Small things in life used to give me great pleasure and a sense of satisfaction in the days that are gone by. Now, I have all the affordable comforts of life but still I don’t have the time to sit back and enjoy these days….
I remember my school days with reverence to them as I have my fond memories locked in there. I still remember the days, when I used to listen to the Vividh Bharati before leaving home and setting my watch to the time that was just read out….
I used to eagerly wait for the new film songs to telecast and wait till one song to be played. Listen to few lines of it and then leave however late it would be to school. The few lines would run in my mind and I would wait another day to hear the same few lines and wait eagerly for Saturdays and Sundays to listen to them in complete. But as fate would be stronger, I would not be able to hear them and it would be a Monday, when I hear them again.
There used to long and unforgettable debates on our favorite stars at leisure periods of school or during the breaks. The discussion used to be about varied topics of these movie stars, their upcoming films and songs that made your heart churn to the melody, new posters, their costumes, the heroine make-up, and a whole lot of aspects of the movie.
The Doordarsan serials, programs on DD2,the cricket matches, the Olympics, the games in summer holidays, the trips to hometown during holidays, the unknown relative marriages, the weddings of Akka’s, Anna’s, neighbors, uncles and aunts, the glory of talking to classmates, the long walks to the school and college. All these were fun.
Now, we get all that one desires for, new movie clippings, new DVD’s, CD’S players, mp3 players, beautiful computer systems that play multi-media.
But where is the fun in waiting for the glimpse of your favorite hero, the new posters of the hero, the magazines that had loads of cine news, the cricket commentaries for the matches you can’t see, the long wait for the world cups, the glimpses of your sports star, the tennis matches, the tennis stars, the cricket matches during the final exams, the cajoling you get to do to your mother to watch them, and the final approval from dad to watch for few over’s and then back to the books, with intermittent scores or over’s…
What fun it used to be!!!! And to top it all the discussions about the bowlers and the strikes made by players on ground….with friends the next day!!! Watching the few over’s at a near-by friend’s house during breaks and the announcement of the score card during the physics and chemistry labs…asking a friend to run home and get the scores, the unnecessary leaves to watch matches, movies, and the songs that used to be played on those small and elegant tape recorders.
The happiness of noting the songs that we like on a piece of paper and getting it recorded on a TDK or Sony cassettes from a recording shop. The 90 minute cassettes and the 60 minute cassettes, calculating how many songs would accommodate in each, the blaring speaker radios on the events of the politicians, cine actors, birthdays and death anniversaries on the street corners, the fading sound of a long forgotten song travelling in the air in the mid-afternoons when you are deliberately asked to sleep to avoid the sun on summer holidays, the long runs in the backyards of the house, the scorching heat and sweat never minded.
Now, leaving the comforts of the house is a real problem. No kid wants to play in the sun, they want be in the air conditioned rooms and the sophisticated video games to play with. The fun of munching into a raw mango right from the tree branch plucked and wiped on the dress to wash off the dust and mud. The raw tamarind buds, the unripe guavas, the sapotas, the tender coconut water all from the gardens of the backyard and those competitions for the ‘Fastest Tree Climber’ title. The street corner games with marbles, tops, and try to beat the local guys in those games, it was a whole lot of fun.
The long lectures from grand mom and grand dad about playing with the local kids and the scorching sun, the unkempt promises of not playing with them the next day, the sneaking out of the house to join the gang, the small film strips lying the roads, the collection of small match boxes, the collection of stamps, the collection of one rupee coins, old rupee notes, different envelops, foreign currencies, flowers, and those small things that looked different or amused you.
Those stories and tales from grand mom and grand dad, of those days, the pre-independence days, the stories of the days when a whole gamut of kitchen groceries could be brought with just 5 rupees, the temple feasts, the stories of ghosts and spirits that tauter you in the night after everyone has slept and you cling to your grandmother and sleep tight till the broad daylight. The joyful rides in the city buses to the town to buy things that are necessary for you, easily available in the city.
The movies in the theatres that had only benches to sit and watch the screens with an L-shaped torn in the centre, the vendors selling peanuts, murrukku, the bad-tasting cola but fun to drink, the small kulfi’s, the salty ice-creams, the sonpapdi that the old man used to sell when he comes to our house lanes late in the nights ringing his bell, heard from far away lanes, waiting for him to arrive at your lane.
