I have lost count of the number of FM radio channels in Chennai, given that there is one being
announced daily. Infact, one of my colleagues comes out with an idea of starting a Malayalam
FM channel in Chennai, which he thinks would be a great business idea, given that there are
lots of Mallu guys in Chennai. When s/w engineers are planning FM stations, I would think it
is better to quit the radio scene itself.
Since my car stereo provides the option of storing only 6 pre-set channels, I usually stick to surfing through those 6 channels. Radio Mirchi FM remains my favourite from the days of
their fabulous RJ Suchi (too bad that she is no longer with them) and Radio City FM is the
least favoured channel (mainly because they were too much into Western songs - give me
Tamil songs anyday).
Today I surfed to Radio City by chance and stumbled upon a program, the format of which
is pretty common across radio channels. Its all about phoning in with your personal problem
and they either tell you a solution or like in this case they would even take the trouble of
sorting it out by calling the other party and explaining your viewpoint to them.
So, usually you would have girls calling up & telling about how they are in love with someone
but now the guy is chatting up his ex-girlfriend and she is feeling insecure and such trash.
And the RJ, like some agony aunt would chip in with his/her advice about how she could
either ditch him or slap the other girl. :-)
Anyway, today morning, on my way to work, I happened to be on RadioCity and a guy calls
in. He is a software engineer (who is not one in Indian cities?) and starts off with "I am having
problems with my Mom. I am what you would call a 'Mamma's boy', but after my wedding,
the relationship with my Mom has never been the same again (what's new there ?). She does
not understand how much I love her and that I am still her boy, inspite of marriage etc etc".
Now the RJ's call up his Mom and tell her that they are from the FM channel, but not telling
that her son gave them her phone number. She sounds like any typical mom, exuberant and
all. Then they ask about her son. Immediately she thinks its someone from his office playing
a prank on her. The RJs convince her that they are truly from the FM station.
She says that she loves her son a lot and that he is the best son and she has learnt a lot more
from him than she could teach him as a mother. But, she also acknowledges that she is at times
a little short-tempered. She tells that her son lives in the same apartment complex as she and
his father stay, but different apartments. She tells about how she would like to see him in the
morning, but does not because she thinks it would intrude into his family's morning activity
of leaving for school and office.
She thinks she will instead see him at night, but he works late. This irritates her and she gets
mad at him to which his reply is, "why don't you just drop in whenever you feel like seeing
me ?". She doesn't tell it, but I think she would rather he drop in once in a while and his not
doing this (or not doing it as often as she would like) could be the reason for her irritation.
Then the RJs tell her, "We see that you love your son a lot. But do you know that your son
loves you equally or more ? Infact, we have him over here and he has something to tell you,
which he is going to say over the airwaves and all of Chennai is going to hear it now. Would
you like to hear what he has to say ? "
And then the son comes online and sings a para from a Tamil song (don't know the album),
the translation of which would go like, "If there is another birth for me, I would still like to
be born as your son ...... ". She hears this and does not know what to say and becomes very
emotional and keeps repeating, "I love you Venky", to which he says that he also loves her.
I had never thought an FM program would bring me to tears. But this incident did. OK, its
not like I started crying while at the wheel of the car, but it was so emotional for me as just
a listener. And after a few minutes the RJ reports that they had got numerous calls from
listeners who were affected the same way as me. Anyway, all I hope is that after this radio
conversation, the Mom and son live happily ever after.
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