Whenever I hear someone calling TV the idiot box, I think that person has not discovered the joys and advantages it has to offer. For most people it seems TV can never be associated with rationality or anything positive for that matter. My mother falls among one of those. With my mom, TV viewing is nothing but a complete waste of time, energy and creativity. Nothing frustrates her more than to see me hooked to TV. But that is the only thing I seem to be doing most of these times. It is not that I have given up on books but since the last few days I have consciously turned a blind eye to all those books waiting to be read in my shelf. And since I am reading only one book and that too which I am not so enthusiastic about, I have returned with full swing, to my another great indulgence: TV. I am busy catching up on all the series that I had missed and even with the load shedding, I have managed to watch at least one movie a day.

Needless to say, I am a total TV buff. Ask me any program in any channel and I will be able to say something or the other about it for the most part. Apart from getting information (mainly through listening to news), most people will watch TV as a form of escapism whenever they are not occupied by anything else or when they need to relax or wind up. Some people will watch TV just as part of a daily ritual. Some people watch TV for the sake of it.

I watch TV because it brings to me something I long for, a connection to the world. I know it sounds weird but watching TV gives me a sense of being connected with people, places and events just like reading does although not on the same level. With reading, the connection goes deeper. There is a depth and passion in reading that cannot be matched by plain TV viewing, which most people believe is passive. Nevertheless, it does bring a sense of not being alone, of being linked with the outside world in some odd sort of way. I know this is not a real connection and that my reason only attempts to reaffirm the vice of TV as bringing social isolation. I also know that I can be criticized for giving in to some pseudo nonexistent relations to real one. Even so, my appetite for TV only seems to increase.

In fact, I believe TV has made me a very inquisitive sort of person. I enjoy watching the History Channel showcases and Discovery Channel specials on Culture, People and History. Thanks to TV, I can watch programs on pure science that I as a Social Science student would not dare to delve in otherwise. I mean I don't know if I would understand anything about Theoretical Physics or Quantum Mechanics if I attempt it through reading a book. But televised programs which are targeted towards the lay audience do very well in packaging the difficult information in a very interesting and simple way. I remember understanding in real sense the theory of relativity not in a Science class but through a TV show in National Geographic. No, I could not grasp the concept in my Physics class. I did it through a very vivid and informative presentation of space time nature in a Nat Geo documentary.

There is much talk about cosmopolitanism. I believe TV makes one more Cosmopolitan in a sense that you are exposed to and introduced to diverse cultures and lifestyles through TV. Consequently you become more tolerant and acceptable towards other people. There is always a wide cultural gap between people fostering stereotypes and discrimination. Watching Ugly Betty in Star World makes me think the Americans too have the same vulnerabilities and concerns as we do, that in some basic way we all are the same.

It seems I have jumbled up so many excuses to stick to the supposed Idiot box that I don't need to go on with this piece as an attempt to curb my guilt. Despite its vices, despite the bitter remote battles, I still love my TV.