From Shah Rukh Khan-inspired friendship bands to Re 1 missed calls, here's how an entire generation celebrated Friendship Day.
Friendship Day in the '90s was truly special.
Long before social media reels and tagged Instagram stories, friendships were celebrated with little rituals that made the day unforgettable.
As a millennial who grew up in the pre-digital era, I have fond memories of friendship and Friendship Day.
Friendship bands
I was in Class 8 when Kuch Kuch Hota Hai was released. Shah Rukh Khan, dressed in a body hugging tee shirt, walked into college wearing a wrist full of colourful friendship bands.
And, overnight, every school and college-going student wanted to buy a friendship band.
Back then, friendship bands weren't just colourful accessories; every colour carried an emotion.
Pink was for your best girlfriends, red for your crush or boyfriend/girlfriend, white symbolised peace, yellow was for a new friend and black was reserved for the ones you had taken panga with.
As we reached higher classes, the trends shifted. Bands were replaced with white/light-coloured tees.
On Friendship Day, we wrote cute, funny messages on each other's tees with permanent markers.
Today, I wish I had preserved the tee as a memory.
Archies and Hallmark cards
The '90s were also the golden era of Archies and Hallmark gifts.
Weeks before Friendship Day, these stores would stack up greeting cards priced between Rs 10 to Rs 100.
As teens, we would spend hours reading each card and picked the affordable one that best described our friendship.
Every occasion had a card and every friendship deserved one.
Long-distance friends received special cards, planned well in advance.
Koalas and teddy toys
In the late '90s, satin ribbons were replaced with cool bands.
Then came the music video, Chui Mui Si Tum, where Preeti Jhangiani wore an adorable koala bear clipped to her sleeve.
Every girl who watched the video wanted one.
That tiny koala quickly became one of the most popular Friendship Day gifts that year. You could choose between a teddy, bunny, koala or panda.
I remember receiving four of them -- and I treasured every single one.
Re 1 missed calls and prank calls
In the early '90s, having a BSNL landline at home almost felt like a luxury.
Friends who had a telephone connection were considered lucky. Those were the days of prank calls, telephone directories and memorising phone numbers.
We would search for our friends' names in the Yellow Pages and prank-call them.
Later, when caller ID phones became common, we invented another system. We would give missed calls from the nearest STD booth. Since a local call cost Re 1, if someone answered, the timing had to be perfect.
Those missed calls became our own Morse code. One missed call meant 'I'm leaving home.' Two missed calls meant 'We've reached our adda. Come soon.'
Even without WhatsApp, live location and mobile phones, we all somehow found our own unique way to celebrate our friendships.
Today, when I see my 9-year-old son writing messages for his friends, it reminds me that even though decades have passed, the joy and emotions behind celebrating Friendship Day hasn't.
