TV

We don't spend a lot of time watching TV, but we like to have it on as background noise and to catch up on the world news. Watching the TV has been as interesting an experience as walking down the street. It gives us insight into Indian culture and the rest of the world.

We have about 5 channels on our TV that I'll watch: BBC News, CNN, National Geographic, Discovery and HBO. We have about 10 sports channels, all of which seem to show cricket matches 24 hours a day. There are several Indian news channels that may be speaking English, but I can't tell. And the rest of the channels seem to be entertainment channels that basically have Indian women singing and dancing and doing moves that Brian says were "in" 10 years ago like the macarena. Very odd. For the American movies on HBO, they provide English subtitles. Hmmm... are we as hard to understand as we think they are?!

The commercials range from insanely weird to hilarious to downright dumb. There are some products that I can't even believe they advertise. Loreal advertises a skin lightener "to make dark ugly skin look white and beautiful." There are other commercials that we can't even get beyond the song and dance to figure out what they are advertising!

The thing about the TV that I am most annoyed with that prompted me to write this is Dolly Parton. CNN International seems to think that Dolly Parton is the greatest thing since sliced bread and has aired a special about her 6 times a day! I understand they have to reuse programming, but come on! It's been 6 days since I got here and they are still showing Dolly Parton!