Remember the Doordarshan tune, the tyon tyon tyon tyon tyon tune on Television. Something which used to frighten me as a kid especially that funny logo of the eye.
Talking about TV, remember the black and white television era, I remember the good old Dyanora TV.
Then in the early 80's, came colour TVs. I remember the first colour TV we had was of BPL with only 12 channels in the form of buttons which would go tuck tuck tuck.. No remote control at that time.
But then there was only Doordarshan, maybe 2-3 channels, unlike today where we have more than 500.
In fact we are spoilt for choice.
But out of those 500, there are channels which are not at all relevant to me like Sun TV, Moon TV, Gemini, Jaya TV, Asianet ( no offence to the south Indian community).
Remember the programmes on DD, Chayageet and Chitrahaar. The marathi serials 'Hello Inspector' and '100' or 'Aamchi mati aamchi mansa'.
Hindi soaps like Humlog, Buniyaad and Khandaan, no Bade acche lagte hain, Na aana is desh lado.
Remember news with Salma Sultan and Bhakti Barve, not Barkha Dutt and Prannoy Roy.
I remember watching the 'Ramayana' and 'Mahabharat' on Sunday mornings.
Also 'He-man', Giant Robot, Fraggle Rock were a favourite with the kids.
Then came Star Plus in the early 90s. I remember running home from school at 4 pm just to catch 'The Bold and The Beautiful' at 4.30 pm. It was a treat watching the sexy Ridge Forrester and the graceful Caroline Spencer back then. Learnt the meaning of the three letter word and sleeping around from that programme too. Soaps were educational!
MTV was a rage too with girls going crazy over that Vj Danny MC Gill.
From Television, I'll move to the next T, Telephone. A luxury to some! A telephone was rare, not everyone had one at home.
To get one was a long wait, as MTNL had a waiting list. Waiting list meant you would get your phone in two to three years time. I
remember my first telephone, a moss green one, with a dial which would make a funny noise when you moved it..like a kurrr kurrr kurrr kurrr.
Also remember all and sundry coming home to make calls to God knows where.
Premier Padmini, the Indian company who made Fiats.( fiat taxis still going strong). Remember those days, where we had a fan in the car instead of an air condition.
Most of the cars then had hand gears, till Maruti came onto the scene with floor gears.
Also remember walking to school with friends, though parents would pass by in the car, as we gals wanted to chitchat and travelling with the folks wouldn't give us that opportunity.
Also remember cycling to school, first had an Avon BMX followed by a blue Hero Hansa. Now can't imagine students cycling or walking to school as there's no place to walk. There are more cars than people.
Also remember those good ole days of autograph books, where teachers or friends would write lovely quotes on the last day of school or our last year of school.
Now I guess kids maybe sending smses instead of writing in this age of cell phones or smartphones.
Talking about cell phones, the first cell phone looked like a big compass box and incoming calls were not free back then. Unlike today where your sweeper and bhajiwala have mobiles, in the 90's it was a luxury.
Remember our dabba personal computers, which were over a lakh Rupees when they first came out. So slow and big. Now phones are like mini computers.
I also remember the days where we would welcome relatives from foreign lands with open arms, more interested in what was in those arms. The foreign chocolates, the soaps, the perfumes... Not our Hamam, Pears, Rexona, Cinthol...
But no one made sweet cigarettes like Harnik, those Phantom cigarettes, peppermint flavoured with a lil red on top depicting a lit cigarette. I loved them, that's the reason for not having all 32 teeth.
NP bubble gum which you got for 25 paise and peppermint sweets in the shape of coins for 10 paise. Today, those sweets nor the flowery looking10 paise exist.
I remember being in an all girls school, a side glance at a boy on the same playground was considered an offence or taboo by our PT teachers. We were often fired for committing such a sin.
But those teachers could not stop me from playing with the guys in my building football and cricket or badminton, atti patti etc.
Those days were fun!
Wonder what memories Mikhail will have, being brought up in an era of HD TVs, Ipads, Toyotas etc etc.. Well, he'll make his own I'm sure.
For the Doordarshan tune go to
http://m.youtube.com/#/watch?v=tFoNiwZNcrg&gl=US
