Things from the 80’s that I miss (in no particular order)-
- Chocolates in Gold Coin foil wrappers I used to have when I was a kid.
- ‘Harnik’ whistle-pops
- Jolly sweets that my school canteen sold with fake stamps inside for eager little schoolboys who wanted them badly for their collection
- The original inspired ‘Kentucky Fried Chicken’ that Merwans in Andheri used to sell when one of the shops was a restaurant
- Phantom cigarettes-sugared stick candies with a dot of red food colour at the tip to help us poor schoolboys tell which end was ‘lit’.
- Tibbs Frankie at Waikiki outside Sterling Cinema at Fort
- ‘Big Bite’-A Strange burger experiment that used to sell near Shopper’s Stop Andheri way back when it was called Amber Oscar and used to screen movies like ‘The Doberman Gang’. Ended prematurely when a Tarla Dalal restaurant sprang up at the same location.
- Buying art supplies with mom near the Jehangir Art Gallery at Kala Ghoda and at Bombay Stationery Mart at Fort.
- My Kodak Kroma 35mm Compact Camera that I got as a birthday gift while still in school. The damn thing still works!
- Trips to Rhythm House and Hiro Music House to buy audio cassettes.
- The rush to buy school supplies-textbooks, notebooks and uniforms.
- Walking with parents at Marine drive in the monsoon, with the spray from the waves and the rain in my face.
- Gumboots (no, not really-always ended up being flooded because of the ‘water finds its own level’ funda.
- Paper planes. Had once littered my entire building ground by using up two whole diaries (that’s 730 sheets or more) to launch paper planes from my window sitting with my cousin on a boring summer afternoon.
- Wood Pencils. Steadtler sharpeners. Used to wish that I could write with a pen then. Sorely miss them now.
- ‘Hero’ Fountain Pens that were made with cutting edge Chinese technology which enabled them to land on their nibs were they ever to roll off your desk. Have never had a hero pen survive a fall (an Indian ‘hero’ would never have died, except at the end of a judwaa bhai movie).And not stain my fingers or my pocket some time or the other for that matter.
- Supremo, Mandrake, Phantom, Tinkle and the occasional Champak. And Starblazer and War Digests.
- The school bell. Never know now when to leave office for home as a consequence.
- ‘Fusen’ gum. We’re probably the only place outside Japan where this thing sells in such huge quantities. Friends abroad have never heard of it. Made by Marukawa Confectionery Works (?!?).I spent most of my childhood chewing strange pale grape flavored gum lured by a water based tattoo at the back.
- Summer vacations. And how!
- ‘Sing’ at the canteen sold out of a glass jar behind a grill from the school canteen. Used to have pockets full of it in the school recess.
- Clip on black school ties with the yellow ‘house’ stripe that used to wear out amazingly fast.
- Juhu beach being a cleaner less crowded place-used to drive down there with parents at an unearthly hour on Sundays to go for a stroll. Hated them then, but miss them now.
- Amazingly sweet Variali sold fresh off the plant near Bhavan’s college.
- Going to the Bhavan’s nursery with mom to pick up plants.
- Walking back home from school soaking in the rain and wading through the suburban ‘flash floods’ that Andheri was famous for.
- Wandering all over the school grounds in search of ‘Badaams’-haven’t yet figured out if they were really connected to Almonds or called that simply because of their shape.
- TV Ads-From Nirmal washing powder “Suno suno O babuji, kahan chale? Kapde kyon hai maile dhule?” “Maile, par maine to Laundry mein dhulwaye the” to Laxman Sylvania to Britannia Delite-loved them all. Except for the Lalitaji ones.
- Painful school sports days at the Bhavan’s college grounds where I used to try my hand at everything from long jump to running and finally end up spending most of the day sitting on grass in the hot sun chatting with friends and waiting for the damn thing to end.
- Star trek communicators made from matchboxes and rubber bands.Beam me up, Scotty!
- Films Division Animated stuff-“Tree of Unity”, Toh kya taaron ko anek bhi kehte hai, didi?
- The school canteen-served the since unrivalled fabulous round sabudana wadas-best eaten piping hot with watery tamarind date chutney under the gulmohur tree near the canteen. Awesome in the rains.Inspired me to start a ‘sabudanawadafans’ e-group on yahoo for ex-wadia classmates. Used to take three coupons worth (7.50 rupees after adjusting for inflation) and stuff myself to the gills along with a certain friend of mine. To be fair-their other stuff like ragda pattice, bhel and poha was fairly decent (except for the milk based fruit salad), but pales in comparison to the sabudana Wada.
”Never has so little given so much joy”. - My ancient 1989 Premier Padmini Deluxe. Had thought all the screeching sounds in films when cars skid on fast curves were special effects-turns out that they’re real in the Padmini-you scalp your tires doing corners over 65 kmph.
- Doordarshan.Ramayan.Giant Robot.Fraggle Rock. Star Trek. Fireball XL5. Need I say more?
- Cadbury’s ‘Double Decker’ chocolates. Sighh.
- Old school teachers with all their eccentricities- “I will throw you out of the balcony” “Quick fast. Page 34 kholiye.Paath ka naam hai ‘Mitrata’.Shamu aur Banshi dono mitr the”
- Loss of my Cuteness Quotient. Used to be a cute kid and then lost it completely when I grew up. Damn, just when you need something...
- School friends. Have been constantly in touch with some. Rediscovered some on neworking sites. And some are truly lost.
