unforgettable nineties and me

"kuch khaas hai hum sabhi mein,
kuch baat hai hum sabhi mein,
baat hai....khaas hai,
kuch swaad hai......
kya swaad hai zindagi mein "...


and the flash video ended showing two more thumbnails for another advertisements from that era ...the golden era ...the unforgettable era..lemme
give a name..."the unforgettable nineties".

I just finished watching an Old Cadbury commercial which was aired during the nineties, the one minute odd clip parceled me to the ancient age...yeah it is ancient, even if its not, it seems very much, Youtube videos are now in High Qualuty HD mode...but that ad wasn't such, it had bigger pixel size, which only made viewing a little more ambiguous, but their was something abstract, virtual, unreal feeling associated with it that ignited a nostalgia in my head, and I who was very much happy with my present too thought "Gosh, what a time that was and today is such a chaos ..a blur..... ", suddenly memories came creeping in my head which were long dormant inside my cerebrum, one said how I cried when India Lost to SriLanka in WC semifinal in 1996 and other neutralized it by how happy was I when The God of Cricket scored two back to back tons against mighty Aussies in 98, another one helped me recall how happy was I playing Mario in my neighbors home.

The attack of memories was short lived ..and the string of memories bumping my mind was jolted by the sound of my mom screaming "Shashank, are you gonna waste all your day watching those match clips of Federer..?" I replied in my mind, this time mom it's not Federer ....it was about me and may be millions like me who were brought up during the nineties in India...I shouted "Haan Mummy bas shut down hi karne wala hun....", Mom didn't replied...I glanced through the Video Clips given in the bottom right side of the screen and read the clips ...Amul Commercial,Bajaj Scooter Ad Retro, Coke Commercial with Amir Aish....Lucky Ali O sanam....and so on...'O sanam' Music video had almost had 10lakh views, It was hard to believe, but that showed there are people living in my generation who are still in love with this ...these songs ..Lucky Ali ....Today it's pathetic, you see music videos having one girl leading 10 other similar creatures, dressed in sense, you can't even in the wildest of dreams associate with song.. and singer knows every trick except what he is meant to.


I forgot I pledged to shut Windows minute earlier instead ..what I did was to click On a thumbnail saying Doordarshan Signature Montage..what followed was utter nostalgia, I don't know how I recalled the tune that played in video, it was Shehnai by Late Ustad Bismillah Khan which I haven't heard since ages, as the video played It catapulted me to my childhood ..
My Grandma ..my buaji..my sis... flat apartment...Binatone black n white TV .....doordarshan ..mowgli ...mahabharat...surbhi....tarang.....rangoli ..chitrahaar... the MP state news at 7.00.PM.......


I read comments on the clip, there were many lines which I could relate too but the one's which got my eyes heavy worth a post here -

"Wow....I used to Hate this...because DD1 was the only channel we used to get...and everytime my grandma would hear this music she knew it was news time..now I miss them both......thanks...."


Thoughts and memories charged from everywhere towards my brain, as if my arteries and veins had stopped their job and began bringing memories from every damn possible times in past. My head was invaded by them, I realized nothing would ever match the happiness of those times, and I was happy being in the vicinity of such memories........................



If you too, swim back in the memory lane and recall your childhood days.......this is what you'll end up with...

• You know the words to ‘In-pin-safety-pin’ and ‘akkad-bakkad’ by heart.
• Cricket is almost a religion for you, and you idolize at least one of Kapil Dev/Rahul Dravid/Sachin Tendulkar/Saurav Ganguly.
• You have read at least some Chacha Chaudhary or Tinkle comics.
• You’ve watched Shaktimaan on TV at least once in your life. And you can immediately recognize the character when you see him.
• You had some "NRI"relatives or even you don't have you said so.
• You watched Cartoon Network like crazy.
• You watched corny dubbed versions of Small Wonder, Silver Spoon, and I Dream of Jeanie.
• You dreamed when would McDonald’s open in your neighborhood (or even eight kilometers away).
• You have seen Kuch Kuch Hota Hai and Hum Aapke Hain Kaun at least 5 times each.
• You still remember the theme of He-Man and Duck Tales.
• You watched Zee Horror Show though you were scared in doing so
  
• You drank 50 paisa GoodLuck Pepsi everyday in summers.
  
