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Born in the early 80s? I voice for you!


I grew up listening to childhood tales of my parents and grandparents. Very often, my grand mom used to say, “You are so lucky to be born amidst all the comforts. Yet, an irresponsible little creature you are… did you know that even on my wedding day, I walked kilometers to reach home?!” And I used to wonder, “Just that you were unfortunate to be born in a non-Maruti & Fiat era, unlike me. But, what is my fault in it?” My parents however, were better as they had a decorated ambassador car to take them home on their wedding day. So, they couldn’t crib much on the same. But, don’t think that they were out of ideas to emotionally blackmail us; my dad and mom have narrated the same ‘cycling uphill and downhill’ to school story, at least a thousand times! My mother would say, “You have ironed uniform, polished shoes, yummy breakfast and school bus waiting for you. In spite of all the luxury, you are always late! Are you not ashamed?” Then, she would continue, “When I was a kid….” And that used to be the motivation to get ready soon and rush to school…!!

I have promised myself several times that I will not torture the next generation with my hardships purana!

But… But… Now that I have crossed the silver jubilee of life, looking at teenagers, I realize that growing up is so easy for them; every damn thing is at their finger tips, just a mouse click away! I hate to say, but I cannot help it, “Bloody hell… you guys have got the best while we had to struggle to grow up!”

We did not have video CDs to learn Humpy Dumpty and Chubby Cheeks. To watch Tom and Jerry for half an hour, we waited for Sunday evenings. We eagerly looked forward to weekly Mahabharata, Chitrahar & Malgudi Days on Doordarshan. And if missed, no Youtube existed for re-telecast! When I had to know about tropical rain forests, I went to the library, picked book by book, flipped page by page, read line by line to gather information. And today, through google, so quickly and effortlessly, everything is served on their platter! I had waited for hours for my friends under the banyan tree near our school, not knowing where they were; while today SMS speak minds even before the memo is sent to their brain! We had only stamps and inland letters to keep in touch; while today, boys & girls are available on emails, facebook and twitter round the clock! Nobody knew what I did on a holiday, while today the whole world knows what one is up to! “Woke up late; stomach upset. Oh, what a terrible Saturday Morning!”, reads many gtalk status! To choreograph a dance performance, we had to eject, play, rewind, play, stop, fast forward and play cassettes. To find the track, we used to visit every possible music store in town. And today, they sleep on ipods and downloaded MP3s! We grew up playing ludo, caroms and snakes & ladders while these brats are glued to X-Box!

If I don’t stop here, the list is only gonna get longer! Hmmm …and for sure, my parents and grandparents were definitely better; they did not crib so much!!!!

However, even though we were born before the internet revolution, Better late than never… we don’t anyways belong to the computer-ignorant generation! Hence, the moral of the story is, “Compare yourself with the less-fortunate ones to become more content in life!” So, I pacify myself, “My poor granny… she died even without having an orkut profile …while I have a blog too!”  

So, do you wanna share with us, any tales inherited from your parents or ancestors? 

21 comments:

Vidya said...

As usual, a well written blog shalini.....
You are right, the comforts and luxuries keep increasing with each generation.....Acchan used to tell about his hardships in his childhood days....walking to school which was kilometers away....doing all kinds of chores at home etc etc.....
but i think, somewhere down the lane, i feel that it has a great impact in building us as better individuals!!
All such nostalgic experiences should be transfered from generation to generation!!!

Meety said...

Good one.. "My poor granny… she died even without having an orkut profile " I loved that part!!

Anonymous said...

i guys cribbing comes hereditary ;)heheehe isnt it ? every generation ( jus a guess !!! ) try not to crib as they used to hear form their ancestors , but v cant help !! its in our genes u c ;)!!So its k to crib to others , but make a fast move while you hear to get the same :P...loved ur post ...esp the closing lines : my granny died without having an orkut profile !!! it can be definitely by the humourous shalini only !!

Nona said...

Oh my!!! For sure, you were born in an unlucky decade! I agree to the point that the younger generation is blessed!

An interesting point to ponder! These young things will also crib like your grandmom, your parents and you! Wonder what they will crib about when they attain silver jubilee?

Nona said...

Check this out if you haven't seen this before. :)

http://aparnadasgupta.blogspot.com/2009/09/eighties-girl.html

Swaram said...

LOL .. U r rt .. we hv a blog too and thatz wow ;)
My grandma missed hvng an orkut profile but the cousins miss the wonderful times we hd playing outdoors, the large open spaces .. so, we r the luckiest gen, to hv the best of both :P Aah, nw this realization makes me really really happy :D

Pink Mango Tree said...

@ Vidya - Thanks Chech..!! :) Yes, true; if at at, there is a bit of goodness in us, I owe it to our parents and the way they have brought us up!

@ Sigma - Dangu Stigmu! :)

@ Adreamygirl - Thanks a lot, I am elated at ur comment! :) ...n yes, I firmly believe this cribbing-habit is somewhere in our veins!

@ Nona - Yes, keep ur fingers crossed and see ur kids grow! :)
And, thanks for the link; it is a fabulous post!

