Oh yes, I remember the World Service very well, Harshoo.......damn I feel old!! :)) Cheers, Lynne. :)) ----- Original Message ----- From: "Harshawardhan_Bosham Nimkhedkar" <[email protected]> To: <[email protected]> Sent: Saturday, May 01, 2010 7:04 PM Subject: Re: [INDIA-BRITISH-RAJ] SLBC Re: Radio andtheRaj:broadcastinginBritish India. > ----- Original Message ----- From: "Lynne Hadley" > We used to pick up many overseas broadcasts on our old shortwave > set......hours of fun listening to the music from different countries. > :)) > Cheers, Lynne. :)) > ======================= > > And there was a time when anything and everything that was said > on Auntie Beeb's news programmes was considered gospel truth > by most Indians. Our government-owned AIR or All India Radio was > infamous for its censored, one-sided, selective coverage and so, > for independent confirmation or first-hand information, BBC's World > Service was the only reliable source, well within the reach of everybody > using short-wave receivers. > > There is a story - may be quite true, may be apocryphal, and I guess, > going back to the 1950s - which tells how a regular Calcuttawallah > Englishman was taken aback while driving to the airport, when the > cabbie suddenly made a detour, and instead of using the direct road > on which the passenger had travelled a hundred times, drove his taxi > through lanes and alleys. ''What's the matter'', he asked, ''do you think > I am new to this city? This isn't the way to the airport.'' The cabbie > calmly replied, ''No worries, sahib, I am not trying to cheat you.'' He > pointed to a portable transistor radio in the glove compartment, and > said, ''Just before you came in, I was listening to BBC news and it > said just half an hour ago rioting broke out near 'Maidan'. I don't want > to be caught up in that, so I am using this long-cut. I won't go that way > again till the BBC tells me it's safe.'' > > --- Harshawardhan_Bosham Nimkhedkar > > > > > > ------------------------------- > To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to > [email protected] with the word 'unsubscribe' without > the quotes in the subject and the body of the message