Having born in the first half of eighties, I am one of the millions of Indians who grew up watching Doordarshan, reading Nagraj and Super Commando Dhurv comics, playing WWF Trump cards game, listening Philips walkman and doing many crazy stuffs which would be alien to the children of the current generation. Can you imagine, I spent my childhood without Play Stations, mp3, I-Pods, video games, 100s of Cable TV channels, DVD’s, Computers, Laptops, Internet, Mobile etc. How did I survive growing up in the 80’s and 90’s? Today, I am going to share some old memories, images and many other stuffs that will bring back to you some childhood memories. Let’s see 50 things that will take you back to your Childhood days.
1. Gold Spot (Used to be one of my favorite drinks in early 90s). It had a catchy punch line – “The Zing Thing.”
2. Doordarshan Screensaver :: You remember the “Doordarshan” Screen saver – i.e. nothing on TV , come back later. and the background music— ta na na na na na.
3. Vicco Turmeric Ad :: This is another very common ad that used to be on tv for auyervedic cream, Vicco Turmeric! and the song went like this “Vicco Turmeric, Vicco cosmetic, Vicco turmeric ayurvedic cream ”
4. Nirma Washing Power Ad :: “Washing powder Nirma, Washing powder Nirma Doodh si safedi, Nirma se aayi”.
5. Budiya ke baal :: Remember those pink colored fluffy cotton candies that the street hawker used to bring in a pack of six. He would come after school hours and make announcements in cacophonous though sweet voice, ‘budhiya ke baal lelo……’!
6. Brown Cover on Books :: Do you remember creating brown paper book covers for your new school books at the beginning of each school year? You make the folds, crease them, and fit the book into the newly made cover.
7. White Bata PT Shoes on Saturdays :: Everyone wore these shoes for “PT period.” on Saturdays. When these shoes were dirty, we would paint them with white shoe paint.
8. Milton Water Bottle :: Part of every school kid’s arsenal – along with a giant backpack and a lunchbox – essential for dealing with hot days at school. Given how hard the insulated shells were, they also became weapons in any fights that broke out. Somewhere around 6th standard it became really uncool to carry one around and everyone stopped.
9. Big Fun Cricket Cards :: Big Fun was one of the most popular chewing gums during the Eighties. It used to offer a series of collectible pictures of cricketing stars along with the bubblegum wrapper. Along with the pictures, there was also runs/wickets which the kids would collect and keep score. At the end of the sales promotion, the kids can exchange the scores with some gifts like comics and goodies. Those were the days of Kapil Dev, Viv Richards, Michael Holding, Sunil Gavaskar, Dilip Vengsarkar, Ravi Shastri etc.
10. Chacha Chaudhary :: One of the most popular Indian comic book characters. An old man whose attire comprised of a red turban, a wooden stick, a waistcoat with a double inside pocket, and a pocket watch. His household consisted of his wife Bini (Chachi), a faithful street dog called Rocket and a giant called Sabu. According to the comic his brain was” sharper than a needle and faster than a super-computer!”
11. Mango Frooti :: Mango Frooti…fresh n juicy!
12. Nataraj Pencil & Camel Instrument Box :: The famous black and red Natraj pencils and Camlin instrument/compass box.
13. Fountain Pen and Chelpark Ink :: After Std. 4, I remember, I had switch from pencils to “fountain pens.” Fountain pens had to be re-filled once a day which meant we all carried little ink bottles. This also meant lots of white uniforms with spilled ink!
14. Barf Ka Gola :: Remember eating Barf Ka Gola after school hours.
15. Onida Devil :: The centerpiece of television brand Onida’s marketing campaign – a green-accessoried devil for the tagline “Neighbour’s Envy, Owner’s Pride”
16. Hero Hansa :: I remember, I got my first Cycle, Here Hansa when I was in sixth standard. My school was 3-4 Km far and I used this cycle to go to school in the morning.