@ Swaram - Apart from the jokes, I cannot agree more than this to u! You said it, bang on!! We were lucky to taste a bit of our previous generation and slip into the next!

Vikas said...

Nicely written Shalini..:) And yeah I can always quetch about hanging from TPK Travels and Babu motors during rain, and the new generation coming in their own car or school bus.

Haree said...

:-)
Once I too wrote something like this. [ഓര്‍മ്മകളിലൊരു പൂക്കളം (ML)]

I used to watch Giant Robot, before the sunday movie in DD-Malayalam. Other two things were Chithrageetham and Thiranottam. Then comes Rangoli, waited for months to watch the Malayalam film coming in DD-National (afternoon). And I went to the neighbour's to watch all these!

Today I do have a lot of options, to entertain myself. But the real joy is missing, I feel.
--

Shiva said...

Love the fact that you have something like this "So, do you wanna share with us, any tales inherited from your parents or ancestors?" - this makes the comments section as interesting as your blog posts :)

My uncle's stories abound in the family. One story goes that he used to climb a tree to catch the street light for studying...

I didn't miss mobiles in college though I passed out only in 2007 and everybody in the class excluding me and one of my friends had one! It is sometimes exciting not to know where a person is and wait, I guess we got to enjoy it.

And playgrounds, I dread the day when they are going to become non-existent! Even street cricket is disappearing...! We used to play in a ground behind the house and when I go there, not even a sign that such a thing once existed...on a positive note, we are the luckiest people because to us, nostalgia can't get any sweeter :)

lostworld said...

I am not one who is very savvy in today's world of instant connectivity! Somehow I feel there is a disconnect. I like my childhood days & the sort of camaraderie that got built then. I miss it.

Pink Mango Tree said...

@ Vikas - Yeah, i think i remember Babu Motors! Was it orange in color?! :) ...m yeah, thanks for the comment!

@ Haree - I read ur blog; it is brilliantly written. BTW, I don't mean to say that I dislike my childhood just cos internet was absent!

@ Shiva - Totally agree! Gulllies & grounds used to play 7-stones & cricket have changed, beyond recognition, sadly...
..n ur uncle is a champion; he had to climb the tree? Even Abraham Lincon didn't have to undergo such trouble! ;)

@lostworld - Yes, today's generation can only be nostalgic about video games and farmville. May be after 20 years, we will get to read nostalgic blog posts on excising on Wii Fit and giving B'day treats to school friends at KFC & McD.

Dr Roshan Radhakrishnan said...

Scary part is what is this generation gonna crib about to the next generation ??

The one who has loved and lost said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
The one who has loved and lost said...

Such is life! :)

Great post.. but I would anyway choose my own childhood than the ones experienced by today's generation. There was an indescribable fun in those long waits for weekend movies .. a joy in receiving the occasional land line call from friends.. peace in the privacy which google/facebook/twitter has now taken away... a sense of possession over the limited collection of audio/video cassettes.. a sense of thrill in waiting for your friends, eagerly expecting their arrival without knowing where they reached...

This the new generation will never know.

Anonymous said...

Shalu,
I just had a thought of Ammamma and Achachan having Orkut profiles :-P...wondered what their G-talk status wud have read.... " Balan Nair reported Late to work... hummmph... Getting late to go to Aduthila.... Harvest time... I hope we get a good yeild of cashews this time..."
or...
"kids coming home for summer hols... got to get Chandutty to do the swing on the Mango tree at the back.... got to chk on the mangoes too while at it"....
ROTFL.....
Well written Babes....
Way to go.....

Aparna said...

Hi, Nona told me about the post and I came over to read. Excellent write-up, though very different from what I wrote.
Growing up, we never had any luxury to speak of. We had no phones and internet. Sometimes we had no copier machines to copy our notes. But we had great friends, lazy idyllic days and a carefree existence. My daughter is 14 and I feel our teenage years were so different.
But I firmly believe that times may be different, human beings essentially remain the same. Cheers.

Pink Mango Tree said...

@ Dr Roshan - May be they will crib abt parents who get Nike Shoes when asked for Reebok! U see, that cud be a sin these days!

@ The Layman - Thanks... and you have rightly said it! I cannot disagree!

@ Anonymous a.k.a Vidyechi - It cannot get more hilarious than this! Think of Achachan sitting in our car porch bitching abt Balan Nair to N'echi through yahoo messenger! :) :)

@ Aparna - Thanks a lot! :) You r talking abt ur 14 years daughter, even when i see a toddler, i feel he/she is highly demanding! Perhaps, "change" is the most demanding change of the times!

Unknown said...

haha.. too true..

what's most fun is listening to a bunch of folks from an older generation sitting together and talking about the 'old times' to the 'young ones' present.. it almost always ends up sounding like monty python's 'four yorkshiremen' sketch..

speaking of which, do you mind if i borrow this idea for a post of my own? :-D

Pink Mango Tree said...

@ Jackson - ROFL..!!! :)
...n why not?! Go ahead with posting a blog on the same topic, and share the url!

Cheers!

Jackson said...

done, and done.. :-)

*on a related note, NOW i see the name/URL option in the comment submission section.. sigh, now i really feel old..

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