Saturday, March 29, 2014

Sunday mornings: Then & Now !

Sunday morning, not much workload, pleasant Bangalore weather, Heart-Brain-Kidney soothing songs in the playlist! I must say it is a typical Sunday. Now a days though things appear under control on Sunday mornings, it is usually followed by unending mental exhaustion in other days of the week. When I look back & compare the Sundays during my childhood I find drastic changes over the years and I am sure that it is a story that belongs to all; journey that everyone has traveled, moment that everyone has cherished.

Let's go back to nineties ! Being normal kids from middle class families, we were completely devoid of stress during school days. The only thing that used to bother is the homework given in school but homework could never penetrate the comfort zone called 'Sunday'. Getting up late in the morning was itself a bliss & Sunday is special in the sense that it is the only day when the parents are less authoritative in terms of dragging their
kids out of the bed. I can't comment about others but now a days it is hard to sleep beyond 7.00 AM even on Sundays as some personal & professional stress constantly occupy the grey matters. Getting up in morning without the noise of alarm, putting the tooth brush in mouth for more than 1 hour & getting scoldings for the same reasons were indispensable part of Sunday routines.

How Can I forget the show in DD national called 'Rangoli' ?
If someone says he/she has never heard about 'Rangoli', he/she has missed the tunes of childhood Sundays. The super hit Bollywood songs on Rangoli were the vital cogs in the Sunday's wheel. I used to feel as if all the stars like BigB, Rajesh Khanna, Hema Malini, Madhuri & Khans are wishing us a very good morning while watching Rangoli. Frankly speaking the 'Maggi culture' was not very consolidated during my childhood as this brand of noodles was just entering the market. So eating noodles was itself a charming activity those days & If I remember correctly my mother used to give me Maggi only on Sundays (Pavlov's experiment!!) Distributing the noodles between the two sons was not an easy affair for my mother as we used to compare & quarrel over the quantities of noodles in each other's plate. The breakfast usually used to end with a mug of Complan/Bournvita. If I compare it with current breakfasts I must say that Maggi still exists & quantities are as much as I want but the test has no comparison with when it used to come directly from mom's kitchen. I seriously feel that quarrels with brother to get more amount of noodles had its special charm (Things which you get after struggle are usually pleasant!). Complan & Bournvita are of course replaced by Nescafe & Tata tea !

Breakfast over; let's get back to television! 'Tom & Jerry', 'Duck tales', 'TaleSpin', 'Tiny Toon adventures', 'Hey Arnold' ! If you can recall these cartoon shows then it can be the best test for your remote memory. Kids in those days were crazy for these shows more than adults are crazy for Sunny Leone these days. Again the fighting with brother regarding the issue of who should take possession of the remote control was irritatingly amazing. When 2-3 kids are watching TV, then the guy having the remote controller really feels like a short-term king (personal experience). These shows used to be followed by some exciting Hindi
serials like 'Chandrakanta' & 'Vikram Betal' ! [Oh Kroor Singh; you beauty ! I am missing you like hell!]

Then used to come the king of entertainment called 'Shaktimaan'. I must say it was the show which most of the Indian kids (even some adults) were strongly addicted to. On Sunday 12-1 PM, even Yamraaj wouldn't dare to touch Indian Kids as no one can keep them away from Shaktimaan (Gangadhar Bidyadhar Mayadhar Omkarnath Shastri) during that duration. The 'Chhoti magar moti baatein' at the end of the episodes used to have a strong impact than advises given by parents & teachers. It used to be invariably  followed by an non-veg meal. You can have a costly & sophisticated lunch at the Barbeque nations or at the Marriott but the taste of the simple chicken/fish curry prepared by Indian mothers on Sundays are pleasantly incomparable.

Now a days we are mostly occupied by sophisticated smart phones, laptops, facebook, twitter etc. electronic communications seem to be more prevalent than actual interactions. We can say we are having a so called smart life with all the electronic items in our arsenal but nothing is as naive & as charming as the childhood. As kids we didn't have autonomy over money but we were full of energy & time. At this stage we have autonomy over money & energy but time seems to be highly expensive. After few years in old age we will have autonomy over money & time but energy will be falling out. Life is moving on with a great speed so are we. So enjoy whatever comes in the way as life is a divine chaos & an irreversible costly affair.