Rewind to the 70’s

Telephones – Remember the black rotary dial contraption we started with, the old bakelite phone? Well, that was a real fickle device requiring frequent visits by the telephone’s dept technician to keep it in working order. You screamed through it like it was needed to get the voice through to the other end (to this day we Indians do exactly that, even with mobiles!!) There were local calls and then trunk calls. STD came later on and then dialing was a pain, you had to be sharp eyed, and required an undistracted 5 minutes before you completed dialing all the numbers. Noisy kids who shot by got sharp raps on their ears. Each locality had a benevolent guy who loaned the use of his phone – or in apartments, there would be one phone in the whole building. It would be quite normal practice to call twice within a few minutes. The first call to ask for the person you want to speak to and the second time to speak to that person (some kid will be dispatched to that person’s home to call him to the phone!)…..Unbelievable eh?

TV – I still remember the first advertised TV’s (color TV came during the Asian games) were companies like Daynora, Onida, ECTV, Keltron…there would be two channels, DD1 and a local channel. You waited a whole week to see the one telecast movie which was an award winner; of course, arty like Mrigya…The most popular program being the movie songs hour (Geetmala?). Serials like Buniyad & Humlog were gripping events of the evening. TV ad’s were eagerly watched…. Like Lyril, Palmolive ka jawab nahin, Rasna, Surf…TV’s had no remote control, but with 2 channels, who needs one? The TV was blanketed with a nice cover specially embroidered by the seamstress in the house…later came the stiff & horrible plastic covers that yellowed with age.


Fans - Usha, GEC and Khaitan rules the roost and the fans had only three blades - or was it four?? We had that projecting speed controller on the wall which of course had at least one speed that did not work, the speed you wanted the most. Then we had those table fans. I read somehwere that Usha fans are now going to be made in China!

Films – Like somebody said, every Hindi movie had to have one of these - Amitabh, Dharmendra, Helen, Bindu, Ajit, Hema malini, Rekha, or Zeenat…Malayalam had hairy actors like Vincent & damsels like Sreedevi, IV Sasi dictated the mood & Tamil had Kamal Hassan & Rajni in the lead.

Cars – We had two options, the Ambassador or the Premier…colors being black and one or two other options at most dealers. Fancy colors meant a few months wait. In any case it took a few months and some premium payment to get a car!!

Two wheelers – Aha , slightly better, the Bajaj, Vespa, Vijay scooters ruled the roost – again a few months wait, especially the Bajaj. You kicked and kicked the starter for ages, sometimes, the scooter had to be tilted sideways to get the fuel flowing. As far as mobikes were concerned, it was Bullet or Yezdi, and of course the older Jawa (Ind Suzuki & Hero Honda were just around the corner). I had already written about them earlier…

Gas – Most homes still had firewood in kitchens or the kerosene stove. Getting an Indane gas cylinder & stove meant long waiting periods. Only one cylinder per house meant very careful planning & monitoring since a new cylinder was not available instantly, again a few days wait or special connections with the dealer.. Before that it was the Nutan kerosene stove that everybody wanted!!

Newsreels – Who can forget those black & white events – It was always a flood in Bihar or something in Delhi that people waited patiently through for 15 minutes before the movie started in the theatre. AC was unheard of in theaters or switched on sparingly.

Power supply – When it became summer, power supply was erratic with blackouts & brownouts – This meant lighting up the hurricane lamp, and also during the night, no ‘goodnight’ but the incessant humming swoop attacks by mosquitoes…No inverters existed.

Singers & songs – Kishore, Rafi (he passed away in 80), Lata, Asha, Yesudas, SPB, Janki, Susheela & few others…But they did a really good job, though many a talented person never saw limelight during their reign…

Watches – If I recall right, there was only the HMT. All others were imported or ‘smeggled from Gelf’…or a relative brought it from UK or USA…BTW, will you believe me when I tell you that the watch pictured – the HMT Jawan is now being offered on ebay for US$ 365.00, and is considered super rare & cool!! Remember the ad? If you have the inclination, we have the time, the exact time….

Cricket – We knew cricket mainly through the radio commentary in Kerala – since it was not quite popular in the state, unlike football – Ah, we had the Madan lal, Yashpal Sharma, Gavaskar, vengsarkar, Sivaramakrishnan and all those chaps.. Sachin was playing the gully variety then….I guess..

Indie Pop music – Usha Uthup, Sharon Prabhakar, Preeti Sagar – that was about it…My heart is beating, hare rama – dum maro dum…

But the days went by, we were happy to be outdoors where life was a breeze..


Computers did not exist and if we wanted to talk to somebody we went over and met him, no SMS or mobile phones, naturally. We were happy using a bicycle or a bus to go places, or walk short distances, for that matter…We did not have credit cards, debit cards or ATM’s and were living well within our means…As borrowing was the only go during a shortfall, we did have to maintain good relationships with relatives & friends…


But who said today is not exciting? No complaints, just remembering the roads we traveled…
In all frankness, I should give full credits to some dude who started this topic ages ago at myhotboard.com. I based some of this on that outpouring from many contemporary fellows & served it here with gusto…