Photographs: Wikimedia Creative Commons
Oh how we miss those blissful and simple times! Don't you too?
The 1990s may have brought prosperity and progress to India.
We got the 100 television channels we'd only heard of.
We got our Coca Colas and Pepsis.
We got the large pay packets we always dreamt of.
And we got our first stock market scam too :-)
But the '80s?
The '80s were simpler times.
Those of us in our 30s will remember what life was like before the great economic liberalisation programme was announced and the world came at India's doorstep.
So here we have it! A trip down memory lane for all you kids of the '80s.
1. You saw this photograph more than any other
You may have been way too young to remember the time it actually happened.
But the 1983 Prudential World Cup victory really was the biggest event in all of 80s :-)
2. You held 5 paise coins and actually used them!
Photographs: Arivumathi/Wikimedia Creative Commons
There was a lot you could get for 5p you know.
Also how else were you to pay 25p to the bus conductor if you didnt have a 25p coin?
Yes there was a 25p coin too!
3. Your dad probably owned a safari suit
Photographs: Reuters
It was the uniform of the 1980s white-collared workers!
Heck even Rahul Bajaj wore one!
4. Your uncle/elder brother probably owned one of these
Photographs: Abhishek Mande Bhot/Rediff.com
And he was the coolest fellow you met
5. You couldn't begin your school year without this
Photographs: Courtesy Joker India website
Remember when the ENTIRE family would be sitting around the dining table covering your books? :-)
6. He was the most handsome prime minister
Photographs: Express/Express/Getty Images
A pilot becoming a prime minister!?! Unheard of!
7. You spent considerable time in queues...
Photographs: Amit Dave/Reuters
Without ever knowing what on earth you were queuing up for!
8. Every week you waited for this
The World This Week was the closest you got to 'international news' as a child!
9. For this, you waited every fortnight
And never once you wondered how he got around with his hat covering his eyes.
Nope. Not once! :-)
10. You thought this was the best freaking thing to happen to TV
Awaaaay, Giant Robot!
11. You couldn't care less about this...
Because you had no clue why everyone was crying!
12. Or this
Though you were shocked to see a movie star 'act' in a television show!
13. Talking of movie stars...
Photographs: Wikimedia Creative Commons
For you, there was just one superstar!
14. Unless you lived down South
Photographs: Wikimedia Creative Commons
In which case it was this fellow!
15. You had arrived in life if you had this
Photographs: Wikimedia Creative Commons
Officially seated 5 passengers
In reality? 8-12!
16. But what you really wanted was one of these
Photographs: Aashim Tyagi/Wikimedia Creative Commons
Oh the epitome of cool!
17. Chocolate was this
Photographs: Sudeep Bajpai/Wikimedia Creative Commons
Ferrero Rocher? who?!
18. And this was the best thing you drank
The zing thing!
19. There were a lot of these
And you went to the terrace every other hour to fix its direction with your dad/uncle.
20. And this was one classy piece of animation
You got to watch it every. single. day!
21. Summer vacations always meant endless hours of cricket
Photographs: Scott Barbour/Getty Images
Oh we would drive our parents mad by refusing to return home!?!
22. And after that, getting to school on time was the only thing that really mattered
Photographs: Danish Siddiqui/Reuters
Regimes may have fallen, wars may have broken out, governments may have changed but none of this really affected you.
Your life was as blissful as ever.
Which wasn't such a bad thing after all, was it? :-)
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