Surround the chimney light and ask for the better portion from the bottle, his murmuring that everything is the same and later he gives in to satisfy us. Those were priceless star-studded nights.
The clipping that always missed when you got up to wash your hands after a round of scolding from your mother after dinner or a meal, or when you mother calls you to stir something in the kitchen, or when you run to pick the clothes in the backyard when it starts drizzling, the fun in doing everything right and still watch the small clipping that appeared between breaks.
The Chitrahaar on Wednesdays, the Rangoli on Sundays, and the other regional language movies, the Fauji serial, the Buniyaad serial, the Humlog serial on weekdays used to be good and you always looked forward to watch it unlike today’s serial that are full of Saas-Bahu or Some break-up relation or someone taking the role of Sakuni and getting disorder in the family.
Those programs had a message and talked of the wealth of a family, the happiness in living together. The serials such as , Shanthi, Sukanya, teri kahani nirali, Udaan-A story of female IPS used to talk about the strength of women in a natural way. These brought out the goodness of being a female and how she can also be equal to a man. Then the legendary series of Mahabharat and the Ramayan by the two giants in the Cine field, Ramanand Sagar and BR Chopra films, were great entertainers….
The Doordarsan short films such as film on togetherness, the film on the importance of obeying the railway crossing, the importance of educating a girl child, the importance of family planning, those small and imperfect in today’s standards of film making were real good and it was fun watching them and they still etched a mark in your brain.
The books such as Amar Chitra Katha, Tinkle, Tin Tin, the cartoon shows on DD, the Tom and Jerry, the Duck Tales, the Lonely Tunes, Mickey Mouse and Goofy, The Squirrels, The Mooglie of Jungle, The Charlie Chaplin comedies, and the non-stop nonsense series.
Everything in life has a price; we gave up these small pleasures to be more comfortable and happy in life. With it came the advent of technology and more advanced features of life but none in comparison to the small and pleasurable deeds that we used to do. In vain, we lost the very essence of living it right…..in childhood.
I remember my school days with reverence to them as I have my fond memories locked in there. I still remember the days, when I used to listen to the Vividh Bharati before leaving home and setting my watch to the time that was just read out….
I used to eagerly wait for the new film songs to telecast and wait till one song to be played. Listen to few lines of it and then leave however late it would be to school. The few lines would run in my mind and I would wait another day to hear the same few lines and wait eagerly for Saturdays and Sundays to listen to them in complete. But as fate would be stronger, I would not be able to hear them and it would be a Monday, when I hear them again.
There used to long and unforgettable debates on our favorite stars at leisure periods of school or during the breaks. The discussion used to be about varied topics of these movie stars, their upcoming films and songs that made your heart churn to the melody, new posters, their costumes, the heroine make-up, and a whole lot of aspects of the movie.
The Doordarsan serials, programs on DD2,the cricket matches, the Olympics, the games in summer holidays, the trips to hometown during holidays, the unknown relative marriages, the weddings of Akka’s, Anna’s, neighbors, uncles and aunts, the glory of talking to classmates, the long walks to the school and college. All these were fun.
Now, we get all that one desires for, new movie clippings, new DVD’s, CD’S players, mp3 players, beautiful computer systems that play multi-media.
But where is the fun in waiting for the glimpse of your favorite hero, the new posters of the hero, the magazines that had loads of cine news, the cricket commentaries for the matches you can’t see, the long wait for the world cups, the glimpses of your sports star, the tennis matches, the tennis stars, the cricket matches during the final exams, the cajoling you get to do to your mother to watch them, and the final approval from dad to watch for few over’s and then back to the books, with intermittent scores or over’s…
What fun it used to be!!!! And to top it all the discussions about the bowlers and the strikes made by players on ground….with friends the next day!!! Watching the few over’s at a near-by friend’s house during breaks and the announcement of the score card during the physics and chemistry labs…asking a friend to run home and get the scores, the unnecessary leaves to watch matches, movies, and the songs that used to be played on those small and elegant tape recorders.