• You have played hours upon hour of Pukdam-pakdai,ready pa ready.
• You collected trump cards of wrestlers, cricketers, and airplanes, and did not quite understand why your younger siblings were obsessed with Pokemon and the other Japanese trends that followed.
• Your summer vacations were often synonymous with visiting your grandparents.
• You knew how you lips said "Bole mere lips, I love uncle Chips!".
• You know the song ‘Made in India’ by Alisha Chinoi.
• You have seen many many many episodes of ‘Antakshri’ on Zee TV and know the only thing constant in the show is Anu Kapoor.
• You watched Boogie Woogie on Sony.
• You were the coolest thing in class if you had a computer in your house while it was still the 90s.
• You learnt LOGO in school!.
• You couldn’t wait to start 4th/6th standard so you could start writing with PENS instead of with pencils!.
• You often use terms and phrases like ‘katti’, ‘abbey’, ‘same to you, back to you, with no returns’, and ‘shame shame, puppy shame, all the donkeys know your name.’
  
• You most probably saw Dilwale Dulhaniya Le Jayenge at the cinema at least once. You also fantasized about singing songs in mustard fields as in the movie.
• You have seen David Dhawan and Govinda movies and laughed at them.
• You have seen Titanic a dozen times.
• You thought seeing English movies and speaking English made you the coolest thing ever.
• Barbies for girls, and GI Joes for boys were the ultimate status symbols.
• Hotwheels cars were in your dreams.
• You know the words to ‘Posham Paa’
• Parle Glucose biscuits were the Universal Biscuits.
• You loved licking off the cream from the centre of Bourbon biscuits.
• There were no Nike, Reebok, Adidas, Puma- Bata and Liberty was the way to go for your sports shoes.
• You have probably consumed more Frooti/Rasna in your lifetime than there is oil in Iraq.
• You bought packets of potato chips for the specific purpose of collecting silly Tazos.
• For the longest time, the Maruti 800, the Premier Padmini, THE Fiat, and THE Ambassador were the only cars you saw on the road.
• You would literally jump up in excitement if you ever chanced upon an imported car (Oh my gosh, is that really a MERCEDES?)!
• You spent a good part of 1998 drooling over the Hyundai Santro and the Daewoo Matiz, debating which one was better.
• You also chewed Big (big) Babool and/or Boom Boom Boomer chewing gum. They were bright pink and disgusting tasting, but you loved them for the temporary tatoos .
  
• Talking of temporary tattoos, you sometimes had contests with your classmates about who had more tattoos on their arm, leg, knee, hand,forehead, wherever.
  
• You thought Mario and Tetris were the coolest things ever invented, especially if you were a boy.
• You knew that having the latest Hero or Atlas bicycle would make you the coolest kid on the block.
• You have, at some point of time, worn GAP clothes (real or fake) like SRK in KKHH.
• Seemingly senseless acronyms like SRK, DDLJ, KKHH actually make sense to you.
• You have at some point debated who was more beautiful- Aishwarya or Sushmita.
• Coke or Pepsi ? The question that can raise debate...
• When you would watch WWF keenly every evening/afternoon and really think that Undertaker had 7 lives and he made an "actual" appearance in the Akshay Kumar- starrer Khiladiyon ka Khiladi.
• You remember the Nirma tikia jingle and You also remember the Nirma girl.
• You remember the 'doodh doodh' ad and also the 'roz khao andey' ads.
• You grew up reading, if you read at all, some or all of Nancy Drews, Enid Blyton books, Hardy Boys, Babysitters Club, Animorphs,Goosebumps, Sweet Valley series, Judy Blumes, and Tintin, or Archie comics. Because naturally, reading foreign authors made you much cooler than reading Tinkle.
• You absolutely HAD to go to Essel World if you went to Mumbai! "Essel World mein rahoonga main, ghar nahin nahin jaaonga main!"
• You watched the Bournvita Quiz contest on TV pretty religiously. The smarter ones amongst you actually took part in it and had your entire school and your entire extended families watch you on it!
• "Jungle jungle baat chali hai, pata chala hai. Chaddi pehen ke phool khila hai, phool khila hai!"
• Maggi 2 Minute Noodles = ultimate snack (and tiffin, lunch, dinner)!
• If you grew up in the early 90s, you recall the nation's obsession with Mahabharata on TV.
• In the later 90s, you religiously followed Hip Hip Hooray on Zee. Maybe Just Mohabbat on Sony too.
• You eagerly awaited Friendship Day, so you could give friendship bands to all your friends, and get bands from them in return. Then, of course those with the most bands loved to show them off (and on Rakhi, boys with the most Rakhis loved showing those off too!)
• You could argue to the limit for Sachin and his being the best.
• You played Vish - Amrit, Nadi - Pahad , Pinky Pinky what color, chain and chupan chupaiyya.

and the list can endlessly go on and on.......




