Newspaper Ad From 1979 Congratulating Indian Man Travelling Abroad Goes Viral
Ever wondered how many desis have made a foreign land their present home; or how many of us travel there annually? You'll find the answers to those questions below but we'll leave you with one question: can you imagine getting featured in a newspaper advertisement for a planned business trip? The '70s were simpler times, clearly.
How many Indians presently live/travel abroad?
There are more than three crore Indians currently settled abroad, a report from November 2023 reveals. According to the Ministry of External Affairs, there are 321,00,340 people currently living abroad, including 134,59,195 Non-Resident Indians (NRIs) and 186,83,645 Persons of Indian Origin (PIO).?
Not only that, a 2022-23 report from the Ministry of Tourism reveals that over two crore Indians choose international destinations for their vacations. To put that in perspective, a 1970 census recorded 51,000 foreign born from India in the United States. With these sizeable numbers, it's hard to believe that there was a simpler time when living or travelling abroad was worthy of a tiny space in a newspaper. But believe it or not, it was. So much so that news of one Indian man's excursion made it to a newspaper dated September 23, 1979.?
Who does the old newspaper advertisement feature?
The advertisement featured in an English-language newspaper and dated September 23, 1979, features Prahllada Shetty, Director, Kohinoor Rolling Shutters & Engineering Works Pvt. Ltd. Bangalore. The ad is a message from the featured man's business associates where they're congratulating him on his upcoming business trip to the U.K., West Germany, Switzerland and other European countries.
X user @outofofficedaku shared this little slice of Indian history on April 9 with the caption: "In the 70s ads were put in newspapers congratulating Indians who would be travelling abroad."?
Check out the viral post below:
How did the internet react?
The viral post collected over 1,73,000 views, 2,506 likes and comments to match.
"Who knows, maybe like they need all sorts of stuff for a visa now, back then they needed a newspaper ad to prove intent,' one X user ventured a guess. "You have no idea how tough it was to get a telephone, let alone a passport. Getting a ticket and visa to go abroad was like winning the Olympics," said another, putting things into perspective. "We have indeed come a long way in the last half a century," wrote a third.
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