The happiness of noting the songs that we like on a piece of paper and getting it recorded on a TDK or Sony cassettes from a recording shop. The 90 minute cassettes and the 60 minute cassettes, calculating how many songs would accommodate in each, the blaring speaker radios on the events of the politicians, cine actors, birthdays and death anniversaries on the street corners, the fading sound of a long forgotten song travelling in the air in the mid-afternoons when you are deliberately asked to sleep to avoid the sun on summer holidays, the long runs in the backyards of the house, the scorching heat and sweat never minded.
Now, leaving the comforts of the house is a real problem. No kid wants to play in the sun, they want be in the air conditioned rooms and the sophisticated video games to play with. The fun of munching into a raw mango right from the tree branch plucked and wiped on the dress to wash off the dust and mud. The raw tamarind buds, the unripe guavas, the sapotas, the tender coconut water all from the gardens of the backyard and those competitions for the ‘Fastest Tree Climber’ title. The street corner games with marbles, tops, and try to beat the local guys in those games, it was a whole lot of fun.
The long lectures from grand mom and grand dad about playing with the local kids and the scorching sun, the unkempt promises of not playing with them the next day, the sneaking out of the house to join the gang, the small film strips lying the roads, the collection of small match boxes, the collection of stamps, the collection of one rupee coins, old rupee notes, different envelops, foreign currencies, flowers, and those small things that looked different or amused you.
Those stories and tales from grand mom and grand dad, of those days, the pre-independence days, the stories of the days when a whole gamut of kitchen groceries could be brought with just 5 rupees, the temple feasts, the stories of ghosts and spirits that tauter you in the night after everyone has slept and you cling to your grandmother and sleep tight till the broad daylight. The joyful rides in the city buses to the town to buy things that are necessary for you, easily available in the city.
The movies in the theatres that had only benches to sit and watch the screens with an L-shaped torn in the centre, the vendors selling peanuts, murrukku, the bad-tasting cola but fun to drink, the small kulfi’s, the salty ice-creams, the sonpapdi that the old man used to sell when he comes to our house lanes late in the nights ringing his bell, heard from far away lanes, waiting for him to arrive at your lane.
Surround the chimney light and ask for the better portion from the bottle, his murmuring that everything is the same and later he gives in to satisfy us. Those were priceless star-studded nights.
The clipping that always missed when you got up to wash your hands after a round of scolding from your mother after dinner or a meal, or when you mother calls you to stir something in the kitchen, or when you run to pick the clothes in the backyard when it starts drizzling, the fun in doing everything right and still watch the small clipping that appeared between breaks.
The Chitrahaar on Wednesdays, the Rangoli on Sundays, and the other regional language movies, the Fauji serial, the Buniyaad serial, the Humlog serial on weekdays used to be good and you always looked forward to watch it unlike today’s serial that are full of Saas-Bahu or Some break-up relation or someone taking the role of Sakuni and getting disorder in the family.
Those programs had a message and talked of the wealth of a family, the happiness in living together. The serials such as , Shanthi, Sukanya, teri kahani nirali, Udaan-A story of female IPS used to talk about the strength of women in a natural way. These brought out the goodness of being a female and how she can also be equal to a man. Then the legendary series of Mahabharat and the Ramayan by the two giants in the Cine field, Ramanand Sagar and BR Chopra films, were great entertainers….
The Doordarsan short films such as film on togetherness, the film on the importance of obeying the railway crossing, the importance of educating a girl child, the importance of family planning, those small and imperfect in today’s standards of film making were real good and it was fun watching them and they still etched a mark in your brain.
The books such as Amar Chitra Katha, Tinkle, Tin Tin, the cartoon shows on DD, the Tom and Jerry, the Duck Tales, the Lonely Tunes, Mickey Mouse and Goofy, The Squirrels, The Mooglie of Jungle, The Charlie Chaplin comedies, and the non-stop nonsense series.
Everything in life has a price; we gave up these small pleasures to be more comfortable and happy in life. With it came the advent of technology and more advanced features of life but none in comparison to the small and pleasurable deeds that we used to do. In vain, we lost the very essence of living it right…..in childhood.
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