The Pre 1991 Days - I was not eating lizards - It was worse
IN 1983, I bought a Bajaj scooter for Rs. 14,000/-. The official price was Rs. 8,000/-. I paid a premium of Rs. 6,000/-. The Dollar was officially priced at Rs. 8/-. I asked a cousin who was abroad to give me 1000 dollars, so that I could buy this scooter under the Foreign Exchange quota at 1000 dollars. He asked me to buy the scooter at the black price of Rs. 14,000 as it was cheaper, because Dollar was selling at Rs. 16 in the black market. A friend of mine bought a plot of land for Rs. 14,000 at that time. Recently, I sold my old scooter for Rs. 1000/- and my friend sold his plot for Rs. 1.5 Crores!
An International Organisation had selected me to go to US on a Study Tour, but I could not go, as the RBI would give me only a hundred dollars and the rest I had to arrange in black or through friends in US - and there was nobody to finance me.
If I wanted to buy a TV, there were only two brands available - both manufactured by PSUs, for which one had to deposit the money in advance and wait for the TV to come. Though there was provision for a few channels, programmes used to be telecast only from one channel - Doordarshan. My favourite programme was Krishi Darshan, where I got to see big red tomatoes, the kind of which you could never see in the market.
A VCR was a great possession. With great influence and a lot of wire pulling, I could buy a VCR from the Customs at a price of Rs. 15,000. (In those days there used to be a machine called the Video Cassette Recorder/Player, through which you could play video cassettes on the TV)
A telephone was a huge luxury. After paying Rs. 5000/- for a phone under the “Own Your Telephone” (OYT) Scheme, one had to wait for a few years to get the coveted phone connection. I know a friend who got a telephone on the recommendation of the Prime Minister of India. Bringing the ring back on a dead phone was almost impossible as, darshan of Lord Balaji would be much easier than that of the PRO. And a local call used to cost Rs. 1.20 - as much as it does now. STD was prohibitively expensive. Today 90% of the people who do not have a place to defecate have mobile phones.
If you wanted to buy a car, you had a huge choice between an Ambassador and a Maruti. In two wheelers, the choice was much wider with four brands!
There was no good quality ballpoint pen, which would not spoil the paper.
Flying was only for the super rich and there was choice of only one airline - Our own great Indian Airlines. In 1988, I flew from Delhi to Srinagar at an exorbitant price of Rs. 3000/- I had no choice - there was only one carrier - the IA. Last year I flew to Srinagar at a price of Rs. 2900/ -; the same price after 20 years!
There used to be a cap on production and clearance. During Budget day, assessees had to get permission from the Commissioner or even the Board to clear a permitted quantity of goods. A factory, which produced more than the licenced capacity, could be penalised.
There used to be a Chief Controller of imports and exports - yes, he used to control exports!
In 1991, we had no Foreign Exchange balance and we had to pawn the family gold in London to tide over the crisis. When the new Government in 1991 changed the direction, there was stiff opposition and many intellectuals in the country feared that a new invincible invisible East India Company is out to take over India, but after twenty years, we know nothing of the sort happened. In fact, most of the MNCs who came to invest in India did not take any money out of India, but they helped in providing thousands of jobs. Now, it is easy to say they came to India for business and profits and not because of any special love for India and it is true, we were not eating lizards, when they were not here and certainly, we will not eat lizards, if they are not here. But are we going back to those days?
I am not particularly fond of eating lizards - but I would certainly like to have my mobile phone, not necessarily Vodafone.