Originally Posted by rajes002
Life in the 70s growing up in Chennai..... somethings that flash across are:
Red color Pallavan buses.... buses lining Parry's corner.... Route 18 to Saidapet - the one with the highest frequency..... Route 9,10 to T Nagar, Route 11, 11A to TNagar, Route 11E and 11D to KK Nagar.... Route 8 and 8B to Perambur from Parrys corner.
Moore market.... for trinkets... for used books especially.... so many shops... Madras Zoo which used to be close to this place....
Flashy looking Tiruvalluvar buses from Esplanade bus stand... Anna transport corporation buses from esplanade....
Clothes: Synthetic clothes - esp. Terry Cotton very popular.... Cotton clothes had to be washed and allowed to shrink before tailoring! Bell Bottoms.... with large rounded collars on shirts..... Hawai slippers for casual and "Jubilee" slippers from Bata for special occasions... shoes: North Star from Bata.....
Exhibitions at Island grounds....
Doordarshan Chennai: Kanmani Poonga, Wonder Baloon from bombay, Wonder Lamp from Chennai, Vayalum Vazhvum, Mudiyor Kalvi with Ma. Nannan, Munnotam for previews, Tuesdays 7:30 PM for tamil drama, Fridays for Oliyum Oliyum, Sunday evenings for Tamil movie, Saturday evenings for HIndi movies, What is the good word from Bombay hosted by Sabira Merchant, 'Goodies' show on Fridays, 'Here is Lucy' and 'I love Lucy', Shobana Ravi for tamil news, Shashi Menon and Ramakrishnan for English news.... DD address was "Adams Road"...
Relatively empty suburban metre guage EMUs....
Pongal time - Cricket matches in Chepauk....
Cricket matches followed with great interest on radios/transistors.... and many people moving around like zombies with transistors fixed to their ears and incessant request from neighbors for the score..... Gavaskar, Vishvanath.... ruling the roost... Kim Hughes et al from Australia.... in '78 or so...
Landmarks: LIC - landmark in Chennai and invariantly featured in all tamil movies when some country bumpkin visits Chennai and gawks with open mouth at the sight of the 14 storey building.... also remember the fire accident at LIC that occured sometime in late 70's that turned many glass panes dark. Also remember the fire at Spencer's plaza..... Anna flyover.... Parson complex being put up after razing Gemini studios. Movies showing the Kannagi statue and the statue of the laborers at the Marina beach front... Marina beach, Elliots Beach....
Movies: Aging Sivaji with a huge paunch.... trying to pass of a college going teenager..... Ilayaraja ruling the roost in the late 70's. Safire, Emerald, Blue Diamond, Sathyam, Santham, Santhi, Alankar, Anand, Little Anand, Pilot, Casino, Midland, Krishnaveni (T Nagar), now what was the one next to Casino... forgot that one....... and ones that was close to my house were Broadway, Odeon... they were popular once upon a time.... also Rajkumari in TNagar... and Sun theater (hope I got it right).... close to the Anna Flyover... before they were torn down... also Washington theater in Mount Road (hope I got that right)
Politics: MGR changing the political landscape with his charisma.... Indira Gandhi with her emergency measures being humiliated... followed by the tamasha of the Janata party expt..... Congress (I) with the cow and calf symbol at the elections - instead of the hand symbol which was used later. Political meetings that used to go till late in the evenings at street corners... Karunanidhi and his gang.... being humiliated at the hustings in the late 70's.... and kids singing... "kattu kattu kambarakattu.... karunanidhiye olichi kattu".... MGR songs blaring from street corners.....
All these 30 years back!! But the most memorable was a childhood without any TV or video games.... a footloose and fancy free childhood filled up a lot of physical activity.... cricket, kings, marbles, tops, badminton alongwith indoor games... cards, trade, chess, luddo, snake and ladders.... so many arguments - careless banter with friends while sitting on the parapet walls on the streets... and friendly cricket matches at nearby cricket grounds with neighborhood teams. Not much peer pressure to score high marks etc.... eagerly looking forward to holidays.... so that we could visit native place and interact with extended family.... cousins, second cousins... third cousins... et al :-)