" Shaashaaaaaank........"My mom again yelled my name and helped me get back in present..I hesitantly turned the PC off, gradually everything seemed to be blur. As I regained my thoughts, I heard bhajan song playing through loud speakers in neighbourhood as it was festive season of Ganesh Utsav. I was back in present, but still my mind, my heart,my soul, wished to somehow turn back time ...and relive my childhood in the unforgettable nineties, but I was old enough to realize this wish ain't at all possible and all I could do is dive again in the pool of memories later, and once again virtually relive the unforgettable nineties and can proudly say I lived during 90's in India.



Relive Retro India by watching this, the source of inspiration for writing all this..



P.S : I've taken some excerpts from unknown author describing Retro Age.

For my friends....

This video made by me, is for all my friends with whom I've lived most enjoyable years of my life........Love you all !

Tribute to the Greatest Player of All Time - Roger Federer

Following is the video tribute to Tennis Ace Roger Federer who clinched his 15 Grandslam Title beating the American Andy Roddick in the epic finale of Wimbledon 09.

Federer is considered by many experts, analysts and fellow players as the Greatest Player of All Time (G.O.A.T)

The video is a small tribute made by me in honor of the Great Champion.

A Day of an Engineer

"subah subah ye kya hua....na jaane kyon ab main hawaaaoon mein chal raha hoon...""

and there it starts... my Mobile freaked at 7.30 A.M in the morning....this very song is set by me as the alarm tone to get up...signifies "A new morning ....refreshing ..fresh as a dew...and all that you can imagine from a "Morning" as referred by our great poets and writers..but believe me nothing feels refreshing and cozy as a sleep ...so whats next ..you're right...I just somehow manage to shut Arjun's mouth and get back to my refreshing ..replenishing ..ssssllllleeeeepppp.....but then ..these creepy gadgets have a SNOOZE alarm feature which makes Arjun again go berserk but after 10 minutes..and every enginner will agree with me that 10 min more sleep is just as good as it gets...
Finally I managed to be on my feet at 8 ....gradually the morning seems to be more like what Arjun was shouting half an hour back.. .and I also came to terms with what our great Poets had said about waking up in the "Brahm kaal" .....needless to mention that my brahm kaal is around 8 AM....thanks to my Raatrikaaleeen Sabhas on Orkut and Yahoo.

So mission kicks-off at 8 ...The foremost thing ..Hold that daemon gadget that had led to all this...and call Abhishek Kumar ...yeah neither akshay nor Dileep ....he's Mr. Cool ..no matter what the situation is he takes no tension....and always makes me land our College after 10.30 (well the classes start at 10)...the reason for calling is whether any of our mates are going to collg ...and then finally we discuss whether are "WE" going or not....it was told by Mr. Cool that today is our midsem test and we have to go in any case ....now this is FIRST POINT TO BE NOTED : I can say some things make our college the best..... one of them is that they conduct three Midsems per sem and that's a blessing in disguise for us "good for nothing" homo-sapiens. The midsem news did'nt came as a shock ... all it managed to do was to make us take a pledge that "Agle mein phod denge"..well this luxury is special and unique ...only in GEC.


So it was not a matter of choice but compulsion to go. Next thing is to tell Mom that whether her son is going or not.......slowly and gradually my mom had also came to terms that her son is not in school now ,..... I still remember on 17 aug 2007 that was my counselling date how she and my sis urged me not to join this insti and go for other collg... some of the reasons were

• 1. Bohot ragging hoti hain. (too much ragging as its Govt College)
• 2. Ladayi jhagde .....gunde bante hain wahan.(too much fight and groupism )
• 3. Sessional nhi milte (No Good sessional Marks)...and many many .....

their mutual choice was I should go for CS in LNCT... but i was determined not to be in school again and rest as they say is history.

