Radio Passions Poem by Padmanabhan Ananth

Those were days only of radio
In our town they aired no TV show
The one near the pass of Western Ghats
Some called it South's Manchester!

Medium waves gave us no pop or rock
They dished out 'desi'* fare, 'yuck! '
Never hep listening to vernacular
In school days, one even said 'vulgar'

Short waves flowed from a far-away town
Colombo, Kuwait, Melbourne or London
Music of the eighties and nineties
Pop, rock, soul or country genres

In with the music also came static
Clear guitar strings, with 'shirr' mix
The Kookaburra's signature laugh
Followed by countdown of the week

Back then, CD, MP3, unheard they were
'YouTube' would've been plumber's ware!
Rare for us even a cassette or LP^
LP - now a kid'll ask 'a 'burnt' CD? '

Lines from bulky borrowed lyric books
For singing along, scribbled in notebooks
When Xerox came in, lyrics got copied
As much as my pocket money could

'Hotel California' was talk of the town
So was the cult, from faraway Stockholm
Through tiny transistor speaker, Phillips
Grundig's Satellit was Porsche, too posh!

For an hour's music treat near midnight
Downing cups of caffeine, I'd wait
Wishing the DJ plays my choice tune
Or one that's a big hit in New York town

Now, there's not a song that's scarce
You can find one in a minute's browse
Buy or download free in less than one
Its digital clarity, you can touch a tune!

But I now sit here and wonder
Which one is exciting indeed:
A rare song floating over radio waves
Or one that's here by Google or Torrent?
- - -

*means indigenous in Hindi
^LP is a long-playing gramaphone record.