V.Narayan Distinguished - BHPian

Join Date: Aug 2014 Location: Delhi-NCR Posts: 2,493 Thanked: 22,933 Times

Re: Unusual / funny / heartwarming experiences on the road Quote: Dieselritzer Originally Posted by Just yesterday I met my soon to be in-laws and got a green signal from "my girls" dad, what a timing to read your post.



Quote: rangarx Originally Posted by What a story! I had always wished I should have born a few decades ago, to have had enjoyed everything in its pristine form and with less traffic and chaos, importantly, less competition.



I tell my children (all in their 20s) that the good old days, which I recall with alacrity, were days of stagnation, bureaucratic throttling of every aspect of economy, education & health, censorship (1975 to 77), and lack of adequate opportunity in India. Attempts at business and engineering excellence were punished by the license raj wielded by power hungry bureaucrats. And attitudinally corruption was not any less in 1970s & 80s than today - with economic growth the ticket size has gone up!?! Yes some aspects of a simpler life have gone and some more materialism has come in. Yes competition today is tougher - hats off to the youth of today for cracking exams I would have certainly not cleared. But if it means 100 million have been lifted out of poverty then it is worth it. Some skeptics would point to our many problems. We do have problems. After all a nation with more people than North + South America put together will have problems. But in the 1960s and 70s our problems were - famines, wheat being imported from USA which was the surplus of their cattle feed (PL480 scheme) - the chappattis used to be red in colour, strikes and more strikes, from May'73 to Mar'75 inflation in India jumped around between 15% and 34% per annum month on month, the country going literally broke in 1990-1991 and pledging gold to pay its foreign debt interest payments and so on. My message to all young BHPians is - rejoice, this is the best time to be a young Indian. And we get much better cars to drive around in - Narayan Congratulations on passing one of the biggest exams of your life. Your time starts Now!Dear rangarx, a little off topic but allow me to offer my two paisa worth. This is the best time to be a young Indian which I assume you are. You got born at the right time. The economy is growing, it is unshackled (at least partly), Indians can hold their head up in the comity of nations and we enjoy an ever improving standard of living. Even many of the poor today walk with pride and hope. If those older to you talk about the good old days it is nothing but their own wistfulness of a youth gone past. The 1970s and 80s were certainly less crowded where roads went but they were not pristine.I tell my children (all in their 20s) that the good old days, which I recall with alacrity, were days of stagnation, bureaucratic throttling of every aspect of economy, education & health, censorship (1975 to 77), and lack of adequate opportunity in India. Attempts at business and engineering excellence were punished by the license raj wielded by power hungry bureaucrats. And attitudinally corruption was not any less in 1970s & 80s than today - with economic growth the ticket size has gone up!?! Yes some aspects of a simpler life have gone and some more materialism has come in. Yes competition today is tougher - hats off to the youth of today for cracking exams I would have certainly not cleared. But if it means 100 million have been lifted out of poverty then it is worth it. Some skeptics would point to our many problems. We do have problems. After all a nation with more people than North + South America put together will have problems. But in the 1960s and 70s our problems were - famines, wheat being imported from USA which was the surplus of their cattle feed (PL480 scheme) - the chappattis used to be red in colour, strikes and more strikes, from May'73 to Mar'75 inflation in India jumped around between 15% and 34% per annum month on month, the country going literally broke in 1990-1991 and pledging gold to pay its foreign debt interest payments and so on. My message to all young BHPians is - rejoice, this is the best time to be a young Indian. And we get much better cars to drive around in- Narayan Last edited by V.Narayan : 5th December 2016 at 18:32 .