Dialing through Time

Those of us who were born in late 70s and early 80s have probably seen maximum technological evolution in the history of human civilization. We are the eyewitness of the real transformation from analog to digital. While growing up in a small town in the hills, our town had not a single television set. Telephone was also found only in offices and commercial establishments. The first time I saw a television set was in October 1984. A family had recently bought a new television set. My family didn’t even know them yet we went to their place to watch the cremation of Late Indira Gandhi. Their hall was overcrowded and they opened their windows, so that people could stand in the windows and watch TV. I am sure in 2025, it is impossible to imagine such a situation where the entire town is sharing one TV screen because now every individual has their own screen.

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In school, our batch was the first one to get introduced to a computer class. We all went to the computer room, which was the only air-conditioned classroom in the entire school. We had to remove our shoes before entering that class. No food items were allowed in that room. The entire class took turns to use the computer. These days, kids carry their own laptops to school and there we were scrambling with one desktop. While in college, I even enrolled for a ”computer course” as my father felt that without computer knowledge it would be difficult for me to get a job. He himself also did one course in his 60s as he was worried that without knowing computer he will turn obsolete. And trust me whatever we learned have all become obsolete now as nobody using is MS DOS anymore.

Growing up, there was no color television. Our first TV was a black and white TV that came inside a box. The box had a shutter. Every night, we used to close the shutter. There was only TV channel Doordarshan. DD Metro came much later. We often watched CNN through Bangladesh TV. There was a trick, where if we changed the direction of our TV antennae, we could catch Bangladesh TV that had live telecast of CNN. I watched the demolition of Babri Masjid using this method. Radio also had only channel. FM came way later. First color Television came before one of the football world cup. My dad wanted to watch football in color.

Telephone, refrigerator, a car, a washing machine, even something as basic as a mixer grinder was a novelty. There were telegram for urgent messages. I remember whenever we received a telegram. My mom’s face used to turn pale. She often prayed to God before reading the telegram. In most cases, telegram carried news of someone’s illness, death. In some cases, it announced the birth of a baby. Sometimes, it meant someone got a job. Other times, it indicated someone was about to visit our home. Telegrams always carried mixed emotions. There were three types of letters that we received. One that was extremely private came in an envelope. There were inland letters and postcards for more casual exchanges. However, my favorite were the Par avion airmails that came from abroad. I always felt they smelled different. I loved reading the addresses in those letters. It almost transferred me to distant foreign lands where everything was different. Now, I no longer receive Par Avion, as my friends and cousins abroad video call me while doing their laundry. How boring!! These video calls have literally killed my romance with the foreign land.

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For a long time, we didn’t have our own telephone. Whenever we needed to make a call, we went to the nearby PCO. There were three types of calls. Local calls, STD and ISD. STD and ISD were expensive and people made them only during emergencies. At least, we hardly called. Sometimes, we even received calls at our neighbor’s house — they had an official phone because Uncle worked in the police. My Ma had strictly forbidden me from giving their number to any of my friends. She would sternly say that we should receive only important calls there; otherwise, we’d be disturbing them.

But now, when I think back, I realize that the family never seemed bothered whenever our calls came through. In fact, Aunty always offered me something to eat while I waited for a call. The usual routine was that whoever wanted to speak to us would first call from a PCO to inform Aunty to get us. Then, after about 10–15 minutes, they would call again. In the meantime, Aunty’s son would come over to fetch us. Sometimes, the caller didn’t ask to speak to us directly but simply left a message, which Aunty would kindly convey later. I remember the day my grandmother passed away, the hospital called Aunty at 4 am. She came crying to our house, even though she had never met my grandma. Times were different, and people were warmer and kinder, perhaps.

I bought my first Nokia after receiving my first salary. No WhatsApp, no social media. However, we were excited with the SMS feature. By then, almost every house had landline telephone. Mobile was just a luxury item. I first used Google while doing a college project. It was a group project and all of us were spending lots of time in the library. Our professor, told us that there is something called Google that will reduce our work. None of us had access to computers. Our professor arranged with one of his friends who had a business. He had a few computers in his office, which he agreed to allow us to use. We traveled by metro for an hour every day to go and use the computer and learn Google. When I tell this story, he cannot believe that we were so stupid that we had to learn Googling, something his generation knew by default.

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I was once doing a project with Rosa Luxemburg University. They asked if I knew how to use computers. I nodded. On the first day, they asked me to take a printout. Trust me, I literally sweated trying to format the page before printing. I even feared that they might fire me due to this incompetence.

2000 onward, things started changing. Internet became powerful. We became familiar with websites. Social media gradually started entering our lives. It started with Orkut. Soon, Orkut was overpowered by Zuck’s Facebook. We started to learn how to use the internet. Gmail and Yahoo chat rooms taught us how to do real-time chatting. Blogs became popular. People started to buy things online. It started with air tickets, rail tickets, and now we buy everything from pins to elephants online.

There is so much more to write. As I write, the default AI of WordPress is suggesting me improvements. Grammarly is marking red, I am using alt+tab to check my email. I have my mobile phone beside me where notifications of various apps are popping up non-stop. At times, I really wish to take a break from all these technologies. I want to go back to the 80’s in my hometown in the Himalayas. I would enjoy a cup of coffee without any distractions, admiring the Kanchenjunga. I want those naive and innocent days back once in a while. Not always, as to be brutally honest, I also enjoy the convenience that modern life gives us.

Tell me what would you want?