So every time I go back to India, I steal something from my 'bachpan box'. Dad has these boxes where he has stored all the memorabilia from our childhood. The last time I was there, I got back a bound collection of Amar Chitra Katha comics, which for some strange reason, he actually allowed me to bring back. Yes, sometimes he says no. He says I can open the boxes and look at the stuff, but I can't take them away with me. I strongly believe that he still thinks of me as a pigtailed tiny tot who can't keep her books properly. I should remind him that I now have a pigtailed (well, almost) tiny tot myself.
A few weeks ago, I was looking for some light reading and found it in my bookshelf. A burst of memories flooded me, as I flipped through the yellowed pages, and examined the tattered front and back covers. Bound in newspaper from the early 80s. Check. Eyes of the 'cover girl' neatly coloured with red ink by the brat that was me. Check. Off-centre bindi. Check. Label with the world's worst handwriting on it. Check. (It is better now. I think.) 'Ghar na naam' on the label (since it was not a school book). Check. (Yes, yes, one of my nicknames is Kuku, given by my dad. Beats me why and when I overwrote 'Cuckoo' on it. Perhaps I felt that it suited me more.)
After I had finished devouring the stories from Indian mythology and history, I turned to the advertisements. I found some absolute gems from the early 80s. Enjoy! And if you have never seen these ads before, get outta my bar now, you're too young to be here! :/
The moment I saw this ad, I thought of Nandini and how she would shake her fist at it. Actually I, too, would shake my fist, but my fist is nothing compared to hers. Click on the picture to read the text, especially the second paragraph.
A few weeks ago, I was looking for some light reading and found it in my bookshelf. A burst of memories flooded me, as I flipped through the yellowed pages, and examined the tattered front and back covers. Bound in newspaper from the early 80s. Check. Eyes of the 'cover girl' neatly coloured with red ink by the brat that was me. Check. Off-centre bindi. Check. Label with the world's worst handwriting on it. Check. (It is better now. I think.) 'Ghar na naam' on the label (since it was not a school book). Check. (Yes, yes, one of my nicknames is Kuku, given by my dad. Beats me why and when I overwrote 'Cuckoo' on it. Perhaps I felt that it suited me more.)
After I had finished devouring the stories from Indian mythology and history, I turned to the advertisements. I found some absolute gems from the early 80s. Enjoy! And if you have never seen these ads before, get outta my bar now, you're too young to be here! :/
OMG they actually printed the prices of their competitors' products in their ad!
Check out the poor resolution of the graphics.
Camel! My sister and I painted with Camel paints all the time! I think the brand is still around? They may not be calling their paints "bright and gay" anymore though.
Poppins! Why did they have a strange number like 13 in each pack?
Gems! M&Ms just don't do it for me.
I hate gum. Chewing gum. Bubblegum. All kinds of gum. But I do remember the craze of the NP 007 gum.
OMG Amar Chitra Katha records!!
12 comments:
Gold!
And err, don't know what else to say, been a long while since I commented. I remember most of these ads though.
damnn ... this post brought back a hell lot of memories .. the label on the book .. dont know if kids still use those ... i can literally smell the gelled kissan jam spread on a slice of bread ... and parle poppins FTW !!!!!!
and btw .. lol @ kuku/cuckoo
I had a similar experience, when I found some Reader's Digests from the 90s :)
Reader's Digest these days seems so artificial and a cut-paste job from the internet. In those old ones, almost every article seemed so warm, real and linguistically rich!
Even the advertisemenst seemed honest and cute :)
I had a similar experience, when I found some Reader's Digests from the 90s :)
Reader's Digest these days seems so artificial and a cut-paste job from the internet. In those old ones, almost every article seemed so warm, real and linguistically rich!
Even the advertisemenst seemed honest and cute :)
LOVE this post. Don't those memories seem warmer when you stumble upon them years later?
@Stupidosaur: So true. I have a stash of RDs from the 70s/80s somewhere around the house. I wouldn't part with them for a fortune. RDs from recent years just don't come up to the mark.
Am I too late to comment? :(
LOL! The huge prevalence in this era of harrum-scarrum non-house-wifey women, is, no doubt because their parents neglected to open bank accounts in their names at the right age :). What a social catastrophe!
:)
Interesting…
saadepunjab.com
Interesting…
saadepunjab.com
WHOAA! Completely unaware of any of the ads! But loved the post!
But I found this amazing post, where they list out all the things you should know to be a nineties kid, it was awesome, seee
http://nivedithasperceptions.wordpress.com/2009/10/04/you-know-you-grew-up-in-india-in-the-90s-when/
I never had Amar Chitra Katha when I was a kid, but had loads of Champak, Tinkle (and later Digest) and Chacha Choudhary.
And I swear I had M&Ms for the first time today and I did not like it, and thought I should post something on it vs gems (which is totally awesome).
Btw harum scarum.. a new word for me (googled and found the meaning and a movie as well). On Google it has an 'r' less in both.
Oh btw is that the kuku/cuckoo thing that brought up the SSSK-in-the-tree character :D
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