Paramaribo (Surinam): Believe it or not, in this country, 17,000 kms away from India, a radio station is named as Akashwani and three TV channels are known as Doordarshan.

Perhaps this is one of the ways in which the people of Indian origin here relate with the long-left homeland as both Akashwani and Doordarshan reach out to the entire community.

Another TV channel catering to their interests is named as ''Trishul''.

Akashwani and Doordarshan began as a band group and later adopted new technologies to spread their reach.

They have a variety of programmes though Bhajans and film songs predominate. Another interesting feature is their anchoring in different languages. It is quite possible that a bhajan may be presented with an introduction in the Dutch language while a film song may follow with a commentary in the local language.

English, however, is almost non-existent. Besides bhajans and film songs, they also present folk songs of India like birha and kajari and songs related to various seasons, festivals and weddings.

PTI