Nostalgia

I grew up in a time when things, by which I mean life, wasn't as convenient, fast, high-tech and crazy as today. It was more like sedate, slow and hard but to compensate for all that, it was beautiful. It was nice. Everything had it's own pace, and we moved along enjoying life and the simple pleasures it brought.

When I was a kid, I enjoyed, played with and got to know the world around me. The games we played were real - be it a backyard game of cricket, a simple hide-and-seek or kite flying when it was the season. They were fun, challenging and taught us a thing or two about life. Backyard cricket isn't as easy as you'd think; to not shatter neighbor's windows which is essential in ensuring future cricket, rules had to be imposed saying anyone who hits it to a wall on either side of the wicket will be out. Even when playing on the road it was the same; on one side there was the river and on the other there were bushes - hit it straight or be gone was the order of the day. We became so good at hitting it straight, our straight drives would have put Sachin Tendulkar into shame. It was challenging yet fun. So was hide-and-seek though it wasn't the normal hide-and-seek you'd think of. The unfortunate souls who get caught will be tied to the nearest tree, and will have to remain be tied until a team-mate comes to the rescue. Often, though, when we were called back for lunch or tea, we'd go back leaving the tied be tied - intentionally or just because we forgot. Yet screaming for help was no option since our pride was at stake - sometimes we'd stay tied for hours trying to cut ourselves loose. If you managed that, you get the hero status and something to boast about for the whole eternity. Which is about two weeks. Otherwise, usually the mother of the one who's tied will come untie him while cursing us, and a good old ass whipping for the poor dude will follow making the whole thing hilarious. Kite flying was fun too; the whole process of making one is an art of it's own and you had to know little tips and whatnot to be a master of the art. But finishing one, making it fly, keeping it there, it was all wonderful memories. We knew the world around us; we had time, we had space. Wonder how many kids today know how to fly one let alone make. Forget kites, many fifteen year olds today don't know how to hold a bat and the only places that remain today the kids can play hide-and-seek are the two bedrooms in their houses.

Then, when we were a bit older, still the world was different. Cell phones were only heard of - even home phones were the exception, not the norm. Telephone was expensive and it was for emergency, not for casual chit chat. It was funny that you had to wait until there were certain number of applicants in an area to get a land line even. Otherwise it was too costly for SLT to provide a phone connection. So it wasn't easy, but we were still... OK. No last minute cancellations of appointments - if you said you would come, you would come. Only the 'important' people owned a cell-phone, for which the popular term was Celltell, and as kids or young ones you were not trusted to even touch them. Rich and poshy uncles and aunts would flash their half a kilo bricks in parties and family gatherings showing off their 'class'. We would watch in awe. It was also a good time to have a girlfriend; you didn't have a few thousands of rupees worth monthly mobile bill to worry of, no late night texting, and you'd have to wait with patience to see your princess the next week. Inconvenient, but romantic. Anticipation is a wonderful thing.

We weren't caught up in the rat race that is education. Until I finished my Ordinary Levels, I only attended two tuition classes and that too was not because it was necessary - just for fun, rather. School education was quite enough and that left us with ample time to sit back and enjoy our lives. To do other things - hang out with friends, play, go fishing or go after a chick you fancy. Moms didn't want us to get better grades than our neighbor's son, when we were still in grade five. Saturdays and Sundays were actually free, believe it or not. School holidays were that; holidays. As opposed to 9 to 5 tuition classes you have on holidays today. Sad, what it has come to.

Everything wasn't at your fingertips as today, but it was OK. Information was hard to come by, so it made whatever you get worth it. If you wanted to know Vivian Richards' Test average, you had to look for it. Maybe in old newspapers, sports magazines or as a last resort you could consult the next door neighbor cricket crazy uncle. He will most probably tell you the stat, but along with dozen stories like how he listened to it on the radio when Sobers made that epic 365. If you wanted to know the meaning of scaturient, acromonogrammatic, necromorphous, dolichofacial or unguinous, you had to look it up a dictionary. Or an encyclopedia which consisted of about forty volumes that weigh 72 kilograms in total, which could only be found in a library. Learning was slow, but you remembered what you learnt. Mail were actually something you sent using postal services and you needed stamps. You had to go to the theatre, or to the nearest video rental shop to rent a VHS if you wanted to watch a movie. And you had to rewind it to the beginning too, before watching. Being pals with the dude in the best video rental shop in town came with many advantages. You are the dude friends come to, then, when they want to know about the latest movie released four months ago. Music was something you listened to on radio, and you had a collection of only the favorite songs recorded on cassette tapes, each of which had 16 songs maximum. Friends were people actually you knew, and 'poking' every one of them would come with serious consequences. We learned to appreciate what we had. In short, life wasn't easy but it was wonderful, relaxing and..... humane.

And then came computers.