Change Takers!

"Oh!No! The powers gone again", yelled my daughter from the TV room. "Just when the movie was getting to the most interesting part", she moaned! "Never mind! Lets talk about what you are going to pursue as a career." I coaxed her to come and sit with us in the drawing room.

And then I told her we had no television when we were growing up and the first time Bangalore received its official television program was in 1981, a year before the 1982 Asiad games, and that's when we got our TV. Prior to that my neighbour was the only one with a Dyanora TV - and since they had come from Bombay and had this really powerful antenna we could watch a few programs. I remember that really well as my Uncle bought a Nelco TV just before the track and field events. He himself was an athlete and got into LIC through the Sport's quota.

"So what did you do to pass your time/", she asked me. And I thought back to the cycles we borrowed/rented to race across the streets, the small change that we bought snacks with and made a big fuss about a "picnic" in the local park. The yells and whacks we would get when we troop in AFTER the lights were switched on in the house - it was considered VERY LATE if the lights were on and we weren't in the house by then. Of the old school books we furtively sold to the Raddiwallah or old paper mart, so that we can get some local snacks in exchange for the weight of the books.

It also dawned on me that the Gen X is probably the one that saw the maximum disruptions in technology in their life-time!

It made me sit up and think.......

From no telephones in the house to having a phone for each person at home - including the now defunct landline, which was primarily a connection used as "Address Proof". From watches that were surreptitiously smuggled in Nivea cream boxes to wearing several on the wrist under a full sleeved shirt to our stylish, well-designed Titan watches. When HMT launched its watches, one needed influence to buy them. I remember my watch was a gift from a relative and it was called "Smita". I cherished it with my life till one day someone stole it from my cupboard during the hub-bub of my wedding.

From Trunk-calls and Telegrams (that somehow always arrived in the middle of the night, scaring the jeepers out of the family or bringing them eternal joy depending on if its a death or a birth/wedding). One had to book a trunk-call and wait to be connected, with the ever present doubt that the operator was eavesdropping the whole 3 minutes, to today making calls on WA, Skype, Telegram and what not! Not just voice calls but video calls too! And to boot not to be worried about the charges that would follow the calls.

From office memos that travelled in envelopes from desk-to-desk, to a one-send-reach-all e-mailing system! From a dial-up line that would take ages to connect to instant connections to the cyber-world and beyond!

From the charming post-card & in-land letters to air-mails, from quick notes to painstaking letter-writing to immediate mails/messages/invites/letters. From taking a limited 36 shots per roll (if you are lucky you would get 38!) of film to digital pictures that offers instant gratification and the freedom of choice to take several pictures till you are happy with that one photo!

Where we moved from the radio, to a vinyl player, to a cassette player, to a CD. A walk-man to a CD personal device, to a playlist on your computer to really personal listening on your phone.

How quaint! exclaimed the Dotty, followed by "Power is back" and then shoots into the TV room to continue her sojourn with the unrealistic world.

And suddenly I am alone with my thoughts and reminiscing, remember that analog watch which I got with my first salary - that is now lying dead in its box, hidden in the dark crevices of the cupboard - when the harsh pings from my mobile device reminds me to stop day-dreaming, setting of several pings to attend to the pending tasks that need to be done pronto!

Those were the days, my friend! Those were the days!

All Pics : Courtesy Google Images