On our trip this weekend with the kids we landed up at a highway restaurant that was probably stuck in time and made me think of so many things that were so different from the things when we were growing up. Sigh! There was an old cassette player that the owner cleaned meticulously and the daughter asked me mom what’s that? When I told her it’s a cassette player she asked me what’s that? I just kept thinking, there are so many things that are special from my childhood which my daughters need to know about. They need to know about few of the crazy things I did and how innovation makes life so simple yet so complicated I started to think about all the things young kids today will never really experience.
1. The Rotary Dial
That pride of putting your finger in the rotary dial. The old man at the highway restaurant had that and I am so glad the daughter could see it. That noise when you dial a number and take your finger all the way to zero!
2. Receiving letters
Everybody went into a frenzy when the telegram service bid adieu. Our kids will never know what it was like to recieve a telegram.
3. Old VCR
Our kids will never know what a VCR was or how we would adjust the tracking on our old VCR that would improve the print.
4. Camera with Rolls
Waiting for photos after a holiday and making sure you get the expression right in the first go. Roles were so expensive. Here it’s all click see and reclick if it’s not as per your expectations
5. Learning Actual Spellings
With auto complete and spell checks ruling our phones and computers, our kids are bound to rely on spell check.
6. Banks ad Cheques
I haven’t been to a bank in donkeys years and I haven’t signed a cheque either. So I am sure by the time my kids grow up it would make it’s way to the museum.
7. Always Answering the Phone
Back then, we didn’t have caller ids and would invariably have to attend every call. This has considerably changed.
8. Physical Maps
It’s unusual to see people using a physical map to get from place A to place B or ask a stranger for directions in today’s time. Google Maps have become indispensable.
9. Phone Directories
I remember how we used to update it every year and they were kept in a designated drawer. It was stored so carefully that we could find it even at midnight without a light.
10. Encyclopedia
Each time my husband and I look at our collection of reference books as kids, we can only hope that our children will use these. But, we also know that the information is outdated.
11. Vacations
Each summer meant going to our grandparents’ or uncle-aunts’ house, and not summer camps.
12. Eating Raw Mangoes
Sneaking on the building terrace to eat raw mangoes that were sun dried to make pickle is one of my best childhood memory.
13. Eating raw atta(dough) of homemade papad:
Another thing I remember doing was getting my hands on the raw dough prepared for papad.
14. Playing all day Long
I recollect being busy playing outside all day long during my summer vacation. I would hear my mom scream my name or hunt me down among all the other kids. Nowadays, kids are busy with their phones and iPads.
15. Cassettes and rewind, forward
I don’t think our kids understand rewind and forward. Their life is full of skip and repeat. They would not know what it is to patiently wait till your favourite song plays again.
16. Weekly Shows
Waiting patiently for your favourite weekly show or having no option but to watch the one show that aired only on Sunday morning.
17. Singing wrong Lyrics
Not knowing or actually singing the wrong lyrics of the song because there was no Google to download the lyrics.
18. Meeting Old School Friends
Reunions these days are more about networking, because we know where the other person is and what he/she is doing.
19. Floppy Dics
The use of a floppy disc that always got corrupted before that important presentation! This was before the advent of pen drives and hard drives.
20. Walkman
Using a walkman on train journeys versus using a phone or an iPod to listen to your favourite music.
Some things that take you back in time are so precious and always bring a smile back on your face. I am sure she finds me outdated already let alone the time when she is a teenager. This article written by Mansi Zaveri was first Published in iDiva.com
Janani S Koushik
Tanya Lemos
KSP Team
Saraswati Datar
