DURING OUR TIME

This is an expression we heard rather often from our elders, especially when they chided us. And we went "oof, there he goes". But when you hear it from someone, one generation below us? That gets our goat.

Recently my daughter-in-law was admonishing her niece and nephews through marriage with this expression. It was regarding the value of money, rather the lack of it. The kids were always for expensive stuff dismissing cheap stuff as, well, cheap! To explain their disdain, let me illustrate with one anecdote. Once I took my grandchildren out for ice cream, when I visited them, like a dutiful grandfather, in their father's car. Straight to Baskin Robbins as per their choice. They polished off some exotic ones of various flavours and hues on the spot and took enough and more packed for home. The bill went up to more than two grand. (I hope a grand is still a thousand!). On the way back I cribbed like hell for my entire one month's pension being wiped off in one stroke. (They were sceptical about my pension amount though and were frowning thoughtfully). The middle one (of the three) asked which brand of ice cream I used to have during my days. I said, Kwality. He said, "Ha, that is chillar ice cream". I learnt a new word.

Now to get back to the story, my daughter-in-law got my goat. There I was sitting next to her, one full generation older to her and she had the gumption to shout at one generation down to her, in front of me. I asked, "what about my time, then?" She dismissed it with nary any respect. My son was squirming around looking for a hole to hide, sensing the violence brewing in me which he had tasted in plenty during his boyhood days. My daughter, the elder to my son and mother of the said kids, pretended to be busy and walked around just like that, hiding an erupting smile. The daughter-in-law is a product of the 4th quarter of the 20th century, the final century of the last millennium and the kids she was shouting at are mint-fresh from the first decade of the 21st century. And there I was a product of the 2nd quarter of the last century with abundant stories from my grandparents who were from the last quarter of the 19th century.

My grandfather was my friend, philosopher and guide in my childhood. In the management field that is not enough. So I must add that he was my mentor too. Every evening after the oil lamps were lit and which I distributed at strategic locations of various rooms, I used to sit next to him after sandhya naamam and listen to his discourses. The subjects were mostly the epics and puranas but it also included life lessons in general, such as the technique of swimming in the sea, close combat with and without arms and even economics. He used to say that during his childhood they could buy provisions for the house for one month for four annas (that is the 25 paise of now)! Chew on that, will you?

A hundred years ago a clerk (the British education was meant to create this category of workers) drew thirty bucks as a damned good salary. If someone drew a hundred, he was in the highly paid category. And with that, they ran a family, often a combined family, comfortably. In my childhood, I have heard mention of four-figure salaries as something that was sky high! Such mention happened mostly during talks of marriage proposals when the boy's salary came to the fore more than the job. That is if the man was in a job. Otherwise, it is the vastness of the property he owned that was discussed in the marriage market. That was during their time.

Why go that far back? When I joined the army as a puny but proud second lieutenant, in the upside-down year of 1969, my whole salary was a measly six hundred and thirty rupees, of which hundred and fifty was the dearness allowance. And out of that, the heartless Controller of Defence Accounts deducted a whole thirty rupees as the minimum contribution to the Defence Service Officers Provident Fund! Maybe because we were part of one-fifth of the Indian population as First Class Gazetted Officers!

So during my time I booked a Vespa scooter in ‘69 itself and waited for three years for it to be delivered at a cost of three thousand and three hundred rupees. Most of us did. The choice was basically between a Vespa or a Lambretta for scooters and a Bullet or a Jawa for motorcycles. Period. I have a friend in Prasanna whose wife even now has not reconciled to the fact that this poor fellow had to take a loan of three thousand rupees from the bank to buy a fridge immediately after his marriage. She had heard a lot about Army Officers and felt on top of the world when their marriage was finalised. But this loan act shook her and she was in anguish worrying about her new found husband's financial standing! She was worried about her time and felt that her future was quite dim.

During our time a bicycle was the initial mode of transport and a little later a two wheeler due to the kind CDA (O) who would give us the loan to purchase it after getting our signatures on a bunch of papers which we never read. They knew we were stuck with them for good for as long as donkey's ears and we couldn't run away as some present-day wizards. To own a car (an Ambassador, a Fiat or a Standard) one had to be very frugal and even then it took years to save up the money as the loan that would be sanctioned for this was nowhere near the cost.

I am dying to take my grandchildren, both my daughter's and son's, on a train in sleeper class. The idiots have hardly travelled on a train in all its glory. They have been flying around in cheap airlines. Heck! During our time, we had only the right royal Indian Airlines and the ticket cost a few hundred rupees or thereabout, which was a good part of our salary. But we did fly once or twice just for the experience. Fortunately, on the train, we could travel First Class and later A/C coaches. After all, we had military concessions. Thank God for small mercies. That apart I want to take the brats in sleeper class, just out of spite. Especially my daughter-in-law's girl, all of seven as on date, who has never been on a train, flying around all the time. They must learn about life on this side of Suez.

With all the rich inputs that I have about five generations - grandparents, parents, mine, my children, their children, that is two up and two down – my daughter-in-law talks about her time in my presence! My richness of knowledge extends from the four anna provisions for a month to a couple of thousand grand for ice cream, from bicycle travels to airlines. And she talks! I believe during her childhood a samosa cost one rupee, to get which she and her sisters had to beg their parents and now it costs fifteen rupees and the children don't bat an eyelid while ordering by the dozen! I am waiting for the right moment. The last occasion happened to be a fleeting one.

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