So Mom asked whether she should make anything for my lunch....whether I say no or yes ..outcome is same....which is I still carry a tiffin box to collg.And when asked about what to make....my universal answer is "make anything that is done till 9.45".

As I came to know about the Test being today ...I took a _ _ _ _ _ _ _ and sighted few qns.. ( the seven spaces is name of a book ...which every Engineer in RGPV has worshipped and u need not to be genius to guess its name.

At around 10. Mr Cool appeared in front of my house on His LML (le mat lena) ADRENO which seems A MASCULINE BIKE ...except for its horn ..its horn is like...a 1980 Modeled bajaj Priya scooter horn.... which is just capable to indulge my neighbour's dog to bark at a ridiculously irritating rate. Well thats the signal for me...that Mr. cool has arrived.....now its time to wonder whose turn is it to take byk...after a while the agreement is made for that.

And here we go off .....just managed to get to turn one of the street ..it bumped in Mr Cool's mind where is the helmet ?...Ah..Sh*t not again....we forgot the head gear ..carrying a helmet was again a compulsion as its not possible to invade Our Collg Campus without it ....I remember once we forgot that head-gear and that made us to walk kms in our campus..yeah its like hell..from the main entrance to the insti its almost 2kms .fortunately we found a byk with familier creatures on it , they took both of us to make 4 on one byk, we surely must have been looking idiots to say the least but we forgot to care after we took admission here. ..We didnt want to witness that scene again ........so we went back home to get the helmet.

Finally we were off .....just to get stuck in the traffic at the Polytechnic Kamla Park road....its terrible...it sucks..being in the condition I always wonder Chauhan Sahab(apna CM) has spent all his money to broaden Link roads .....What about these.?? ...but thats it..I can't do more than to think in that way...rather it occupies my mind till we get clear ..

We pass shani mandir and bow our head almost unknowingly.....its in our head .. we Indians always do that...be it a mandir aur a dargah...smell of incense sticks coming out from the dargah at the Marine Drive....just feels so good that I cant write it out here.

Marine drive is the best part....of our routine journey to colg.....We blaze of the 5 Kms at some speed.........Mr Cool interrupted the silence of the Upper lake to Say "Abe kutte kuch padha de..maine kuch nhi padha"...I said even I hadn't but who listens to me....I opened that seven lettered name BooK..to Shout out ..CMRR ....ccooooommmmooonn Mooode reeeeeeeejection ratiooooooo Mr cool shouted and said "Properly" this got me a little pissed off...how was I supposed to be proper on a vehicle blazing at 70 kmph, I shouted at him..and got into a verbal fight... just as we were busy abusing each other a Maruti Gypsy overtooked us, an uncle sitting inside it gave me a "Retired Brigadier Look" as if he felt petrifying me, I returned the same to him but with a wide grin, I was too strong to be bothered by that looks rather I should say I became a bit shameless after I took admission in this Insti. I gave few more definitions till Mr. Cool thought it was enough for his head to hold.


At 10.30 We landed In the college....Mr cool's byks silencer was so hot that that you could make a chappati on it...I've to mind this Silencer as this LML adreno has no foot rest on the right side which makes lyf difficult for me. Standing their and combing our hair is regular phenomena for us.



After its done, we made into the Premises .....shaking hands with 2-3 dozen of mates, we made it to the front of CS Department. Its the place to hangout ...untill an Alien Creature who wears his trousers till his lungs (Our Director)(I wonder he must be having rash marks around his chest )..comes out and starts with his routine doze of Abusive words "Haramzyade" being his fav..... (other words..... All UITians know it very well).


Chit-chatting with our frnds, we made it to the class.. only to know that Midsem has started.....We made our way to rooms ..Mr cool has his class on the ground floor..and I had to give the test in class at the 1st floor.

30 mins passed, n I went downstairs...60 Percent class was out...before even half hour.. busy abusing the faculty, Mr Cool was one of those....I too joined the party...Lashed out for 10 mins and then ..just was back to normal. In the midst I asked about the next one, and I was not surprised to see ..that nobody had idea for the next. It was decided that Galz would be asked ...and so we did.

Again we were in front of cs dept. ...and here came our alien this time with a few files ...he came to us and did what he does best. For a moment everybody took cover(as if some hazardous gas had leaked in the vicinity) and then we were back at same place as if nobody cared.

