'Sorry for the interruption'!

With apologies to DD Kolkata

Doordarshan, India’s state-owned TV broadcaster, launched in Kolkata as DD National Kolkata in 1975. This was a big event for me, for it changed forever the manner in which I and the other children in the neighbourhood spent our after-school free time. All games and activities would come to a halt by 6 pm, and we would gather in front of the box, eagerly awaiting the daily programme for children. And just as we would be fully engaged, the TV screen would flicker and turn blank. The stories of kings and queens and monsters would be replaced by grey lines and white noise. A few minutes later, and, we assumed, after much struggle on the part of a hardworking and perspiring network crew, a straggly sign would appear: “Sorry for the interruption.” This might sometime be followed by another sign: “Normal service will be resumed soon.” Most times, service was resumed.

The last two months here on Eaten by a Fish, were, I am aware, somewhat of a blank-screen moment for my readers. For this interruption, I am sincerely sorry. Like the TV network crew of our childish imaginations, I have been working hard behind the scenes, travelling, reading, researching, meeting other writers, and thinking, planning, plotting, strategising so as to make Fish a pleasurable reading and learning experience for us all. I am pleased to say that normal service will indeed be resumed soon—on April 1, to be precise.

I also want to say a big thank you to all my readers, old and new. Fish will soon be celebrating its first birthday. It has been a year of learning and experimentation for me, and you have all stood by patiently without complaint.

I am especially grateful to all of you who signed up even before the first article on this publication had appeared. Thank you for your faith.

And thank you, to all my paying subscribers. Your support is much appreciated and has contributed greatly both to my confidence in continuing Fish and in helping meet some of the costs of the research required for writing this newsletter.

In the year ahead, is there anything specific that you, my readers, would like to see covered on Fish? Are there additional features you would like? New ways for us to interact as a community perhaps, via chat, or Zoom, or WhatsApp?

Do write in via the comments box below. Your suggestions and opinions help make Fish what it is.

I look forward to another year of learning together.

With many thanks, and apologies once more for the “interruption”.
Rohini