What is the difference in your city, now and 50 years back?
By veejay19
@veejay19 (3589)
India
February 26, 2010 1:36am CST
Hello friends, i live in the metropolitan city of Mumbai ,the financial capital of India. There are a lot of changes in the city then and now. First of all the city was known as Bombay, the population was very much less than it is now. There were more open spaces and the roads were not very wide as they are now. there were few cars on the roads and mainly of just 3 or 4 brands compared to dozens of brands today.Streets were lit at night by gas lamps and at 6.00 pm a man used to come and pull some wires on the poles and the lamps would start burning slowly. dimly at first gradually getting brighter.There were plenty of trees and a lot of greenery. Buildings were maximum 3 to 4 storeys high and some streets had quaint bungalos which have totally disappeared now and been replaced by highrise buildings and skyscrapers now. Shops were small and one knew the shop owner and could get products at bargain prices if one were a regular customer. Now most of them have been replaced by fancy airconditioned shops and glitzy Malls and departmental stores.the salesmen are rude and don`t care if you buy anything or not.
Theatres in those days were single screen, many of them aircooled but were very pleasing and ticket prices were low and affordable. Nowadays many have closed down and replaced with multiplexes where ticket prices are astronomical and unaffordable.There are over 50 flyovers on the roads and more are coming. Restaurants in those days were few and there were just 2 types, the South Indian and the Irani hotels which have almost been wiped out now.
There was no Tv in those days and all we possessed wer the old valve radios.Well, cost of living was quite low and even though salaries were not much one could comfortably survive on very little.The Indian currency was very strong and one could get much out of littel.
I can go on and on but i guess i have to stop. I miss my old Bombay even though lifestyles have changed drastically, some for the better and some for the worse. Tell me about your city friends, as it was 50 yrs ago and now.
2 people like this
10 responses
@sarahruthbeth22 (43143)
• United States
18 Mar 10
It sounds like my western culture has taken over your culture! I'm so sorry. I wasn't alive 50 years ago but I can tell you the difference in my town in the last 35 years. when I got here, it was a small suburb of Washington D.C. There was one shopping center and there were many trees. It was like living in a forest. there were less people and it was safe enough for me to play outside All day.There were movie theaters , movie house that only showed one or two films. Then in the 80's things started to change. The shopping center became a mall. Trees were being cut down to make room for housing and other shopping centers. Miles away a huge mall was built.In the 90's a subway station was built a mile or two away from my home and along with it houses and another shopping center was built. More people moved in. and now the small movie houses ar gone. The mall that was a shopping center when I got here is almost empty. The huge mall is the best place to shop And see a movie. In the mall there is a multiplex.The problem? It takes 30 minutes to get there. We have traffic problems now. My small town is now a huge city.
@paula27661 (15811)
• Australia
27 Feb 10
I visited Bombay as it was called then around forty two years ago. I don’t remember a great deal to be honest because I was just a kid but I believe that the changes would be huge now! I haven’t lived in my city for fifty years; I’ve been here almost forty and that is enough to have seen it change dramatically. I live in Perth in Western Australia and there are high rise buildings that never existed a few years back. We used to have drive in movies and there were no apartments in the city. It is different now; the suburb we live in was bushland back then!
@ElicBxn (64176)
• United States
26 Feb 10
50 years ago, (and I was here, all be it quite young), was mostly known as a government (it is the capital of Texas after all) and university town.
Austin in 1960, we hadn't really gotten large scale industry into town, and a lot of it was support for those people who worked for or with the government, the 4 universities (University of Texas being the biggest) and the students who attended them, and support personnel...
So, there were hotels, restaurants and all those other things that people need after a day of work or when visiting the family, going to UT football games, etc.
Now, we are one of the largest cities in the U.S., we house a major tech industry, (Austin is fondly called Silicon Hills) and we have a major music scene here.
Movies are being filmed here (Texas is called the "Third Coast") and we still support the Government and universities.
In 1960, we hadn't acquired more than one TV station, much less one of the first cable companies in the TV industry, we did have about a half dozen movie theaters and about that many more "drive ins" (an outdoor theater you took the car to and stayed in.)