17. Inland Letter Card and Post Card :: How many of you have used these cards?
18. Uncle Chips :: Bole mere lips, Uncle Chips!!!
19. Rasna Girl :: I love you Rasna.
20. Ek Titli :: This was a video called ‘Ek titli’ (one butterfly), an attempt at explaining the importance of unity to children. It used to be screened in every possible break on DoorDarshan. It’s an elaborate animation of a girl telling her younger brother a story in the form of a song. Highly entertaining and inspirational.
21. VCP/VCR :: Last time in 1998, I saw a movie using VCP. A VCP is a player only, it can play VHS tapes but not record. A VCR can play and record.
22. Audio Cassettes :: Audio cassettes were a door to a new world of music. These allowed us to take our music from our homes, to our cars and even on walks. This was the beginning of a music revolution.
23. Camera and their rolls :: Each photo clicked after a lot of thought, to ensure no money was wasted when getting a 36 photo roll developed.
24. Old Black & White TV :: We had a 21 inch 10 channel Black & White TV, manufactured by ‘Beltek’. Television programs used to come on TV for only 4 hours a day, with only one channel to choose from.
25. Rooh Afza :: Rooh Afza was a bottle of Sharbat filled with water lily and rose extracts, raisins, fruits and a whole lot of other exotic goodies. It’s best had with cold milk and one ice cube. This was often served during parties.
26. Baba Sehgal :: Thanda Thanda Pani, Aaja meri Ghadi mein baith ja. First Indian Rap star.
27. Nandan, Champak, Balhans, Parag, Bal Bharati, Suman Saurabh, Cricket Samrat, Sportsstar ::
28. Do you remember Raja, Mantri, Chor, Sipahi game?
The game requires you to make 4 paper chits and write Chor (thief), Sipahi (police), Raja (king) and Mantri (minister). The chits will then be folded and one of the 4 players will toss the chits for each one of the four players to pick one. All the players will then secretly open thier chits and read what they have got. The player who gets the chit with Mantri written on it will say…”Sipahi Sipahi Chor Ko Pakdo”. The Sipahi has to guess between the two unidentified players so far. If the Sipahi guesses correctly, the chor is punished. His wrist is hit by the Sipahi usually with his two fingers. However, if Sipahi makes a mistake in identifying the chor he is wrapped instead on his wrist by the Mantri.
29. Kanche nahi khela to kya khela 🙂
30. The great game of Pitto ::
The game begins as one team throws the ball at the tower of 7-8 stones from about 7-10 meters away, trying to knock it over. If the thrower misses the tower, he is out for the rest of the game, and another player from the same team tries to throw.
If the tower is knocked over, the opposite team must retrieve the ball, and throw it at the first team, trying to hit then all out of the game one at a time. In the meantime the team which knocked over the tower must reconstruct it, avoiding the ball, of course. The second team may not run with the ball, but may only pass it around, seeking better position to hit out of the first team. This continues until either the first team is eliminated or the tower is reconstructed, whereupon the team cries Pitto and gets one point.
After this, the teams change positions, and the game may be played for as many rounds as desired.
31. Ambassador Car :: My first car ride.
32. Vivid Bharati on Philips Radio :: ‘Sangeet Sarita’, ‘Bhule Bisre Geet’, Hawa Mahal, ‘Jaimala’, ‘Inse Miliye’, ‘Bioscope ki Baatein’ ‘Chhaya Geet’ and many more programmes which I used to listen on this Philips radio.
