This billboard in a scene in a 1962 film, surprised me.
Watching Dev - Sadhana's film Asli Naqli, around 30 min interval, a street (Bombay) scene has a company Billboard
ICT - International Computers & Tabulators INDIA Pvt Ltd.
A computer company and in 1962. Made me wonder and then I also recalled, that in 1972 I was learning computer early language (BASIC). So, quite possible computers would have been around in 1962, but in India ??
Sure, next thing was to check google:
Quote:
International Computers and Tabulators or ICT was a British computer manufacturer, formed in 1959 by a merger of the British Tabulating Machine Company (BTM) and Powers-Samas. In 1963 it acquired the business computer divisions of Ferranti.
Next step was to check history of Computers.
Computers had been around since thousands of years. Mechanical, Logical etc etc. And then as electronics came around, there were Vacuum Tube computers. And then late 1940s (or may be even sooner), as semiconductors came around, solid state computers became available. Personal computers, google shows, started 1960.
Of course, what an early plus, minus, multiply, divide simple handheld calculator in the 1970s could do, will take a thousands of square ft building for a 1940s computer.
(BTW, recall Sliderule. This too is described as a mechanical calculator).