THE BOX WORLD

As a young girl of six,the record player was the first "box" to enter my life.Thankfully,I did not belong to the era of gramophone.Naughty that I was,the intentional changing of the RPM was real music to my ears.The slow numbers of the bygone era could be heard in the real rocking hip hop style & vice versa.
         On lazy afternoons,the other hit box was the radio,the huge one at that & I would by fluke tune into ABC & BBC channels & their accent enchant me.As I grew older,when I won my first scholarship,dad got me a flashy red two-in-one cassette player-the one in vogue those days & that box gave me company night & day.I grew up listening to the likes of Madonna,Michael Jackson that too in high decibels- wonder how dad & mom tolerated this cacophony of sounds despite their hectic work schedule.
          Then came the biggest box in everybody's life - the idiot box.I still vividly remember when my dad took us to buy one - definitely not an array to choose from but the fact that we children were given a say in deciding on the brand made us feel big! It  was such a thing in my otherwise monotonous life style that I did not miss out even on 'krishi darshan' on our dear Doordarshan.
            The television gradually assumed the form of another wonder box,the VCR/VCP which our  club bought by paying an exorbitant sum of money.We friends used to anxiously await Friday evenings to enjoy the regular movie shows. 
            This gave way to the next big revolution I think after the invention of the wheel,the computer.When it was installed for the very first time in the electronic data processing department of the public sector undertaking,I was on cloud nine & peeping through the glass window of the much hyped chamber of mystery,I was in for a bigger surprise as the room had big machines all wired up.It was explained to me that it being a mainframe computer was huge,bulky & costly! I did not make head or tail of what it was then,not that it has made any sense to me even now.
             Being married to an electronics man,I was exposed to a whole room of boxes- the mini TV fondly called "kunju TV",the kids educational PC,the home PC with all sorts of drives,the dvd/ MP3  players(as I am writing this piece MP4 has already hit the market) - the concept of home entertainment reaching to real great heights.           
              Did I mention to you,my own prestige box in the kitchen,yes,you guessed it right - it is the OTG/Microwave oven.Be it the first salary gift to one's beloved or a b'day/anniversary present it is the oven these days. 
             When my first  son was born,he started his life seeing the  first box of his world the 'incubator' which kept him warm & protected like the mother's womb.A plethora of boxes await him as he treads the world & only the time will tell what shapes & sizes these magnificent boxes will assume! It is for the present a mad mad "box world" indeed.
                                                                    -SUNITA SRIRAM