33. Candy Cigarettes:: My favorite Cigarettes
34. He-Man – masters of the universe! tun tun ta tara tun tun. He-Man! I HAVE THE POWER!!
35. Burnol :: A great cream for all type of burns.
36. Complan :: I was a Complan boy!!!
37. Prabhu Deva’s dance in Ham se hai Muqabala ::
38. Ramayana & Mahabharat :: My favorite TV serials.
40. Pranny Roy and his “The World this week”
41. Kites :: I still remember buying and flying those beautiful Kites.
42. School Prayers ::
Hum ko man ki shakti dena http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1RLOuiX6_6A
Aye malik tere bande ham http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YmYFRNXrPdk
Itni shakti hamein dena daata http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9460ygDVVTA
43. Sketch Pens :: Gateway to art and creativity.
44. Hindi Comics :: I remember my chlidhood when we all friends waited for new releases of nagraj,dhruv, doga, ram-rahim etc. I used to rent the comics of my favorite characters. Now the tradition of renting comic, story books and children’s magazines has almost vanished from the society. Reading habit is vanishing among kids. The continuous declining readership is also threatening the survival of these few leftover comics shops that are engaged in the business of rented comic and story books.
45. Rapidex English Speaking Course
46. WWF Trump Cards ::
47. Chaat Samose ki Dukaan ::
48. Titanic ka Scene ::
49. Sunday evening movie :: The highlight of a typical week of TV viewing was the Sunday evening movie.
50. Plyaing Cricket ::
51. Ludo and Snake :: Ludo is a board game for two to four players, in which the players race their four tokens from start to finish according to die rolls.
52. Hide & Seek (Chuppa Chuppi ) :: Hiding yourself from the world.
We didn’t have facebook or orkut that time but we had REAL FRIENDS!!!! We called on friends to come out to play, never rang the doorbell, just went around the backdoor – We played with sticks and stones, played Chor-Police, hide and seek, soccer, Cricket, over and over again.
53. Carrom :: The game of carrom, one of the most popular indoor games, is said to be played in India for more than a century
54. World Reciever Radio :: Pocket-sized world receiver radio imported from China via Nepal.
55. Philips Pocket Radio ::
56. Philips Walkman :: Since the advent of the iPod, we’ve all come to take this for granted, but it was one of the most popular electronic gadgets in 80s and 90s.
57. Signature Tune of Doordarshan ::
58. Doordarshan News Readers ::
59. Cartoon Days :: I still remember Talespin, Duck Tales, Jungle Book.
60. Baje Sargam :: In my childhood, I used to get bored after watching this video again and again on Doordarshan. But now I have understood the its importance. See! how beautifully it captures the brilliant and rich culture of India!
61. Mario Video/TV Games :: Being a kid in the Nineties was so much fun, much before the advent of the PlayStation, XBOX and the PC Games. Some of my favorite games were Mario and Spartan X.
62. CIET Tarang, Tarram too, Katori, Bandar, Laal Bhujakkad Chacha :: Around 10 AM in the morning, there used to come an educational series called CIET’s Tarang. I loved the craft shows in it. Laal Bujhakkad chacha was the most popular character of this series. He was a bearded old fellow whom two kids approached whenever they had any query pertaining to how things work .
Tarang http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y6fYFAOrblg
Tarram too http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b6isEjLOJM0
63. Philips Tape Recorder ::
64. Circus :: Great source of entertainment. Had clowns, acrobats, trained animals, trapeze acts, musicians, hoopers, tightrope walkers, jugglers, unicyclists and other stunt-oriented artists.
65. Denga Pani Game :: A very simple game where you need to touch the players from the opposition who are safe only on the higher ground. If they venture on the lower groud, they will be chased by you. Once you touch the person he is out and has to move to the lower ground with his place taken up by you.
66. Aaj Tak on DD Metro :: In 1995, a 20-minute news digest called ‘Aaj Tak’ started on DD Metro. Those days, people used to actually watch DD Metro! Aaj Tak soon became popular due to its smart presentation in crisp Hindi. From that 20 minutes weekdays spot, Aaj Tak grew into a 24 hours News Channel in 6 years and today Aaj Tak is no. 1 Hindi news channel.
67. Miss World and Miss Universe :: For the first time, I came to know about these titles in 1994 when Sushmita Sen and Aiswarya Roy won Miss Universe and Miss World title respectively.
