'Ayibhavan'

It was 5 months just before the Asian Games in Delhi 1982, we bought our first Television set. Thanks to J.L. Baird a whole new love affair started. I still remember, it took a whole day(Sunday I guess) to fix up the antenna and the idiot box …I even remember the smell of the rubber slice that was wrapped around the antenna pole for the wire to be clipped along (God knows for what)…there were three technicians from the local electricity cum cassette shop (called “Modern Radio”)… TV being a very recent advent and nobody knew anything about it, these guys knew everything about it and so they had come to share their expertise on how to fix the most complicated entertainment gadget that made its mass debut entry into the country – the TVEE…I also remember my dad joining this team and slogging the whole day to get this thing fixed…when all was set, the tuning had to be done and the antenna was the tuning knob…the message would be passed from the guy to another in an assembly-line fashion from the terrace to our first floor.( shouting ‘theriyudha?’, ‘theriyudha?’ meaning ‘can u see it’ can u see it’)
At that time, Madurai didn’t even receive Chennai Doordharshan or the Delhi one…all madurai got was the Ceylon's national channel…their telecasting bandwidth was intentionally powerful that time, and so it reached the coastal areas of Tuticorin, Thiruchendhoor, Nagerkoil, and the slightly interior ones which included Trinelveli, Madurai and the likes…
and after that is when I was introduced to a whole new alien word called 'Ayibhavan'(Sinhalese) which is an equivalent to "vanakkam" in tamil... I was totally thrilled with this new home entertainment....it was love at first 'sight'