Thinking of the yesteryears of childhood makes one nostalgic. It is said that childhood days are the best part of one’s life. The innocence, the carefree, responsibility free life, gully cricket, Dabba aais-pais, lingorcha..the occasional fights, maybe tense then, bring a smile now :).
Remember your childhood longings, the things you wished would make you the happiest person on earth? Those like me who grew up in the 80s and 90s in middle class families would agree that having a telephone, a colour TV or a refrigerator then would take you financially ahead of most of your collaterals. We had a colour television, but I had a particular fascination towards a “remote control” :) I would be very excited whenever my elder cousin would allow me to operate the remote control of his television. There was a similar attraction towards remote controlled cars, I remember thanking my dad for many days when he bought me a remote controlled car (it was a Porsche :)) when I was about 8 or 9.
Speaking on telephone was another “great” thing to do. We had our first telephone in 1995 (which my dad had booked in 1991 :)) and I would run to receive the call every time the phone rang. Having spoken on telephone was an experience I would share with friends in school.
We lived in a chawl and I dreamt of living in a flat, that too a flat in a building that had an elevator :) When I was in school, everyday I would be the first to get down and run to call my Rickshaw buddy, as I would use an elevator to reach his house on 4th floor.
Having a bicycle was a wish I would do anything for. For me, even a bicycle then was something I would “possess” rather than just “own” ;) The BSA-SLRs and Hero Rangers mattered more to me than what the i10s and Swifts matter now. Car was an elite thing, and the surroundings made me realize that car was not our cup of tea. A childish mind would still long for a ride in a car, and there would be no limits to excitement when we would ride in my maternal uncle’s Maruti 800. The engine power, CC, small car, sedan were jargons, all that mattered was a “CAR”.
I belonged to a family where my parents would not unnecessarily spend money (and even teach their children to do so) on unhealthy manners. That made the smallest wish, when fulfilled, the greatest pleasure of life. Having a “Malai Kulfi” was one such pleasure I would cherish on a rare day when my mom would be kind enough to offer me a rupee to spend it the way I would like to :).
Smoking a cigarette was a MAN thing (thanks to Bollywood) and it had me wait whole of my childhood, even my teenage to try one. I was 23 when I inhaled burning tobacco the first time, reaching my lungs and smoking out… it was my first experience of something I considered masculine all these years :).
One thing worth noting and which we eventually realize is- wishes never end. One fulfilled wish gives birth to another, “longings” become “possible realities” and we start working towards fulfilling them. As the age grows, so do the wishes- in the same proportion, although much more matured than before, they still remain our “longings”.
