You know you were a teenager in Mumbai when...

A very close friend of mine said something startling to me this weekend .
She said that as people ...we say that we are from a country ..but we should also add what childhood we are from ..because thats such a crucial part of what we are ,where we want to go , our aspirations , expectations and is a pivotal part in how our lives are defined ..


You know you spent teenage years in Amchi Mumbai when :


1. You waited all week long to watch the Hindi Movies that aired on Saturday and Marathi movies that aired on Sunday ...at 6 pm sharp ...and dinner was served promptly at 7.30 along with the news ..so the post interval part could be watched aaramse !
..And you remember watching Pinjara , Karz , Hare Rama Hare Krishna and Aradhana ..all on TV

2. You remember vividly the champagne bubbles at the world cup win ..and Kapil Dev in all the pamolive commercials following ..and you know who was called the one day ka baccha

3. TV Serials like Tamas , Buniyaad , Yeh Jo Hai Zindagi ,AA Bail Mujhe Maar , Jaspal Bhatti and Mungerilal are household names

4. You've playe Holi .."Kile Ka Rahaysa " style ..with the red hand prints behind everyones shirts !

5. You owned at least one of the follwoing :
Hig Waist Jeans , Jeans with just one leg embroidered , a Ashiqui Ribbon , A cap that said "Friend" or worse and cap that said " Boy " or "Girl"

6. You drove evryone at home absolutely insane collecting the insides of thumbs up , goldspot and limca caps ..to collect a vivian richard picture flip book ...an invisible pen /marker ..or a pair of fake dracula teeth

7. You tried drawing Fido Dido ..because you were so enthralled by the big seven up launch ! ...and you loved fido dido ! ..drew him on a skateboard ..doodled him ..and wanted a fido dido t shirt too ....and repeated step 6 for fido dido memorablia

8. You've tried to do a "FLAMES" with every member of the opposite sex you know in a 3 mile square radius ..and blushed everytime M showed up ..

9. You knew certain sections of Linda Goodman Sun Signs By Heart

10. You owned a pair of gum boots and a raincoat that was a bright blinding color

11. You thought that Q.S.Q.T is a universally accepted abbreviation

12. Thanks to 11 - you had a sore shoulder for the rest of the semester trying to imitate Aamir's one shouldered book bag stunt .

13. You knew exactly what movie Munna ..Lothia Pathan and Mohini are from ..and learnt to say numbers the Ek Do Teen way ..you also bugged Mom to get a white enamel cup and spent a lot of school picnics banging the mug singing for Jumma

14. Antakshari , Name Place Animal Thing and Trump Cards were your idea of intellectual stimulation ..and even had a list of songs that started from "H"

15. You remember Boris Becker and Stefi Graph winning their first wimbeldons

16. You got scared of Mogambo ..and never looked at red lights the same way again

17. You played badminton all the time in the summer and TT in winter and rented bicyles for 5 rupees for an hour ..ate jeera golis and "pepsi" meant something comepletely different than soda to you ..

18. You asked your parents if you'll could adopt "Giant Robot " and tried to open every watch you had to see if he showed up

19 . Your idea of a good book was Tinkle , Chandamamma ..you thought Uncle Pai was really your uncle and wanted to meet suppandi

20. You knew exactly what was meant when one said " when Sabu gets angry ..volcanos erupt on the surface of mars " " Chacha Chaudhary thinks faster than a calculator " ...Ancient Keelawee sayings like " Phantom travels faster than the speed of light " and Mandrake

21. All you know about suspense is from Nancy Drew and Hardy Boys

22. You tried to enlist your friends to be in a Famous Five or a Secret Seven Group

23. You know what laxmi bomb and rassi bomb are

24. Your favorite actor at one time was Govinda or Mithun da ..or worse both

25. You watched Chota Chetan at least 2 times and each time opened your mouth when they showed the chocolates and got scared of the snake

26. You spent a significant time listening to the story of Basic Instinct or Pretty Woman from a friend whose older sibling had seen the movies because you thought they were super Adult movies!

27. You know how to do "One two ka Four " Ram Lakhan Style

28. Tuperware was considered a revolutionary kitchen product in your house

29. You remember watching Channel 2

30. You used to be excited to go to "Town"




The list goes on . I tried to close my eyes today and think of one unhappy moment I had in my childhood and drew a blank . I remember reading somewhere ..that childhood was like the appetizers in a 7 course meal . You loved them ..but all the way through the hors d' ouevres ..you kept thinking about how good the rest of the meal was going to be ...and after they were done with ..you kept wisihing that you'd stuck with the starters instead!

I remember as a child ..waking up every morning feeling so utterly excited .
Somedays I can still see a shadow of that love ..for life ..and hopefully if I can carry it in my heart ..I wont grow up so quickly :)