Sarba looks back at the yesteryears, a nineties kid, reminiscing a simpler world then. An exclusive for Different Truths.
Being a ’90s kid is an amazingly charming thing. Away from the mad world of smart gadgets, we grew up watching seemingly innocent shows like Disney World, Duck Tales, Shaktimaan, Alif Laila, Bournvita Quiz Contest, Mahabharat, Surabhi, Malgudi Days, Om Namah Shivay, and so on.
We happily drank Complan, while secretly wanting to be a Complan boy/girl. Our simple way of life was comparable to the simple gaming experience we had with Super Mario, Battle City, Aladdin, and so on.
We spoke to our parents in our respective mother tongues as tiny tots unlike the kids these days who blabber in English right after their birth. We did not know what pizza and burger meant until we reached teenagers. Kids’ fashion was a farfetched word and was usually the name of a tiny shop that sold school uniforms.
The music of that era was also eternally beautiful. I remember my father’s happy face when we had bought our first tape recorder.
The music of that era was also eternally beautiful. I remember my father’s happy face when we had bought our first tape recorder. It was a giant black thing, covering almost the entire rack. My mother made a beautiful cover for it in white wool. Nadeem Shravan’s music had found an inseparable place in a staircase-like cassette holder beside the tape recorder.
That was also the time of beautiful greeting cards. My mother has a fond collection of a huge bunch of cards & letters which we got from our near & dear ones on a new year, birthdays, anniversary or simply just like that. Those fond giggles still echo in my ears.
I witnessed the first computer when I visited my father’s colleague’s home. The desktop, I remember a TV-like box that had interesting stuff like Pacman and Minesweeper in it.
I witnessed the first computer when I visited my father’s colleague’s home. The desktop, I remember a TV-like box that had interesting stuff like Pacman and Minesweeper in it. There was a typewriter in our home, and we had a TV too, in my mind I had the picture of the computer as a combo of TV and typewriter with a small mouse. My eyes shone in wonder as I read happily about ENIAC, EDVAC, Sinclair, Pascal in my computer textbooks back then.
That was also the era of pagers, primitive mobile phones, and digital diaries. I remember my father’s senior in the office carrying a pager and mobile phone when he visited our place for dinner. The mobile phone was the size of a small papaya. I was so thrilled to see it that I demanded my parents to get it for me with kiddish obstinacy. I remember my grandparents giving me a toy pager and a toy mobile phone. I carried it happily with me hoping to show everyone that I too owned a mobile phone.
The first laptop I saw was in 1998 when we visited an acquaintance’s home. It was the size of a suitcase.
The first laptop I saw was in 1998 when we visited an acquaintance’s home. It was the size of a suitcase. The display was a bit hazy but nevertheless, it left me spellbound. I wanted to touch the keys and play around with them but stopped as soon as I saw the angry eyes of my father on me.
Almost every evening we had relatives visiting us. Unlike today’s hyper-connected virtual life, the best way in which people stayed in touch was by visiting their loved ones with a packet of sweets or hot samosas.
Eventually, we got our first computer, but my mother did not weave a wool cover for it. My father got a mobile phone but with its arrival, his calls from the office substantially increased too.
Eventually, we got our first computer, but my mother did not weave a wool cover for it. My father got a mobile phone but with its arrival, his calls from the office substantially increased too. Visiting people became an occasional ritual with some puckered eyebrows when one visited them during the time of their favorite daily soaps. Burger and pizza became a staple diet for many. The social networking sites had arrived and writing ‘Happy Birthday’ on someone’s wall was much simpler than sending greeting cards and letters.
The things which had caught my delight in the ’90s were all there in my life in the 2000s, yet I think somehow the element of wonder had faded away with time.
We have the latest apps from our smartphones that can help us call people for free, yet it is so strange that the number of people we want to call and talk to for hours is reducing day by day.
I am a confused adult now, still having the hangover of a time when simple, uncomplicated, and leisurely were not just words in the dictionary.
I am a confused adult now, still having the hangover of a time when simple, uncomplicated, and leisurely were not just words in the dictionary.
No matter how old I grow, the old-world charm of the ’90s keeps luring me to go for a time travel.
Here’s to the ’90s kid in each one of us!
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Sarba Roy is a bohemian spirit, an InfoSec professional, a passionate advocate for women’s empowerment, writer, bibliophile, speaker, mentor and folk artist. She has had the privilege of traveling across 20 odd countries and believes that the world is her family. She wants her story to be of a small-town girl from India from a humble background who was nurtured with values, empowered by education, and inspired by a dream to positively impact the world.
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