68. Lambretta Scooter :: When I was very small, I used to go to school on this scooter (with my dad). 🙂
69. TV Antenna :: Early 80’s to mid 90’s was the time where buying a Television without antenna was unthinkable and almost all the Indian homes were decorated with these antennas on their roof as if they were crowns to their heads.
70. Lantern ::
71. Singer Sewing Machine :: I wonder how many of you have seen this machine in your home.
72. Old Brands :: They all have lost their old charm and lustre on long run.
Shadi aur tumse huhhhhhhhh kabhie nahi?(gussa vich) (After eating pan pasand) Shadi aur tumse hmmmmm kabhie nahin
sooooooo nostalgic…
73. One more news Reader :: Remember this news reader, a pretty woman with signature rose in her hair. Salma Sultan, the woman who ruled the small screen (Doordarshan) as a newsreader for over two-and-a-half decades. A rose became synonymous with her and news reading.
74. Our Superheroes ::
75. Lattu :: Do you remember spinning a lattu on your palm? It is a solid turnip shaped wooden toy with a grooved lower half with two nails dug at the top and the bottom. A cotton string is wrapped around the lower half of the lattu. The lattu is then thrown on the ground with a jerk and the string is pulled out as the lattu moves round. Once you are good at spinning the lattu you can try spinning lattu on your palm.
Below is an excerpt taken off my mail box and it’s absolutely correct.
When Gulli-Danda & Kanche (marbles) were more popular than cricket.
When we always had friends to play aais-paais (I Spy), chhepan-chhepai
& pitthoo anytime … When we desperately waited for ‘Yeh Jo Hai
Jindagi’ (Doordarshan serial)
When chitrahaar, vikram-baitaal, Dada Daadi Ki Kahaniyaan were so fulfilling.
When there was just one Tv in every five houses and…
When Bisleris were not sold in the trains and we were worrying if papas will get back into the train in time or not when they were getting down at stations to fill up the water bottle …
When we were going to bed by 9.00pm sharp except for the ‘Yeh Jo Hai Jindagi’ day …
When Holis & Diwalis meant mostly hand-made pakwaans and sweets and moms seeking our help while preparing them …
When Maths teachers were not worried of our Mummies and papas while slapping/beating us …
When we were exchanging comics and stamps and Chacha-Chaudaris & Billus were our heroes …
When we were in Nanihaals every summer and loved flying kites and plucking and eating unripe mangoes and leechies …
When one movie every Sunday evening on television was more than asked for and ‘ek do teen chaar’ and ‘Rajani’ inspired us …
When 50 paisa meant at least 10 toffees …
When left over pages of the last years notebooks were used for rough work or even fair work …
When ‘Chelpark’ and ‘Natraaj’ were encouraged against ‘Reynolds
& family’ …
When the first rain meant getting drenched and playing in water and mud and making ‘kaagaj ki kishtis’ …
When there were no phones to tell friends that we will be at their homes at six in the evening …
When our parents always had 15 paise blue colored ‘Antardesis’ and 5 paise machli wale stamps at home …
When we remembered tens of jokes and were not finding ‘ice-cream & papa’ type jokes foolish enough to stop us from laughing …
When we were not seeing patakhes on Diwalis and gulaals on
Holis as air and noise polluting or allergic agents …
The list can be endless …
On the serious note I would like to summarize with …
When we were using our hearts more than our brains, even for scientifically brainy activities like ‘thinking’ and ‘deciding’ …
When we were crying and laughing more often, more openly and more sincerely ..
When we were enjoying our present more than worrying about our future …
When being emotional was not synonymous to being weak …
When sharing worries and happiness didn’t mean getting vulnerable to the listener …
When blacks and whites were the favorite colors instead of greys …
When journeys also were important and not just the destinations …
When life was a passenger’s sleeper giving enough time and opportunity to enjoy the sceneries from its open and transparent glass windows instead of some
super fast’s second ac with its curtained, closed and dark windows …
I really miss them…don’t You?
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