1973 postcard from UK finally reaches Chembur on Friday. P.S. We find recipients in Canada and Bangalore
1973 postcard from UK finally reaches Chembur on Friday. P.S. We find recipients in Canada and Bangalore
In 1973, a Miss Y G Sharada, a recent emigrant to the UK in a cramped, but legible handwriting wrote to her neighbour's children about life in her adopted home.
She explained in lucid detail the picture on the postcard, the ease of shopping (the nascent years of shopping malls), her work at the university and even a worried mention about the children's cook who had broken her arm.
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The children, Rama and Usha Rao, never got the postcard, because it was never delivered.
The Raos, who used to live in number 94, moved out in 1975 to a building 25 minutes away, but also in Chembur. From there, they moved to Bangalore in 1991.u00a0
Said Rajesh Agarwal, "I was amused to see the postcard. In fact, I was born in 1973. My mother looked at it and immediately realised it was for our our neighbour, Gopala Rao, who had moved in 1975."
The postcard was mailed on October 7, 1973, from Loughborough and reached Mumbai on October 15, 1973. Nobody knows what happened between then and now.
"Luckily, the letter did not contain any urgent matter, but what if it had?" asked Agarwal.
MiD DAY then decided to play postman. We traced the Raos address in Bangalore and called them. Their mother, Pramila Rao (75) took the call.
Amused, Rao said, the girls Rama and Usha were now married women. Usha lives in Canada, while Rama was on a flight to see her sister. "Sharada was my neighbour in Chembur.
She moved to Leicester before we moved out of Sindhi colony. I'm really so happy to get her card and I can't believe how long it took.
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It'll be really nice to see that postcard again," said Rao after we promised to send it to her.u00a0
Unfortunately, the Raos are no longer in touch with Sharada. "I think she came back to India and is now in Mysore, but we lost touch," said Pramila.
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Shobha Madhale, Director of General Post Office was shocked to hear of the missing postcard, "The incident is unfortunate, but we will check with the Chembur post master and find the reason.
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Delays do happen when the address is wrong."
Excerpts from the postcard
Oct 7, 1973
Loughborough
Leicester, UK
My dear Rama and Usha, I am doing fine. Hope the same from you. The picture shows you the market place where we go for purchasings.
For special items we should go to Leicester, which is a bigger town and has huge departments with varieties of stocks.
At the entrance of the shop, pick up a wire basket go round the rows, pick up from the shelf whatever you want. On each and every packet price is marked. At the end, stand in the queue near the counter.
The girl in charge will operate the machine to find the total amount we have to pay.
Pay the money, leave the basket, collect your things in the bag and come out. We have to carry our things. No coolie, no taxi. We can go by bus.
But mostly we have to walk. Walking is a good exercise!u00a0Bye bye,Yours affly,Sharada
How theu00a0World changed in these 35 Years...
1981: IBM launched the Personal Computer
1981: AIDS identified
1982: Michael Jackson arrived on the world pop scene with Thriller. He died on June 25, 2009
October 31, 1984: Indira Gandhi assassinated. Rajiv Gandhi was killed seven years later on May 21, 1991
November 1989: The fall of the Berlin Wall and Communism
1991: India opened its markets, liberalised economy
August 6, 1991: The first website went online
July 5, 1996: Dolly, the sheep, became the first mammal to be cloned
September 11, 2001: Two passenger planes crash into the WTC in New York City
December 26, 2004: Indian Ocean Tsunami killed 2,25,000 in 11 countries
December 30, 2006: Saddam Hussein executed
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