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| Just me. |
As I walk down memory lane, looking back at all those years that have gone by so fast, I look back fondly at many things which remain etched in my memory to this day.
"Walking down memory lane" was a feature page in Filmfare long long ago. If I remember correctly it was written by Sylvia Norris.
In those days there were a few magazines to which one subscribed. Frivolous, fancy free, young girls subscribed to Filmfare, Femina or Eve’s Weekly, bit more serious people subscribed to The Illustrated Weekly of India, Span, and those with a bit more style got Life and Time. In Hindi there was Dharmyug, Madhuri, Sarika, Sarita. There was another periodical which was called Picture Post, this one was not a weekly. Magazines for children were Parag, Nandan and Manoranjan in Hindi. We were not allowed to read comics then, as it was thought that it would spoil our English.
That reminds me that there was Blitz a weekly in the newspaper format. I had got interested in Blitz because the Nanavati case details were given in it. Most probably it was the Parsi connection as R K Karanjia and Nanavati were both Parsis.
We did not have many confectionary brands then. Biscuits were made by Parle and sweets were made by J. B. Mangharam. I remember Monaco biscuits which are still going strong in the same size and shape and taste and also Glucose biscuits. I was the Monaco biscuit person. The cream filled ones did not find favour with me, I just remember the custard cream ones, then there were biscuits with jam in them, can't really throw light on them as I never ate any of those.
Breakfast in my house was always bread butter, eggs and cheese. We would get Polson butter, Kraft cheese in a round tin, then there were Jams and jellies which never interested me, so I don’t remember them or their brands at all. Milk was a complete no- no for me as I detested the taste. To make it palatable I mixed Ovaltine-a chocolate additive to it.
Anyone who lived at that time cannot forget the cute Murphy baby. That chubby little face with ringlets in the hair was an attractive picture. That picture brings back memories of the Murphy radio- a huge radio which occupied pride of place in our drawing room. This radio was brought back by my father from England in 1948, when he returned after acquiring his Engineering degree from there. He grandly took it home to his parents who lived in a remote village named Kurul in Gadhchiroli district of Maharashtra. There was no electricity connection there so the radio had remained a thing to look at and marvel at. Later when daddy went to work at Hirakud dam project, the radio was finally put to use. It was switched on daily at 9 pm sharp for the news read by Melville D’mello, or Lotika Ratnam, Pamela Singh or Surojit Sen. There had to be pin drop silence in the house then. If a child cried he had to be taken out of the room. In the mornings the radio belted out lovely Hindi songs. I remember old Hindi film songs played from 7.30 to 8 am every morning. The last song was always a K L Sehgal number, which played at 7.55 am. On the first of every month, "Khush hai zamana aaj pehli tareekh hai" was the first song that one heard. The radio station was Radio Ceylon and one would wait for Wednesday evening to hear Amin Sayani with his velvety voice reaching out to us with 16 paaydaans and songs adorning those paydaans with Binaca Geet Mala. Wednesday evenings from 8 to 9 pm also demanded pin drop silence. Binaca Geet Mala memories are of times when I was in school and the transistor had already made its appearance. There was Hamid Sayani who presented English songs. In the classic movie, Reshma our Shera, Waheeda Rehman a village girl calls the transistor,"radio ka baccha".
Vividh Bharati had also started broadcasting songs but we never heard their programmes as they did not play Hindi film songs. Radio Ceylon would come on shortwave, if I rack my brains I will surely recall the bandwidth too.
I was in boarding school from the age of five. There used to be tuck time around 11 am during school recess. I would get 2 Monaco biscuits and one toffee everyday at the same time from the nun in charge of the tuck of boarders. Chocolates were rare, it was only Cadbury’s Milk chocolate then. When my parents visited me from Nagajunasagar dam where daddy was then posted, they would take me out for the day and I would get egg sandwiches at Green Restaurant at Secunderabad and then a Cadbury chocolate from Prince store at Abid Road Hyderabad.
Visiting the library was a happy time. There was a Maharashtra Mandal library in Hyderabad which my mother would visit and leave me free at the children’s section which had low cupboards full of lovely books with pictures.
We seldom were taken to see movies, yet I do remember that outside the cinema hall would sit a young man with song books which contained the lyrics of the songs of different movies. Everyone bought the books and sang the songs. If I remember correctly they sold for 6 pais each. The decimal system had not started, it was Rupee, Anna and Pai.
When I was small and we were at Hirakud, our bungalow was on the banks of the huge River Mahanadi. There was a flood once and I remember seeing lots of animals floating past our house at great speed in the muddied waters of the river. It was quite a dreadful sight.
Jawaharlal Nehru the Prime Minister then, visited Hirakud to see the building of one of the new temples of the country. There was no security in those days and as he drove past he flung a garland which landed right on the neck of my small brother Sunil, who was on the shoulder of my father.
Grocery was bought from the neighbourhood provision stores. There were no packaged goods. Everything was bought loose and the shop keeper would measure the item, make a newspaper thonga(cone)fill it up and tie it up with string. No plastic, no paper packages, nothing which could not be recycled. A lot of people kept cows at home for milk, and hens for eggs.
Ladies spent their spare time knitting, embroidering, or stitching, crocheting or tatting. All women were adept at these arts. In school there were extra curricular classes every day, where we learnt gardening, games, Hindi Music, English Music and needlework. These classes were my most favourite classes, and were usually the last class on each day.
Children were encouraged to play outside everyday. Since I was in the hostel, all our activities were totally regulated. Games, home work class, dinner and then singing. We held hands and moved together singing loudly old favourite English songs. My bonnie lies over the ocean, Oh my darling Clementine, Old Black Joe, and so many more which I am now forgetting.
I must tell you about that big fear which was drilled into our heads. We could never throw salt or waste it because after we died then we would have to pick up all that spilt salt with our eyelids. Don't know what that superstition was all about. As a child I was always afraid of the dark and dreaded the festival of Holi.
Evenings in dam projects were always spent in the Club. All the parents took their children in prams and while parents played Badminton, children played their own games or slept if they were very tiny. Childhood games of seven tiles, gitte, marbles, four corners, chupan chupai, or sitting in a circle and one child would go around with a hanky singing, "I sent a letter to my father" This was played as "Poshampa, bhai poshampa" in Hindi.
Memories are made of these wonderful times. I, like everyone else, love the day of my birth, and feel so good to have completed another year. I share my birthday with known people, some famous some notorious, but then they all made a difference to the world. The most prominent is Hitler, Ryan O' Neal, Chandrababu Naidu, Babita, Napolean III, Miguel Diaz Canel, President of Cuba, Miranda Kerr, Australian supermodel, and of course yours truly.
What do you know-someday I too may become a person who made a difference to the world. Till then, I am waiting.
