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During the licence raj
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There was a time when one had to have a licence to ride a bicycle or own a radio
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PEDAL POINT In the '70s, students had no problem cycling to their college Photo: G. R. N. Somashekar
Today's youngsters will be surprised to know that time was when to ride a bicycle a licence was required. At intervals of six months, when the cycle licence expired, the civic authorities used to lay traps in different parts of the city to ambush cyclists who hadn't bothered to renew their licence. The squad would make its appearance early in the morning and its piercing whistles instilled fear among the slackers. Routinely, its first catch were the milk vendors. The cycle tax brought in Rs. 1.5 lakh as revenue to the municipality, which spent far more than that to collect it! Finally, during the chief ministership of Veerendra Patil, the tax was abolished.
A similar fate befell the profession tax, which was abolished in April 1968 because it was uneconomical to collect and due to the overall difficulties in the tax administration. (The civic body was collecting profession tax since 1938-39.)
Different pace
During the 1970s, life in the city was quite different from what it is today. Those days, people eagerly awaited the arrival of a postman. Unemployed youngsters expected interview letters and others waited to hear about the welfare of their dear ones.
Whenever the word "telegram" was popped up, an air of tension prevailed, as the news of the death of relatives and friends always came through telegrams.
To make a long distance call, one had to book a trunk call and wait for hours to get connected.
But today, for Bangaloreans, mobile phones have become accessories as necessary as a pen or a wristwatch. (Even the latter is sometimes dispensed with as your PC and mobile tell the time too.)
Those were also the days when radio played a big role in every household. Long queues could be seen in post offices for renewal of radio licenses, a must for possessing a radio.
After S.S.L.C., most students enrolled in typing classes. Job aspirants used to register their names in the Employment Exchange. It was through this agency that prospective employers did their recruitments. College students were far more politically active and took to streets on a range of issues.
Very few went abroad for higher studies unlike today when there is craze to acquire foreign certificates even for graduate and post-graduate courses.
College students then did not feel ashamed to ride a cycle. Rajdoot, Java and later Yezdi were the only bikes in vogue at that time. Bangalore, during the late Seventies, had a large concentration of Iranian students who used to zoom around on their Yezdis. Those were days when petrol cost Rs. 3.50 a litre. At that time, the ambition of a career-minded youth was a four-figure salary. Today many girls refuse to marry a boy if his salary does not cross the Rs. 20,000 mark!
In November 1981, television was introduced in Bangalore with Marathi and Tamil programmes being relayed from Bombay and Madras, respectively.
Today's children have a variety of entertainment, with the cable television beaming their favourite cartoon movies to video games on their home computers.
As for outdoor games, playing for fun is an outdated concept and camps to train children in cricket, tennis, swimming and other games are held, where children are taught in a professional manner by coaches. Summer camps are held in every locality by enterprising people to make a quick buck.
S. SRINIVAS
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Metro Plus
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