NOSTALGIA - WERE THE 70s and 80s REALLY GOOD OLE DAYS? TODAY'S NEEYA NAANA SHOW

[kunjuppu]

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neeya-naana-19-05-2013

i left india 1973 and so missed out most of 70s and 80s. communication was spare and sparse. letters took 10 days to reach india and long distance calls had to be booked, and cost $450 a minute, with connections taking a few hours. direct dialling came only in the 80s from canada to india.

today, thanks to the web, voip and (comparatively) cheap air travel, i am more connected with india than ever before. a show in chennai, interrupted by so many commercials, i am able to see 3 pm my time, the same day, through the web, without any interruptions. (or atleast i can 'x' out the ads in the above url)

so it was an interesting and eye opening trip to this nostalgia show. almost unanimously both sides agreed that the women got a raw deal then. some of the graphic details, i was surprised, as my family was just 2, and by the time, sister grew up, i had left home.

again, almost everyone agreed on the prosperous state of the country, plenty of money and comfort. yet these too come with insecurities..as you will find out if you wish to watch the show.

again, you dont have to watch the overlaying commercials. just 'x' it out

 

[renuka]

I was born in 1970...so in the 80's I was a teen.

In the 80's all I can remember is the customary Cabaret Dance of Silk Smitha,Anuradha,Jeya Malini,Disco Shanti.

Also 80's Tamil movies came with compulsory rape scenes...which I remember in school me and a few female friends will re enact during our recess time(lower secondary was an all girls school..so we could do as we pleased)

One of us would be the villian and act as if we are "raping" our friend..then the girl will cry the next day and one of us would act like her mother and scream "Ada Paavi" when she gets to know that her daughter is "spoiled".


That's all I remember of the good old 80's the good old cabaret and rape scene days!LOL

 

[tbs]

hi
thanks K sir...i saw the eppisode....i was 70s and 80s in chennai....basically mylapore area...the famous movie...sri K Balachander's

movie...MARO CHARITRA IN TELUGU AND EK DUJE KE LIYE IN HINDI....basically an orthodox tambra brahmin family with

non brahmin love story....in second one..the orthodox tambra family with non brahmin hindi family story....a nice love story...

very famous that time ...generally bell bottom pant with THIRUTTU DHAM very common in college days...

 

[Raji Ram]

Oh! 70s and 80s! Lot of changes in my life happened during those decades!

70s:

Completion of Masters degree in Math with a state rank in one of the papers; rigorous veena practice;

getting blessing by Sri. Chitti Babu (my mAnaseega Guru) and Thirumuruga Kripanandha Variyar swami;

selection as the young veena artist of the year 1975- 76 by the 'Tamil nadu Iyal Isai Nataka mandram';

wedding with Ram; arrival of our son; regular veena concerts in A I R Vizag; managing the household

expenses with a mere 500 bucks (with some saving too!!); week end Telugu movies in our officers' club

(easy way to learn Telugu); starting the music tutor's life!


80s:

Shifting to Sing. Chennai; advanced music from my Guru Dr. S. Ramanathan, own house in West K K nagar;

chance to have many family get together-s and to attend more number of functions; more students for

music classes; the nick name 'music mAm' for me! God has been very kind to me and bestowed loving
siblings and in-laws! :grouphug:


P.S: I rarely watch movies in theaters! I remember seeing Sankarabaranam, Salangai oli and Jackie Chan's

36th chamber of Shaolin.

 

[sangom]

For me, dear Kunjuppu, both the 70's and 80's form my active middle age and so I can make a dispassionate comparison, I feel.

Yes, there were many difficulties in the lives of the average Indian. Thanks to my job, my family of 5 (self, wife and 3 sons) could live a middle- to upper middle-class life in those times.Education of children was much cheaper and very much less commercialized. Those who were good in studies could hope to join prestigious institutions like IITs and also get somewhat good job placements on passing out. (That was what helped my sons, incidentally.)

Today, there is more money in circulation in terms of INR, all because of past deficit budgets and, to a small extent, because of real export earnings too. Much progress has been made in certain specific areas like eradication of Polio, elephantiasis, leprosy etc. Begging is not seen except in some states like UP, Bihar, etc. But all these have been achieved after wastage of huge amount of resources due to the endemic corruption at all levels, for which we get about 40 examples in Kautilya's Arthasastra (c. 300 B.C.) itself!!

We have been a country which is very good at aping the white-skinned people; I can't say whether this started only after the Dutch, the French and the British came and conquered some areas in this sub-continent. But all through the past till the recent "opening up of the economy" during P.V. Narasimha Rao's time, the imitation was within certain limits which did not compromise the cultural roots of India and so the impact of all those copying efforts did not affect the social mindset as such.

But, after the so-called "economic liberalization" we have been so faithfully copying everything from the west (and more especially, from the US) including people's mindsets, that today, the genext has the Indian genes but in all other respects they think, act and behave like US citizens.

This is what possibly makes the 70's and 80's so nostalgically better in the memories of many people. Today, India is in a social crisis. Though there was a bit of economic upturn thanks to the IT boom, the same is stagnating or going down now. The salaries have come down to rather earthy levels from the stratospheric which it was a few years ago and exports are not expected to grow much. There are signs that China may take away much of the contracts from the English-speaking western countries which it will use - in accordance with its past performance - the programming and application development will be put to best use in supporting its huge world class manufacturing and defence build up.

However, the IT in India has been successful in kicking an entire generation out of its natural, traditional cultural base and has brought in many customs and value systems which are not in sync with this country. The apparent result is the higher stress rate, highly materialistic pursuit of life and the resultant decrease in the "Happiness Index" as stated in the Program itself.

Hence the 70's & 80's were good ole days really as compared to today.

 

[Sastri]

I also watched the show. Many of the views expressed by the participants was not reflecting the entire Tamil Nadu. I was living in a highly industrialized city of TN during the 70s and 80s and many of the scenarios discussed during the show were not true of my hometown which was next only to Madras in modernity and cosmopolitan culture.

School and College students were breaking out of age-old dispensable customs and traditions, were dressing liberally, mingling with one another maintaining a space. Beauty contests were conducted in colleges. Computers were invading the office space and the city was setting a precedent to other cities to follow.

We were adopting and adapting to change while yet honoring Indian, especially Tamilian values and virtues. The 70s and 80s was a period of silent transition in my hometown which was neither too conservative as Madras and other cities of TN nor excessively liberal as Bangalore or Bombay.