I decided to issue books from Library ...and it was not the first ever time I decided to do so...I've tried many times but was unable to do so. This time I had the mind made up and got to Central Lib..some of my frnz accompanied me as if it was historical moment ..to some extent it was ...reason being that I'm in 4 th sem now and I havent issued a single book from the lib. I got to the counter and gave my ID card ..The librarian (who looked like a frustrated Trauma Center guy)said..which yr ? ..I said 2nd , he said...yr of admission..? ..I replied 2007-11 batch sir. He said "library ki yaad kaise aayi"...I said in mind WTF has it to do with you...but smiled to keep things As mr. CoOl would suggest...he then said to my frnz "Inki to foto leni chaiye" . My frns got more crazy (as if they were'nt untill that moment) and started laughing as hell...I patiently waited and got the books...remembering the famous proverb "Every dog has his day"..It was certainly that Trauma center Guy's day. But I was happy to be having books frm Lib....as today is 17 march 09 (I took admission in August 2007)..just as i walked out of Library Mr. Cool appeared with a smile..not very pleasing..and asked me to give him one of the book.. saying he needs it dearly ..this... book I issued just now ...I said no no....but who listens to me. Finally the little pleasure I had moments ago also vanished. I reminded myself it's just matter of days and I'll get it back after sometime as if book was my GF.


We got back to where we belong, the CS dept and chatted for a while...n gradually everybody left one by one.Second POINT TO BE NOTED..Our collg gives us this luxury...... what we refer as in invitation cards for marriages which says "aapke aagman tak"..yes...we can come and move out at will BUT electrical students are not given any luxury what so ever(due to T EFFECT)....ofcourse we've to face consequences related to the third reason which my mom and sis gave for not to join GEC.


So Mr. Cool and I went to the place where he parked his GF (ofcourse byks are boys 1st GFs).


We took off from there, just as we were about to leave the premises, Mr cool took a hault and said "what about coke?" I said no problem, I mean who has it at 2 PM when sun means business. We got to the SANCHI parlour(the significance of this place will be evident from the fact that students spend more time here than their classes), all our seniors were parked there with trademark grins on each face, as we were in 2nd yr it was not much of a problem to get there,had it been 1st we should'nt have landed home with our cheeks with same complexion as it was before getting there. We shook hands say a dozen times more and Mr cool ordered two coke , just as we opened it , we saw a group of guyz 200 mts away staring at us , just when they came closer we realized they were not just guys they were similar to herd of hungry bulls left untied and more for our trouble they were from same stable "CSE", We knew its time to gulp in as much as we can, Mr cool was a specialist in this, he didnt took time to empty his share, I alwayz had problem to drink at such rate, result was expected-- the herd took over and drank the rest left in mine. Again it was Hand shake time....we did it and left from the place.

It was time for both of us to fill ears with headphones and blaze back home with Coldplay and Metallica playing for me and him respectively.

In 20 min we were back at my home courtesy some fast driving. He stayed for a while in front of my home..we chatted little less energetically ...as both were tired, nobody did blast a Pj as it was mutually understood that none had the mood.

Mr cool drove away to his home and I got in my den..rested and had a sleep for an hour before my JAVA classes...I often wonder how long will we be going to classes.....wondering about this stupid thought, sleep caught me.

At 9 PM I came back home......classes were over at 7 :P. It was time for my Raatrikaaleen sabha as Vividh Bharti Anchors would say, and Orkut Yahoo, Gtalk all was going on all guns blazing . It was 11.30 when I left my frnz ...who were still Online.

Just as I was preparing to go down to my refreshing replenishing sleep, Mr Cool called me and said.. the Book has been lost.....I shouted ..till I can and then disconnected it.

I took my Mobile and started a song playing in my ears which coincidently said "EVERYTHING'S NOT LOST" a song by Coldplay.




It was 7.30AM and morning silence was pampered ...



"subah subah ye kya hua....na jaane kyon ab main hawaaaoon mein chal raha hoon..."

Beginning

Finally I'm here at the blogger, the thought of being one has hovered over my mind time and time again. The urge seemed to be bigger and bigger and so finally I've created one blog to feed my ever growing urge.

Now , I'm thinking from where to start, many thoughts are crossing my mind and none has convinced me for its superiority over the other, but I've to start..so lets start with.....huh..... ME ..?