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Wednesday, April 24, 2013

Unpretentious and uncomplicated 1990s


  •  When there were no mobile phones yet we always turned up at the right place at the right time
It is now 2013 and we cannot imagine life without technology for a minute

  •  When summer vacations meant packing bags and off to cousins’ place in some other city, irrespective  of the fact that their city may be hotter than your city
Summer vacations have gone exotic and reached foreign shores

  • When communication meant buying colorful writing pads, writing letters to friends/relatives in another city, waiting for the postman to deliver that much awaited exam roll number and of course, reply to the letters that you wrote to the folks in another city
Emails, text messages, BBM and Whatsapp are the most convenient and preferred modes to communicate with anyone anywhere

  • When wishing a festival or an occasion like Diwali, New Year, birthday and anniversary meant sending Archies cards to friends and family
An SMS or posting on Facebook suffice on birthdays or Diwali

  • When the only possible source of entertainment was TV and TV had few channels and those few channels had fewer shows and those fewer shows were watchable by whole family
TV channels are now blaring out the sitcoms that run into thousand episodes and the content of which ideally belongs to 1970s and of course TV is not the sole entertainment option

  • When eating out with family meant going to a restaurant that just served good Shahi Paneer, Dal Makhni and Butter Chicken
Eating out with family now means picking a cuisine first and restaurant later, of course making everyone in the family come to a consensus is another matter altogether

  • When listening to new movie songs meant going to a music shop and buying the audio cassette, coming home and playing – rewinding – forwarding to the song that happened to touch a chord with you
Listening to music is now just a click away, piracy notwithstanding

  • When cartoons ran at a scheduled time everyday/every week on TV and evenings were spent in parks playing badminton
Cartoon channels are neck to neck in competition with your General Entertainment Channels in churning out content 24X7 and hence, the kids and the kid in you, both are living room grounded 

1990s were really unpretentious and simple. It did not shout for attention and there was no complex layers in understanding things. Growing up in 1990s had its own fun and comfort. The comfort of belonging to that era and yet going forward with the technology. The comfort of going back to the photo albums, 90s music, TV shows when the technology around gets too much to bear. 

And here is an ad that shall take you right back there! In the 90s. :-)




26 comments:

  1. Awww....a nice trip down memory lane...the ad is the cherry atop a sweet sweet cake.

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  2. Nostalgia is a delightful thing! Absolutely relished this post!

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  3. Lovely...it made me so nostalgic. So true, it was so uncomplicated then.The availability of everything has killed the charm.
    Remember Jungle Book or Duck tales - now these sinchan & kiretsu cannot even match their allure.
    And we are getting habituated...I get anxiety pangs if my cellphone is not with me!!

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  4. So true! I still remember the time I used to spend hand decorating my letter pads, and choosing greeting cards! This was good nostalgia!

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  5. My husband passed away in 1998, the mobile phone we had then was awkward to use, the computer one couldn't get the Internet.
    I very often wonder what he would have thought of all today's gadgets.
    Great post.
    Yvonne.

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  6. This was such a cute post:)

    I really feel time should have stopped somewhere there... **sigh**

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  7. yep those were the times now we have no time :)


    PhenoMenon

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  8. Naina Madan.................I heart you. Remember the ad and everything along with it. So very true. Fighting it. Joining it. Missing it but there is no escaping it. What a beautiful start to YOU today!

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  9. All of this is so true! Not too long ago I tried to find some pretty stationary to write a nice thank you letter and I couldn't find it anywhere! Unbelievable. I think we're losing something special by abandoning the handwritten note.

    Happy A to Zing!

    http://cbwentworth.wordpress.com

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  10. wow
    That used to be my fav ad ! kUCH UNIQUE BAAT HAI 90S ME
    and i also used to love khaane waalo ko khaane ka bahana chhaiye
    simple ads and simple ppl . Simple lives
    cool post Naina

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  11. OMG NAina , you said it all so beautifully :)loved the wistful tone of this lovely post :)

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  12. Amen to that... From a 90s product ;)

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  13. Kuch baat hai... zindagi mein ! :) that was such a spontaneous ad back then ! :)

    Loved this post... I as such am a sucker for nostalgia ! :)

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  14. I agree. It was a quieter time, uncomplicated. Fewer options, but infinitely more fun.

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  15. Growing up in the '70s was even better! ;) Nostalgia - love it! You'll be seeing plenty of it at are blog in the days ahead!!

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  16. Those were the times... took me down the memory lane.
    Good post, Naina :)

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  17. Those were the days - life was so much simpler back then. You took us on a nice trip down memory lane.

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  18. While I know - today i cant go back to those days sometimes I miss those simple joys! But errrrr nee give me my technocoly ....

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  19. Good post! Way back then was less complicated. :)

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  20. Hi Naina .. fascinating and yes life was easier 15 - 20 years ago .. except there are some advantages in today ...

    I was at a friend's recently and he was working AND watching Indian 20 20 cricket ... India and cricket go together almost more than England and cricket now-a-days ...

    Love the ad - that was fun to see ... cheers Hilary

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  21. What a trip down memory lane, loved every line you wrote Naina, it was all so nostalgic :)

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  22. To me simple and uncomplicated means the seventies : but some people were so pretentious in those days. Fake humility was the flavour of the day. "Mera gareebkhana" was how someone referred to his 3 story home, chota sa tohfa was an obscenely large and expensive gift. It was an art ... truly an art, which had me laughing most inappropriately. We walked, cycled and did our homework with ink pens and used blotters. OMG I can write a blog about it!

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  23. It was great then. Waiting for our kiddie serials on Sunday. It was wonderful...the small pleasures of life went a big way.

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  24. Lovely post thank you! How we wish to un-complicate things sometimes! We can still do those lovely more natural things like appreciating a sunset, watching children play, walking etc ... ! But I also feel nostalgic for those times!

    Susan Scott's Soul Stuff

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  25. Nice nostalgic post! Good times!

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  26. God, such heavy nostalgia Naina, it's so heady! I love those colourful writing pads and writing letters, now I whatsapp, it's sad. :(

    Lovely post Naina, I want me 90's back!

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