RIVER – BBC TV Series, possibly the best cop drama

I have just completed watching the entire six episodes of the BBC  TV series River and was just blown by how superlative this series was.

TV series are the new addiction replacing books and cinema (and also given that for me, good or actually any theatre is not easy to access right now). TV series are easily accessible and every episode not just one as the earlier appointment viewing format did. Thus binge watching is more the norm and can be satiating too.  

The craze nowadays is to find out a TV series that’s good - Kind of like waiting for the next book from a renowned author.  You are on the lookout for a series that one can watch over the weekend or savour over a few days, say, while travelling. So one is following opinion leaders for ‘leads’ – mine include folks like Poonam Saxena, Vir Sanghvi, and of course Twitter where the new young  millennials initiate the trend on the latest TV series craze.

The reason for this ambling is to highlight the fact that despite this being a past time for the last few years, I have missed the RIVER TV series, and a search in my social media also suggests most haven’t seen it.

Which is a pity, because RIVER  beats them all and IMHO one of the best well produced series that I have had the pleasure of viewing.

The beauty of Malleswaram in Bangalore

I have retreated for two weeks of relative solitude at my brother’s home in Malleswaram Bengaluru and discovered this neighbourhood that’s a unique microcosm reflecting south India.

And it’s a wonderful way to discover some of things I quite like about Bengaluru and the potential the city had.

Yes Minister and Yes Prime Minister series

There are very very few books converted into TV series or films where you can say the TV series/ film was as good or better than the book. 

IMO the Yes Minister and Yes Prime Minister TV series is one such rare example.

Sai Paranjpye and her “Jaadu ka Shankh”

If you belong to my generation or the prevous, there’s a good chance that you have seen and enjoyed the works of Sai Paranjpye but an equally good chance that you barely knew who she was. Since DoorDarshan was the only channel available those days, and Sai Paranjpye somehow had cracked how to deal with bureaucrats from both the films division departments as well as the Doordarshan, she did a lot of work with them which we got to see on television and boy was it good!.

Coffee, Tea or Me?

You need to be of a certain age to know this phrase – and also to have to know that this is the title of an absolutely wonderful book (for adults and mature audiences).

It also belongs to a different era and unlikely to be popular or even relate-able – seriously in terms of the advances and fast pace of change we are witnessing, it truly is a snapshot of the glorious past.

There are several reasons I liked it, one of them primarily because it was written in the glory days of airline travel when it still was a luxury and for the privileged few.  In fact when I read it, it already was two decades old.