Nostalgia

Ever wondered how we survived growing the 80's and 90's?
We’ve not known what seatbelts are and how airbags look like, and most of us never had a chance of sitting in a car (if one came and was parked in front of a house I remember we thought they were too rich or someone from Mars to even talk) …

and moms gave babies to neighbors and were not protecting them in a hi-fi crèche or carrying them in prams …no …no …they’ve not been exposed to any lead-based colors…or those toys whose plastics could choke a baby or whose colors could be very harmful ……and no mineral water and no paper napkins (if a kid had a real bad runny nose, an elder one in the gang would wipe it off with her skirt or a frock …..and they didn’t know uttering chheeeeeeees or chhaaaaaaaas).

And for women or mothers.....
To open kitchen cupboard it wasn't any hassle …most of them are open type and even if they were closed type …..noone knew of the cockroach tabs or lakshman rekhas or locks …all they knew was cockroaches and rats living along with their families.

And tell about cycling? It was more of a free wheeling ….… and I recall three of us also cycled together. Moms were never worried of falls or injuries. So they didn’t tie head inside a helmet or pack knees inside a cap or cover elbows inside elbow pads,……if the mothers were creative they tied some rattle between 2 spokes so it made ratata sound and it made kids gleam with smiles …

kids were kept busy collecting so much stuff from roadside (I myself was so much interested in collecting bolts and nuts) and tried to build all sort of things … (there was no POGO MAD show that time) and they never knew of the malls that could make their Sundays.…

kids were as tough as one would imagine walking on walls climbing trees and then trying a free fall jumping down for the sake of fun…. we as kids had envious stamina to stay out in the sun and in the rain to play for hours together (I recall asking my mother for extension of 30 minutes every time and never kept a time), and played up and down the stairs coming home only for dinner (and there were no rules of table manners, and all we knew is to eat like a race so we had the thrill of a win).

we walked to and fro school, or if lucky sit behind a friend who pedaled his bicycle (we never imagined of existence of school buses that have air conditions and videos played).

no mobile phones yet all friends and relatives seem so connected …. God knew how?

we lost teeth, got cuts, burnt fingers, broke arms fractured legs, had bruises and bloody noses……yet no complaints that he pushed or she threw stone, and believed it was part of so much fun

we ate whatever in sight, sour unripe tomatoes in garden or the smallest of ber fruits of tree, mango buds, candy floss, sugary drinks sold roadside, this and that, …..still grew skinny fooling people around.

And, if someone had a mouthful of cake piece it was a loot from his mouth by a gang of 10, and surprisingly no one complained of an upset stomach or complained of germs...

sunday evening get togethers were mostly story tellings and I recall most of them to be ghost stories and narration of goried accidents.....yet we are the same senstive ones crying for someone's pain and feeling at someone's loss..

no Play Stations, no MP4s and MP3s, no Nintendo's, iPods, no video games, no cable TV, no chat-rooms, no internet, etc ... and real friends was all we’ve had!

we've never had any inhibitions to go call a friend to come out to play from his backyard and never had bodyguards,

we played teacher-students, doctors and patients, hide and seek, all repeatedly ……without ever getting bored.

…..then in 90’s we have seen advent TV with the famous Doordarshan and we’ve had

Siddharth Basu’s Quiz Time
Wednesday night’s Lucy Show
Sunday afternoon’s Alpha Plus by Derek O’ Brien
....and the long long series of Ramaanand Sagar’s Ramayan
And, how can we forget those news readers on Doordarshan like the ever charming Salma Sultana,
the moled Neethi Ravinder, the charming too much Rini Khanna (I remember her as Rini Simon too), the stiff seated Geetanjali Aiyer, the so capitivating Tejinder Singh....

Do you remember of Surabhi (countless times I would’ve replied to the question) and how can anyone forget the sweet smile of Renuka Sahane and Siddarth Kak’s ending of the program?

and those two songs coming as soon as the Wednesday Chitrahar breaks off (there were no ad wars)

…….Vicco turmeric,
Nahin cosmetic
Vicco turmeric ayurvedic cream
Or
Triiiiiiiiiiiiiiii iiiiiiiiiiiiiiii iiiiiiinggggggg...................Washing powder Nirma, Washing powder Nirma
Doodh si safedi, Nirma se aayi ..............Rangeen kapde bhi khil khil jaaye…

We’ve had that melodious Sare Jahan Se Achcha and Mile Sur Mera Tumahara ……as household songs and the latter featuring all of the Bollywood stars, and I still recall the song and its beautiful picturization (could anyone beat that? I doubt).

.....we failed in exams yet given another chance …….and there were no visits to child psychologists, psychiatrists or student counselors…….all we got is one or two scoldings by mother and father (and they were not worried of any suicidal attempts by kids).

....those were the days… when we’ve had enough freedom, achieved success, went through disappointments and took responsibilities……. while still respecting elders and every others…

I proudly belong to that generation. Are you too?……connecting to your childhood through this small post. If it at least reminded you of one childhood evening, I will be glad you are at least de-stressed and believe it would have put a small smile on your face.

Old is worth more than gold…