There were little, neighborhood shopping centers - and while a lot of them are still there, they are no longer homes to little grocery stores.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Austin,_Texas
@bellis716 (4799)
• United States
26 Feb 10
I live in Schertz, Texas. It was settled in the mid 19th century by Frenchmen of German decent. Everyone spoke German, except the few Mexicans who spoke Spanish. Schertz was a farming center and a stop on the way to the big city of San Antonio, about 25 miles to the west. Fast forward to 1962 when My husband was assigned to Randolph Air Force Base. Rather than live on base, we elected to live in Schertz, one mile to the east. It was still essentially a farm orientated town. The main businesses were a feed store, hardware store, five and dime, lumber yard, general store with a butcher shop in back, and a dairy store that sold the best ice cream cones for a nickle. The population was 6,000. There were 4 churches, one bank and one gas station and garage combination. The German language was still heard on the street and at at public gatherings, but the children, grandchildren and great grandchildren all spoke English. The younger ones had forgotten the tongue of their ancestors. We were not the only military to settle there. Two subdivisions had been built to house those assigned to the base. There was no crime. There were 3 schools, elementary (grades 1 to 6), Junior high (grades 7 & 8)and high School (grades 9 to 12). The children all walked to School. Now, in 2010, the population has swollen to around 35,000. I've I've lost count of the numerous subdivisions, each with their own elementary school. There are 5 banks, but the hardware store, feed store and general store are all gone. It now has 2 supermarkets, 2 dollar stores, WalMart and Lowes (a combination lumber yard, hardware store), 7 churches, and numerous small businesses. Not many children walk to school anymore. All the high school kids seem to have there own automobiles. We have a large police force that is kept busy because of the crime that has spilled over from the city of San Antonio (3rd largest city in Texas). There is no green space between Schertz and the big city. I, too, miss the smaller city.
@marguicha (230365)
• Chile
26 Feb 10
I live in Santiago, the capital of Chile in South America. Much of what you tell about Bombay applied to the Santiago I saw at 15 years of age.
Buidings in the city were only a few story´s high because there are earthquakes in my country and builders and architects were afraid to climb higher. Now the city is full of very high building. We also has, like you, small markets where you knew the owner. Now they have all disappeared as they could not compete with the supermarkets. In the only place there are those kinds of markets are in poor neighborhoods. The owners live there and sell little amounts of food to their neighbors ( some times getting delayed paymets till the end of the week when the workers will recieve their pay).
At that time most of the restaurants only had international food. They, slowly some ethnic restaurants started to open.
I could not say what is better. Life was less stressed at the city. But on the other hand, there weren´t so many gadgets to help you with the work.
Tave a nice day!
@phoenix8606 (4942)
•
26 Feb 10
hi! I really can't answer you about the town where I live now, because I moved 5 months ago, and I am not known with it yet. But I can tell you the difference between now and then in my home town. The biggest difference is that the life then were more easier than now and people were happier. well, there weren't so many shops, but everything were really cheap and qualitative. this was in the age of Communism and many people think it was something bad, but as I see it was better than the democracy in my country :)
@sudiptacallingu (10879)
• India
26 Feb 10
I really don’t know first hand coz I am still a long way to reach 50 LOL but from what I’ve seen in old photographs, the surroundings have changed completely. Some famous landmark buildings are there of course but the green cover and the rural feel has gone completely. Even if I read articles written by people about the Kolkata of 60s or 70s, I cannot really imagine the vast green areas and groves of fruit trees and pond and lakes that dotted the landscape in those days, with people concentrated to certain pockets. There has been a complete transformation though I don’t think everything has been for good…complete lack of urban planning has resulted in pockets becoming like ghettos … few wide streets and so much traffic…actually I think nobody here could anticipate the phenomenal growth of the city in the past few decades.
BTW, unpatriotic I may sound, but I like the names Bombay, Kolkata, Madras and Bangalore more than the renamed version.
@celticeagle (189957)
• Boise, Idaho
26 Feb 10
I live in a city named Boise which is french for trees. It used to be that we had alot more trees but now alot of them have been cut down and huge apartment complexes have gone up in their wake. Where I live now is probably two miles from down town and it used to be out of the city limits. The large traffic department building just across from us used to be just pasture land where a half dozen horses roamed and I used to take them clover. The three or four small farming communities that were just afew minutes out of town are now some what incorporated into the city as suburbs. There was probably about 50,000 people living here when I was growing up(nearly 60 years ago) and last I knew the city is now about 250-300,000.
@ramaswamyvtkv (2879)
• India
26 Feb 10
well i am from Thiruvananthapuram, India and i am not 50years old so i cant easily tell what are all the changes that happened in 50 years period.
but defenitely the city has developed a lot from my first view.
and still undergoing many serious developments.
@elly1384 (352)
• Bulgaria
26 Feb 10
hello india,
i am from less country than you are from ,and the changes ,that are made in the city i live are big too.Here in the capital of Bulgaria ,there i am living is good ,but the city is not created to be use as a city for more than 3 million people.Sofia is the city where i live for several years and if i look in the past of the city i will see one little town ,with the muddy narrow streets in east oriental style ,with churches and mosques near each other ,with steet`s little stores just on the road and with those persons who are walking with their horses,it is a hundred years ago....
Now Sofia is one modern european city ,with better infrastructure and its own spirit of fast living people ,who don`t stop to move and speek.Here,now,and today my city is one big unknown world of many people,many cars and many buildings....
i don`t like it ,i prefer to live here hundred years ago and i feel the spirit of human activities.
