Possessions

The other day I was wondering how sophisticated these kids(who are under-12 right now) are gonna grow up to be! To my inquisitive self, my father would often tell me how things were different when he was a teenager, and "moving on" has been the mantra of their generation. And rightly so, keeping in my mind the technical and cultural advancement in all these years! He had to listen to the commentary for Hockey and Cricket on a transistor. Although Desi Ghee costed around 15-a-kilo, a motor-car was reserved for the filthy rich and well-to-do! Long queues for Trunk calls, Chitrahaar on Doordarshan.. (if you know all this, I've perhaps made my point, if not - I'm just boring you :P) The point is, I was wondering, now that I'm in my 20s, how distinctly did we grow up?


The immediate thing that came to my mind was, being a boy - a Cricket BAT! You could win the world if you own that.. and now all you need is balls! And not just any ball - Cosco! or even Khanna would suffice! These costed us gang around 25 bucks; and buying a leather ball was a totally different affair. Pocket money doesn't buy those balls! ;-)


I would have to be a sucker critic to claim that this was all I ever cherished. But as I said, I could immediately recall and re-paint my favorite Bat :)
Sad enough, I don't even have a picture of it; infact none of my possessions.. which I took a lot of time to figure out! So I'll now shut up, and put up a few 'things' here - these are absolutely personal and our choices do differ.... but maybe and just maybe, I remind you of something similar! And then you can go on smiling about how-funny-those-time-were.. PRICELESS!




What if I say the following were my fantasies.. PG-500, Gypsy or Beta? No sire, they are not cool names of cellphones from the XYZ brand..

Gypsy, boiiii; How bad I'd flaunt it !! ;-) Add Gel Pens were quite the thing to keep in your school-bag! PG-500 was absolute class; smooth-ass pen for the marathon notes the teachers try to spoon-feed!
And Parker's Beta, it has a story! I won the first debate competition I took part in, at school level. And this was a souvenir. Grand.

Although a freak about these rather common pens, I never completed my homework. I think standard VI was the last I maintained a note-book! Rules and me :/ As much as music interests me now, I could have done anything that could eat up my "homework-cum-study-time". A Philips Cassette Player or WALKMAN was just the thing! No iPods, mp3 players for this kid, not even a disc-man! ;-)


You'll know its hard to find images of the exact one on the internet for obvious reasons, but this was pretty much it. Automatic Stop, thats what it read!
AA Batteries and a cassette that could hold only 10 to 12 songs - but you are the king, and you know it!

Surely it was not that we didn't have gadgets while growing up. Because no one grew up without playing Tetris, even if it sucked(in your head, big time!) You got to have atleast touched that thing!
Suck-up all you PSP freaks! An ALL-WINNER is here!


The BRICK GAME!


Where Brick Game was a HUGE thing to be fiddling with, the TV Video Game had its own special place. SEGA is the only one I can recall for now. You see I didn't have one until I was in the 8th standard, so I couldn't quite master all those games except Mario for one! Because before I could, I had lost interest in sitting infront of the television, or at home, or apparently I had screwed my Joystick toooo soon to be reporting it to my father.. to replace it :P



Oh yes, I had that trendy-colored "educational" one, and a 64 in one classic.












Adding to the list I much adore, I had a Casio keyboard right from when I was 7 years old! Still have it at home, as a piece of.. well, it still works ;-) Achievement, I know!!
That's where I learned the Do-Re-Mi-Fa-So-La-Ti-Do's and the Sa-Re-Ga-Ma-Pa-Dha-Ni-Sa's ;-) And some sick jingles I won't wanna mention here :/




These things are things that one.. or me, to be specific, would use for a particular time in a day. But there was something that was actually a part of me 24x7.. Flesh and blood, shall we call it gentlemen and ladies!


My wrist watch! er, watches! The first one I owned was a Maxima, which was unbeatably water-proof; and me for one, exploited every sing;e feature of my possessions ;-) It just never came of. Sleeping, eating, playing in the field, at school, bathing, and uh-oh, lets not go there(where the time stands still :P)
Coolness as it was, but change is for better. I lost it, I got a new one - Titan Dash!  The Absolute! (Don't mind my exaggeration, that's what I've been doing throughout this post, hehe!) Still remember that ugly morning, while watering the plants in the garden, for one rare time, I took it off my wrist for the fear of damaging it, and kept it somewhere. And next I recall, I was searching for it all around the garden the following evening with a naked wrist and a gloomy face :( Miss it!
If anything that could beat my affinity for this watch of mine, it had to be on splendid object. The very evening, I remember telling mom, that I had lost 'one' of the two most important things I had for my own, and so I am going out to spend some time with the other. No drama, all out of disappointment, that :P And I was out on the streets with my AVON ALTON! (one day, that was stolen too!)
My bicycle. THE BICYCLE! So what, if it had no gears, or shockers, or indicators(that was a lame feature, to be honest) - it was special to me!

No street of Lucknow was left unmarked; no corners unexplored! It would often speed up to 35kmph while going down hill.. and boy, that is some speed for a bike!
Also, that is not how it looked back then :( Again, don't have a picture of it,  and the model seems to have changed!
Mine, was a blue-cum-silver colored Avon Alton - K-series; with the top-tube, down-tube and seat-tube forming a K shape! Who needs gadget when you have that! Get out on the road and kick some ass!
My love for biking never faded out, even as I went to school on a bicycle right till the XII standard! The reason why I never requested for a Dish or Cable connection at home, never cared.. or abandoned my Video Game, was this. 


You think that's crazy :P I'll add more. This adventure race, held around Pune every year, Enduro3, which I participated in 2010 demands a lot of cycling! Roughly, I biked around for 80kms in two days :O No exaggeration here, sir! None! ...Funny(& awesome), that I found an unclaimed Apple iPod(yeah, Nano - the new-age gadget) during that race.. which we, being a team, couldn't finish :/ (and which I have already lost!)




Feel like adding a conclusion here :P So, even if we didn't have a PS3 or an Apple iPod or a PSP or a Laptop or an iPad (blimey, kids now have those too!) or a.. ok, enough! I don't wanna spoil the mood :P.... things don't matter; what is cherished is memories and we had what's precious, a childhood.