PBS documentary on India
 

a fellow fodorite here in boston asked me to let you all know that there will be a documentary starting on India on jan 5 at 9PM on PBS

The documentary, titled "The Story of India" was produced by the BBC to commemorate 60 years of Indian independance. Parts one and two will be shown tonight (Monday January 5) from 9-11 EST. Parts four through six will be shown on the following two Mondays - same times.

Should be a great show...

Thanks for elaborating on the PBS production. Am anxious to see it as I am off Jan. 14th.

Thanks for the info, Bob. I enjoy history. ((*))

its actually thanks to cindy as she suggested i make people aware of it...bon voyage to her!!

cindy, bob, thanks for the info. i know you guys are five hours ahead, so don't tell me the ending, ok? :-)

Thanks for this. Having recently been smitten by India, I'd love to know more about its (incredibly complicated - at least that's how it struck me) history.

Thanks for posting this Bob. I knew it was going to air, glad I saw this before it was too late!

Hope they do India justice.

ken--it ended by the indians fighting the chinese for world domination in 2019....

Does the documentary start on India or does it start on Jan. 5? Inquiring minds want to know.

Plus did you see the sneaky way that the POB blamed another Fodorite for his original Post? Passive/aggressive, n'est pas?

Panda rambling as usual. Don't forget to watch. Go Yanks.

i have to say it put a pretty 'normal' look on india....cindy you are in for the surprise of your life...

not sure i will watch the rest...

Good photography & some interesting info - I'll certainly watch the rest. BTW, there seems to be lots of supplemental stuff at www.pbs.org/thestoryofindia.

It had been a long day for me... I feel asleep from around 9:30p. Aiya! :(

Maybe I was tired, but it was ok, not great. Some things were covered too quickly, others were dragged out. It wasn't REALLY necessary to to go Turkmenistan and interview the Russsian archeologist for example.

I'll watch the next installments in the hope it gets better.

I fell asleep during each of the parts that aired last night. I'm going to try the pbs Web site to see if I can "get it."

I was somewhat disappointed in what I saw before falling asleep toward the end of the first part. I did record it on my DVR so I can watch the rest of it tonight. The review of the series in last Friday's Wall Street Journal was positively glowing, especially with regard to the first episode.

thursday - Thanks for the URL. ((*))

I've just been watching it, but, somewhere around the Russian archaeologist and Turmenistan or wherever it was, like Craig, I had a little zizz.

I think it was great, but I lost the thread. Russian archaeologists can do that to a Dog.

Wow, so it wasn't just me? Everybody feel asleep? :)

Bob,

Not just you! My husband and I both got in a little nap!

LisaG

We were nappers too. Perhaps the DVD can be marketed as a soporific without any nasty side effects...

Looks like we all had a group nap last night!

Me too! Although part of the show I was only resting my eyes, not my ears! I hate shows that start at my bedtime!

Overall, I really enjoyed it though, and am looking forward to the next installments. My husband, daughter, and I all had fun saying, "We were there!"

The cameras were amazing in their ability to catch those distinctive colors & haze of the Indian sky.

Was it just me, or did the host remind you of the late Steve irwin?

So, I decided to watch this after reading an article on the WSJ last Friday (I think that's the date). The writer quoted some of the stuff from the show, but turned out basically all were from the first 10 minutes.

I wonder if that writer also fell asleep watching his/her preview? :p

Dogster darling, please pack a video camera on your upcoming trip and show these documentary people how to really tell the story of India!!!

"The India Chronicles by Dogster" with just the right mix of masala and spice. No one will nod off for this one! The edited version for TV and the real version for all your friends here at Fodors! :)

First of all, remember to use your VCR.

Second of all, did anyone lese flash back to some of Dogster's trip reports when they were showing some of the scenes by the rivers? I kept looking for a Jimmy.

VCR? What's that? :p

I was hoping to see the nearly famous Rashmi Guesthouse.

OK, I am willing to give the guy a break.
After all, he started India's story at 5000 years back, then to the move in of the Aryans into India about 3500 years back, and trying to connect the dots in India's long and twisting history....pretty much the history of all of us!!

And references to the Rig Veda, the original manuscript which can be found at the Asiatic Society at Kolkata (Calcutta). The author of the show then went to the various places, like Turkmenistan and the Russian archeologist to verify references that are found in Rig Veda. For example, there are references about horses, which at the time were not found in India, so the Aryans must have come from somewhere else to India. And reference to Soma drink, which he was able to trace to Multan (now in Pakistan), and onto Afghanistan, then Turkmenistan, then Russian archeologist who is finding proof of these facts. ETC,ETC.

Too bad the show started late and lasted 2 hours by which time I had had a couple of naps already.

I think the show is supposed to air once a week for a total of 6 hours or so. Good photography, and good for history buffs.

I think what they did wrong was make one basic mistake.

We are simple creatures. We can look or we can listen.

Looking and listening is getting way too hard these days. our brains have been de-programmed. So we make a choice. Either look OR listen. It's not the way it should be - but it is.

But the documentary makers made the assumption that we are intelligent, focused adults, little realising that life ain't quite like that. They gave us a britzkreig of fantastic sounds and images and, at the same time, a library of complex information. Yup, they made it simple - but it was complex enough for me.

So, we make a choice, close our eyes and listen [Zzzzzzzzz]

or watch, fail to understand what on earth is going on, lose track and, you guessed it...

Zzzzzzzzzz

It wasn't the best documentary I've ever seen, but I really enjoyed it. The one thing I found a bit "off" was the weird route he followed in order to maintain the timeline - he was constantly criss-crossing the country! Hello, it's Varanasi yet again!

SO fell asleep twice, but enjoyed what he saw. It overlapped nicely with the National Geographic gene project we just took part in, where your ancestors are traced back to one of the original lines coming out of Africa. In fact, some of the same characters appear in both the NG DVD and the India documentary.

Anyway, I am looking forward to seeing the rest of it.

I watched part 2 tonight - the early history of the Buddha was interesting. The narrator however really grates on me - I feel like I'm being lectured so I shut down - zzzzzzzzzzzzzz.

That being said, the visuals are excellent and if you listen to it on a home theater system, the sound is amazing. So I agree with Dog's comments that it is a lot to process.

Well, I managed to stay awake through last week's episodes, maybe I can do it again. Just a reminder, for those who want a break from wall-to-wall inauguration coverage, that the last two episodes air tonight.

Unless you live in Connecticut... CPTV preempted last week's show, so we will be watching episodes 3 and 4 tonight.

If anyone is interested, the entire 6-hour kaboodle is available on DVD for $35 from PBS, and then one can watch it at one's own pace, and take time to rewind to the interesting parts.

PBS underestimated demand for the DVD...current delivery time is 2-6 weeks.

Final segment airs tonight.

Whoops - I guess CPTV changed it's mind - no "Story of India". I think I'll suggest that the US Gov't cut it's funding for this station unless they can get their act together. The "Antiques Road Show" is not an acceptable substitute!

My mistake it's on at 9 not at 8 as I was expecting. I'm p-ed off that they didn't show it last week and did not respond to my inquiry as to WHY.

Two hours of India tonight, the inauguration tomorrow and the two hour LST season premier on Wednesday.

I'm getting more TV this week than I normally do in a month!

Guess I'd better go buy some popcorn...