Page 23 - Seniors Today - August 21 Issue

horses. It was the days of the queue. A queue My memories of the 50s and 60s are
for everything; for rations, at the bank, for a
Bajaj scooter and later for an EC TV set and
everything else. It was Atmanirbhar without
quite spelling it out like we do today.
Choices were limited. The quasi-socialist
economy propagated by Pandit Nehru
meant that we had to consume only what
we produced, but unfortunately we didn’t
produce much, creating a short supply of
goods and services.
The Fiat and the Ambassador were the only two choices
of India-made cars in those days
The Kohinoor, the Jubilee and the much-coveted HMT
Pilot in my collection
The only watch produced by the country
was HMT and everyone proudly wore it.
Another great example of Atmanirbhar.
They were good manual winding watches.
I remember my first watch was a hand-me-
down from my uncle when I was still in
school. Such was the emotional attachment
to the HMT that I have been busy re-
acquiring some of them. I was also also able
to restore my late father’s Janata and I wear
the HMT for purely emotional reasons. It
transports me back into the past.
SENIORS TODAY | ISSUE #26 | AUGUST 2021
quite unique. For one I don’t remember
the teeming millions that I see today when
I leave home. That is not surprising. Our
population although still large by world
standards was only 45 crore (450 million)
in 1960. That is almost a third of what it is
today. The streets were relatively empty,
much fewer cars on the road, and in many
ways it felt like what a trip overseas today
may feel like. Uncrowded, with enough
space for everyone to move around. One
didn’t have to be touching another person’s
body to travel by train. And there were no
standing passengers in the buses. In the
60s it took me exactly 45 minutes to cycle to
Aarey Milk Colony from my home in Shivaji
Park. Today the thought of making my way
through the traffic on the Western Express
Highway by car is a daunting experience.
The unusual transport of those days of
course was the tram, that started at VT
(Chhatrapati Shivaji Terminus) and ended
at what was then called the Khodadad Circle
at Dadar. It was a very enjoyable ride and I
still remember the joy of getting into a tram.
To relive my experience, I took several tram
rides at the Hague many years ago. For
some reason this Dutch city has retained
the charm of this seemingly old-fashioned
transport.
Trams were the common man’s mode of transport
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