Monday, January 2, 2012

The Years That Went By

Hello Friends,

Wish you all a very bright and prosperous new year 2012 - may this year bring all the happiness and joy and bring out the best for all of us. As we move forward towards the new year, here is a look back of some of the memories that some of us must have experienced while growing up.

Typewriter - End Of An Era

Typewriter - Symbol Of Anachronism
Typewriter manufacturing got stopped last year and that marked an end of an era. I grew up at a time when most of the folks after passing out 10th Standard learnt Typing in their summer vacation. It was considered a necessary skill set to have.The typing institutes at the time made their living typing others' letters ! The typed letters were expected to have no spelling mistakes with the correct grammar. So, the typists served as the Modern Spell and Grammar check specialists as well. With the PC revolution, the current generation need not be worried about getting the words and the grammar right as the settings take over. It also brought the careers of typists to an abrupt end and their careers took alternate routes..

"Analog Camera"

Camera Rolls - Limited Number Of Pictures

One other item that has seen a sea-change is camera. Photography was an expensive hobby till mid 90s and early millennium. Cameras used to be run on Rolls that were expensive and one had to be perfect with clicking the pictures with the limited technology available to them. There were perennial challenges of the light,zoom and other critical elements of taking a picture and then "developing" the pictures in the right studio etc. With the Digital age dawning upon us and the mass manufacture of digital cameras, photography has reached a WIDE penetration not known earlier. Nokia has taken it to the next level and it is a little known fact that Nokia is the largest seller of cameras in India ( via cell phones ).

Telegram
Telegram - SMS of the bygone age

Telegrams remained the most preferred way to communicate an emergency or convey a greeting on important occasions for a long time. Due to the costs involved in sending telegrams, words used in a message were a premium. Sending a telegram was an exercise in itself, going to a telegraph office, filling up a form and paying which then initiated the cycle of the other end receiving the text and printing the text out and finally dispatching the telegram to the receiver. With the great strides we made in communication sector, the cost involved in communication has come down drastically - this is one area we see consistently the cost has come down. Telegram became a casualty to the hi-tech world and lost it's relevance in the SMS/MMS world.

Banking
Queuing in front of banks - not any more

Most of us have had our first experiences in going to a bank along with our parents. The number of counters along with the forms to fill-up and the procedures to draw/deposit cash or create a draft for our competitive exams were a nightmare. The bankers had a sense of high-handedness and a clear sense of disgust when it came to help new customers. I still can recall those tough encounters when the cashiers left their counter for a LONG tea just when it was my turn ! With the revolutionary changes all around, I am glad that Banking changed for good - ATM is my best friend now and Online transactions make our life so simple. All this took the sheen off the banking jobs and they seem to lose the societal symbol of the stable job "holders" and the most eligible of the lot when it came to marriages :)

There are a lot more than these handful, but these are the ones that stood out in my memory for now..feel free to share your memories as well.

Once again, wish you all a happy year ahead !!!

- Pavan

4 comments:

  1. Another one... already in US .. soon to be in India ... pay phones/phone booths.

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  2. Yes I agree technology had made life easier but I don't think it can match the happiness that we used to get on getting a telegram or an Inland letter..This is a scenario in Today's world ..All family members sitting in a living rooom and texting to each other instead of talking .....My Dad is a bank manager and he feels that with all this Atms, , online banking system, they are unable to connect to the customers ....No more small compliments or apprecations he used to get from customers on taking personal interest in to thier requests etc etc :-)

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  3. Good one, Some more to add could be cooking stove that used kerosene that disappeared & so did stove repairers, also the telephone with with ring dial, they are now antics.

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  4. Pavan, Thanks for sharing your random thoughts. Cameras through cell phones is totally a different area and has reached all amatures who clicks whatever they can. In addition, if we noticed, FM is the rebirth of radio in India.In the last few years, I observed that the people in India are spending a lot of money on electronic gadgets more than ever, thanks to iPhone, iPad etc. We're going to see so much of technology innovation in 2012 and beyond!

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