Soon, a colour TV set arrived at my house, and the collective happiness of my family members knew no bounds. When the epic serial Ramayana started, the streets in Mysore and probably across India wore a deserted look. Such was the captivating power of some of the programmes back then. However, our patience levels would be put to the test at times. The TV screen would suddenly turn blank, or vertical lines would start dancing on the screen, much to our irritation. How did we restore transmission? One may wonder. We had devised our own desi trick. One of the family members would climb onto the rooftop, where the TV antenna was located. In my house, my father would take on this role. He would turn the antenna in every possible direction until transmission was restored. Such uncanny tricks would work wonders, though, as children, we did not bother to understand the scientific aspect behind them.