Connecting Punjabis worldwide. Review on Dial-E-Punjab

Tusin chittiyaan paaniaan pull gaye, jaddon da telephone lagya

(You have forgotten to post letter ever since you got telephone in your house )

This popular song of Hans may be condemning telephone but it has it's own charm. One can have live interaction and listening each other's voice makes us feel that person is sitting next to us and Dial-E Punjab is a beautiful example of that.

Telephone was invented by Alexander Graham Bell on February 14, 1876 although Bell got a tough competition from Elisha Gray. The first fully intelligible telephone call occurred on March 6, 1876, when Bell, in one room, called to his assistant in another room. ''Come here, Watson, I want you.''. Since then telephone has traveled a long distance and recently I also bought my first cell.

Dial - E- Punjab, as the name suggests, is a live in telephone show for the Punjabis, telecasted on Alpha TV Punjabi . The caller talks to the host/hostess and listens to song of his choice(From few selective songs being shown on the TV).The idea is very new to Punjabi audience and hence this show has easily become most popular show on the channel in a quick time.

What makes DEP So Special :As I said, the concept is totally new for Punjabi audience, and the show helps one to express his/her feelings , to give some messages to the world and of course, to forget the tensions and have some fun. It has been great pleasure for me to listen from people all around Punjab. People living in Patiala, Delhi , or Amritsar have different way of speaking it, but they all have one mother tongue- Punjabi.

Enthusiasm of Punjabis living outside Punjab:

Real pleasure comes when a call comes from as far as Mumbai . The family settled there long time ago and children have forgotten Punjabi, but on DEP they try to speak in Punjabi and do very well.

Love of youth towards their mother tongue:

It has been a pleasure to listen to young girls of Punjab, who love their language and regularly perform gidha and also are ready to sing a 'bolli' live on the show. It gives me little hope that Mrs. Alpi lives somewhere in Punjab :).

Calls of Non Punjabis:

When a non Punjabi calls and says that he called just because he love Punjabi culture and language , my chest gets broad by 2 cm.

Emotion of callers:

Punjabis think from their heart and many calls of DEP show the honest and straight forward nature of Punjabis.Recently there was a call from Dubai, although the no. is not toll free for international calls. This shows the popularity of show.Sometimes people tend to get too emotional, especially old people .Recently a caller said that all the sign boards in Delhi ,written in Punjabi have many grammar corrections but Delhi Punjabi Manch is doing nothing about it. Also he named 2 singers and said such singers have ruined Punjabi music.

You can guess this one was obvious:

Most of the callers, also the anchors are great fan of Gurdas Maanhence it makes the show even more special for me .

Overall DEP is doing an excellent job in promoting Punjabi language and culture.

Anchors : Anchors are backbone of live shows,and success/failure of any such show depends a lot on the skills of Anchors. The anchor needs to under psychology of the caller and also to make sure that nothing abusive or cheap is said live.

Dial E Punjab is presented by 4 persons turn by turn and am rating them on scale of 10:

Jasmine Bhatti :This 6 feet beauty follows mainly western lifestyle and also while hosting DEP she tries to be 'cool'. Although she is a very good anchor and I have nothing against her ,somehow I don't find her good for THIS particular show, as she prefers to be more western rather than Punjabi , both in her dresses and in language she usesWhenever it is her turn to host DEP , I prefer not to watch the show.

Points: 3

Satinder Satti: Satti is the kind of girl every Punjabi boy wants to have.She looks good,wears traditional dresses, is very fluent in Punjabi and her specialty is her shers in Punjabi which are mainly based on Sufi style of life and touches one's heart instantly.Also she encourages Punjabis living in other states to talk in Punjabi and she makes the caller feel very comfortable. Her weak point is that sometimes she forgets that she is an anchor and wants to manhandle (or should I say womanhandle) the show. Same has been her problem on musical shows .

Points: 6

Bobby Sandhu : This young boy has very quickly become very famous through this show , and I must say that he deserves it. I have been impressed with him ever since I saw him for the first time. He is sensible, has GREAT sense of humour, knows what to talk and what to ignore . One thing I like most about him is that whenever a caller asks Bobby to play his favourite song, he will play a song of Gurdas Maan . I have no doubt Bobby have a long way to go and in coming years we will hear a lot about him.

Points: 8.5

Bhagwant Mann:This man needs no introduction. Pioneer of comedy in Punjab, Bhagwant Maan has already become a legend. His specially is that his jokes are based on sarcasm,conveys the truth and always have a hidden message. Also he is a very good singer and writer. I admire him a lot and the callers simply LOVE him. Nothing strange that the no. of calls are much more when Bhagwant is anchoring .However, towards the end of the show, he tries to get as many calls as possible and hence make last few calls on the show seem like a formality.

Points: 9

Best Call So Far: Well that's a tough one,the show has lasted for more than about 6 months and there have been some really great calls. But my choice will be a call from Haryana( perhaps Hisar). Bhagwant Maan was hosting the show and a Police Constable called. (Bhagwant Maan makes many jokes on Police in his albums). The caller said that he really likes his jokes on Police and Bhagwant really brings their problems to the audience . He said that perhaps someday higher authority will listen any album of Bhagwant and solve their issues.

How to Connect :

One has 3 options to dial 'a' Punjab:

1. Dial on a toll free number, (1600-12-3535) and call live while the show is going on.

   
   




2. Send an sms on 7575 and DEP will call selective sms senders .

   
   




3. Register on https://alphapunjabi.com and wait for DEP to call you

   
   

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