the 25th due to a sudden heart attack at Bangalore. I lost my chance to sit alongside my father to watch.

That's the story of Onida TV which is Neighbour's Envy and Owner's Pride.