You Know You Grew Up in India in the 90s When…
You know the words to ‘In-pin-safety-pin’ and ‘akkad-bakkad’ by heart.
Cricket is almost a religion for you, and you idolize at least one of Rahul Dravid/Sachin Tendulkar/Saurav Ganguly
You have read at least some Chacha Chaudhary or Tinkle comics
You’ve watched Shaktimaan on TV at least once in your life. And you can immediately recognize the character when you see him.
You have seen Kuch Kuch Hota Hai and Hum Aapke Hain Kaun at least 5 times each
You still remember the theme song of Hum Paanch. (Hum Paanch, Pam Pam Pam Paanch!)
You have played hours upon hour of running and catching, chor-police, lagori, saankli, ‘Doctor, doctor, help us!’, ‘Lock and key’
You collected trump cards of wrestlers, cricketers, and airplanes, and did not quite understand why your younger siblings were obsessed with Pokemon and the other Japanese trends that followed.
Your summer vacations were often synonymous with visiting your grandparents or cousins
Bole mere lips, I love uncle Chips!
You know the song ‘Made in India’ by Alisha Chinai
You have seen many many many episodes of ‘Antakshari’ on Zee TV and know the only thing constant in the show is Annu Kapoor.
Many evenings have been spent watching little kids gyrate vulgarly on Boogie Woogie on Sony.
You were the coolest thing in class if you had a computer in your house while it was still the 90s.
You learnt LOGO and BASIC in school!
You couldn’t wait to start 4th standard so you could start writing with PENS instead of with pencils!
You often used terms and phrases like ‘two-say’, ‘same to you, back to you, with no returns’, and ‘shame shame, puppy shame, all the donkeys know your name.’
You most probably saw Dilwale Dulhaniya Le Jayenge at the cinema at least once. You also fantasized about singing songs in mustard fields as in the movie.
You have said ‘haw’ or ‘yuck’ when you saw people kissing in English movies. (nowadays kids are used to it!)
You thought seeing English movies and speaking English made you the coolest thing ever.
Barbies for girls, and GI Joes for boys were the ultimate status symbols. You just wanted more more more and more. And how can I forget Hot Wheels, for both boys and girls?
“Jungle Jungle Baat Chali Hai Pata Chala Hai! Chaddi Pehen Ke Phool Khila Hai Phool Khila Hai!” You watched “The Jungle Book” every Sunday morning at 9.a.m” and just loved mowgli, bhalu and bagheera. A few years later, you watched Disney Hour, which had cartoons like Aladdin, Gummy Bears, Tail Spin, Uncle Scrooge!
And who can forget “Chandrakanta ki kahani, badi lagti hai suhani”, the show for which every family member from grandfather to grandchild would leave everything to watch it,forget our mothers…
At some point or other, cool was your favourite, and therefore, most overused word.
You loved licking off the cream from the centre of Bourbon biscuits.
There were no Nike, Reebok, Adidas, Puma- Bata and Liberty was the way to go for your sports shoes.
You have probably consumed more Frooti in your lifetime than there is oil in Iraq.
You watched Baywatch on Star World when nobody was home even though (or because) your parents said you shouldn’t watch it.
For the longest time, the Maruti 800, the Premier Padmini, THE Fiat, and THE Ambassador were the only cars you saw on the road, and the Contessa was cool because it was bigger.
You spent a good part of 1998 drooling over the Hyundai Santro and the Daewoo Matiz , debating which one was better.
You used to Fuzen gum. You also chewed Big (big) Babool and/or Boom Boom Boomer chewing gum. They were bright pink and disgusting tasting, but you loved them for the temporary tattoos.
Talking of temporary tattoos, you sometimes had contests with your classmates about who had more tattoos on their arm, leg, knee, hand, forehead, wherever.
You thought Mario and Contra were the coolest things ever invented, especially if you were a boy.
Seemingly senseless acronyms like SRK, DDLJ, DTPH, KKHH actually make sense to you..
You have at some point debated who was more beautiful- Aishwarya or Sushmita.
You know what Campa Cola is. And you also knew that Coca Cola was THE drink.
When all backpacks (or ‘schoolbags’) and water bottles and tiffin boxes had strange cartoon characters that were hybrid versions of seven or eight different characters, and you still bought them, because a green man wih a water pistol, boots, a jet-pack, Johnny bravo hair, a rajasthani mustache, gloves, and underwear (long johns) over his pants, called ‘Mr. X’ was OBVIOUSLY a status symbol.
You remember the Nirma tikia jingle.
You remember the Nirma girl.
You remember the ‘doodh doodh piyo glass full doodh’ ad and also the ‘laal kaala peela, gulabi hara neela classic hai badia bristles wala’ and ‘roz khao ande’ ads.
Towards the late 90s (1998-99) at least some of us started our Harry Potter obsessions!
You absolutely HAD to go to Essel World if you were with cousins! “Essel World mein rahoonga main, ghar nahin nahin jaaonga main!”
You watched the Bournvita Quiz contest on TV pretty religiously. The smarter ones amongst you actually took part in it and had your entire school and your entire extended families watch you on it!
Maggi 2 Minute Noodles = ultimate snack (and tiffin, lunch, dinner)!
If you grew up in the early 90s, you recall the nation’s obsession with Mahabharata on TV
In the later 90s, you religiously followed Hip Hip Hooray on Zee. Maybe Just Mohabbat on Sony too
You eagerly awaited Friendship Day, so you could give friendship bands to all your friends, and get bands from them in return. Then, of course, those with the most bands loved to show them off .
This list made you smile.
And I miss that age, it was sooo awesome!
. Keep doing what you are doing – looking forward to more posts.
