While my colleagues and me sat relishing the Daal makhani and Chicken
butter masala from “Chulah Chauki ka Dhaba” it was not just the food but the ambience
of the place too that we cherished. Apart from the cane sofas and “moodas”
(small round chairs with cushions but no backrest) the “Manji” (cot) on which
laid a wooden slab either side of which people can sit and eat, reminded us of
the good old days. It kicked off with Ritesh
saying “I am glad there was no watsapp , internet and videogames in my
childhood days – I have so many memories to relish.”
Sanket (in his typical Bihari
accent) : “ Arre bhai, when you get older then what we are living today will
also feel better than that day. Sadeeyao nahi,
Happinessva mei jeeyo”
Ritesh: “Just to come to
this restaurant we coordinated with all our colleagues for atleast 2 days on watsapp and email and here were times where all you had was the landline, friends were not supposed to call on that which means all the planning had to be done during school time and everyone kept their word. Smiling at me , you must have been the obedient kid in the school
and you were the kind of kids who were our enemies, my friends used to plan
bunking the school and after lunch sharp 2:00 pm we all had to gather near
Pandey Chacha’s shop. We had this girl and I can bet she must have been like
you, laughingly pointing at me, she
was the monitress of the class and would always complain about a bunch of us.
Our names were written for the whole year on the blackboard corner “
Sanket: “and I used to
secretly take money from my mom and have that pepsi in plastic packets. I was
so scared of dad I would never ask for money from him.”
Me: “I never bunked my
classes, smiling at Ritesh, but I feel
nostalgic about how I used to be so excited about the new text books and copies
and would sit all day long covering them with brown paper and choosing the name
labels was such a big project, I would buy 4-5 sheets of different stickers. “
Ritesh: “ Initially we used
to have just the simple brown paper and later there was one with plastic feel,
haina”
Me: “Yup yup, and the
typical singing of Goooooooodddddd Mooorrrnnniiiinnnngggg Maaammmmm”. Everyone on the table started laughing.
Shreya: “In my school we
used to have PT classes. That day we used to wear our Team dress – like red/gree/blue/yellow
team had different dresses. My shoes would never be clean so in the morning after
reaching school I would rub a whole lot of chalk on my PT shoes to make them
look white.”
Everyone supported her while they remembered their own days and ways.
Me: “I don’t know if we
still get it but in those days there was this toffee called “Boyes” – it used
to
Selva: “I used to carry that
Milton water bottle and sometimes I used bring Rasna in that bottle. That day
everyone used to be my best friend , laughs.”
Me: “Nowadays Saturdays and
Sundays I get so lazy but back then Sundays I used to wake up by 7 in the
morning – eat, bath and get ready in front of the TV because 9 o clock in the
morning it used be Chandrakaanta time. Then there was Mowgli and Potli Babaki “Geeto
ka , Kahaaniyon ka kisso ka chhaava”. OMG those days were so good. I don’t think
our kids generation will have all this to watch.. Apps for poems, Apps for
learning ABCD and what not.
Oh Yes and every Saturday evening the Doordarshan movie was such a big
hit. We would pull the curtains up and some of the people who used to work in
our house would stand at the window to watch the movie for sometime. And the
Chitrahaar – Can’t imagine there was just one song show in those days”
Ritesh: “and whenever there
was a romantic scene , mom would say “go get me a glass of water”. I would take
time to get up and slowly push my way when second time “Go, I am thirsty , get
me water”
Everyone bursted out laughing.
Vicky: “Although I like power
back but sometimes when it takes time for the power backup to start it reminds
me of those early days if the power went off , there used to be complete silence
for sometime and my elder brother would make these ghostly noises to scare me ,
I would start shouting and from the other room Daddy would point the torch
light in the direction of my room and would keep talking from the other room
saying “Mera Raja Beta, don’t worry Daddy is here”. Till mom would go to the
kitchen holding the wall to find her way and get a candle for both the rooms. And
when the power was back we used to hear children from neighbours shouting
YYYEEYYYY and in the fun I would beat up my brother.”
 |
| Bye Bye Road |
Me: “Back then there was a
place called Mirick near Siliguri, probably still is– it had beautiful tea
gardens and used to be our favorite destination for a day trip. Mom Dad would
be discussing all the problems of the house and relatives sitting in the front
seat – Dad was very fond of music and would have the latest Hindi movie song
cassette playing, while me and brother would be at the back seat sitting other
way round looking at the road going away from us and shouting on top of the
voice “Bye bye road, bye bye road” I don’t know what fun that was. Time and
again mom would say, “Stop shouting, Papa
important gall kar rahe ne” and we would keep shut for a few seconds then
start with low volume and high and higher and again on full blast “bye bye road”. On the way back both of us used to be asleep on the back seat and would wake up
only when we reached home”
Sanket: “And we used to
watch movie in VCR. All neighbor kids would gather at our place to watch the
VCR movie.”
Reema: “When I was a kid we used to play chor police,
Vish –amrit which many kids used to say Lock-Key, Pittu which was my favourite,
Colourman colour man which colour do you want to choose (sings it to the old
days tune and laughs), Trump cards of WWF wrestlers, Name|place|animal|thing ,
chor|Sipahi|Raja|Mantri.”
Everyone started laughing and clapping in a gesture to show their
assent.
Neha: “Every summer holidays
we used to go to our Naani ji’s house. She used to stay in the suburbs – we used
to play in the water for whole day and in the evening all the children used to
sleep together on the terrace – there were no beds, just cots with handmade
mattresses – and we would keep counting the stars or keeping guessing the
design of the constellation while all elders would sit on the other side chit
chatting till late in the night.”
The discussion went on and on. I don’t know if technology is making us
happier, sometimes it feels thank god we have technology else I would have been
so miserable. But other times I feel old days were better – so what if it took
time to communicate and there was just landline – we were closer to our neighbors,
yes it took more time to travel anywhere- but it meant less travelling and more
local festivities, medicine field has become so advanced but we have become
more mentally ill – I think problems will always stay – that is nature’s law ,
that is a way of nature to keep a sanity check on human species, probably we
are getting deluded where we feel we are solving a problem unconsciously giving
rise to another one as a repercussion.
