Even as kids, we've all had our crushes... most girls actually think they can marry their dads when they grow up! And the boys love their Nursery teacher. I've studied in a geeky school with only female teachers, so having crushes on teachers or the boys around was almost out of the question. I did, however, have my part of fun too!
My first crush was Julian .. know who this is? the eldest boy in the Famous Five series!!! A fictional character! He was smart, tall, had golden hair and was "so responsible" - just the guy a young girl dreamed of!
Crush no. 2 was again a character from a book - Pete of The Three Investigators (Alfred Hitchcock)- again the tall, athletic one.
Crush no. 3 was the biggest crush of all - Ned Nickerson of the Nancy Drew series... in fact I remember going to the library and choosing Nancy Drew books - but only those which had Ned Nickerson in it. I actually stopped reading this series when Nancy breaks off with Ned - I was oh-so-heart-broken. Ned Nickerson was athletic, sporty, always there when Nancy needed him (meaning where some villianous bones had to broken or physical activity was involved) - and most of all - he drove a sports car!
Friday, August 31, 2007
Rustic Kids' fashion
My daughter is all of 3 yrs old and refuses to wear anything thats longer than her knees or dresses with sleeves. She prefers selecting her own clothes at the store... something I'd not done till I was almost 20! My mom picked my clothes, and my sister's too (we often ended up wearing the same design in different colors) and we wore those without any fuss.
Here's a short graph of what our clothes looked like in our rustic days...
Balloon frocks - these skirts were folded inside till the waist to give the "balloon" effect
Parkar-polka and Kalpana saree - this was for the festive occasions. A parkar polka is actually the Maharashtrian version of ghaghra choli without the dupatta and the Kalpana saree is a pre-stitched saree for small girls
Pinafore dresses - staid trouser material was stitshed to make pinafore and we wore blouses inside these
Bell-bottoms - i remember my grandpa buying 4 of these in various colors - one each for my sis, me and my 2 cousins. All had the same design t-shirt too!
Peddle-pushers - these are actually what we now call "capris" or 3/4 length pants - then typically made in corduroy.
Baggies - Ankle length loose fit pants worn with a hip length top and a broad belt.
Bloomers - underwear that's supposed to look like shorts with an elastic at the legs!
Here's a short graph of what our clothes looked like in our rustic days...
Balloon frocks - these skirts were folded inside till the waist to give the "balloon" effect
Parkar-polka and Kalpana saree - this was for the festive occasions. A parkar polka is actually the Maharashtrian version of ghaghra choli without the dupatta and the Kalpana saree is a pre-stitched saree for small girls
Pinafore dresses - staid trouser material was stitshed to make pinafore and we wore blouses inside these
Bell-bottoms - i remember my grandpa buying 4 of these in various colors - one each for my sis, me and my 2 cousins. All had the same design t-shirt too!
Peddle-pushers - these are actually what we now call "capris" or 3/4 length pants - then typically made in corduroy.
Baggies - Ankle length loose fit pants worn with a hip length top and a broad belt.
Bloomers - underwear that's supposed to look like shorts with an elastic at the legs!
Sunday, August 26, 2007
Those were the Chandamama Days
Can you see some kind of pattern in this madness? We all are so excited to tell our childood stories that we have started discussing things much broader that we originally thought. My personal opinion about this is quite positive. I think we should start talking about everything and anything surrounding our childhood.
Reshma has been one of the most active whistle blowers in this blog. Let us the give her the credits (I am not that bad with this language anyways). One thing she has been talking about recently was Chandamama and that really took me back to those days. I was a coincidence that a month back I rememberd of Chandamama. Like any other Google-holic I quickly tried to search through the net to figureout if they still exist. To my surprise the first result on Google took me to the home page of the publishers www.chandamama.org. They still are publishing in 11 Indian languages. Salute to the publishers who have been entertaining and educating Indian children with our cultural values through its stories.
I remember those days when we used to wait for Chandamama to reach by post. I was subscribing to the Oriya version (which is my mothertoungue). The first story I used to read as soon as the mazine lands in our house was Vikram & Betaal. Remember the picture on the story? It was the same picture in every issue but somehow it carried so much of excitement.
In general, along with the stories, the pictures on Chandamama were so very fascinating and expressing. Each picture was worth a story. The imperfect nature of the images gave them a feeling of closeness. I remember some new magazines started to break the monopoly of Chandamama by soeing up with better paper quality and more perfect looking images. But somehow they did not succeed. Yes Chandamama slowly lost its charm with the new age kids. But it certainly remains one of the foremost impressions of storytelling with people born in that era. I personally cherish the moments I used to spend peeking out of the window in the afternoon to see if the postman came with the latest edition of Chandamama.
Reshma has been one of the most active whistle blowers in this blog. Let us the give her the credits (I am not that bad with this language anyways). One thing she has been talking about recently was Chandamama and that really took me back to those days. I was a coincidence that a month back I rememberd of Chandamama. Like any other Google-holic I quickly tried to search through the net to figureout if they still exist. To my surprise the first result on Google took me to the home page of the publishers www.chandamama.org. They still are publishing in 11 Indian languages. Salute to the publishers who have been entertaining and educating Indian children with our cultural values through its stories.
I remember those days when we used to wait for Chandamama to reach by post. I was subscribing to the Oriya version (which is my mothertoungue). The first story I used to read as soon as the mazine lands in our house was Vikram & Betaal. Remember the picture on the story? It was the same picture in every issue but somehow it carried so much of excitement. In general, along with the stories, the pictures on Chandamama were so very fascinating and expressing. Each picture was worth a story. The imperfect nature of the images gave them a feeling of closeness. I remember some new magazines started to break the monopoly of Chandamama by soeing up with better paper quality and more perfect looking images. But somehow they did not succeed. Yes Chandamama slowly lost its charm with the new age kids. But it certainly remains one of the foremost impressions of storytelling with people born in that era. I personally cherish the moments I used to spend peeking out of the window in the afternoon to see if the postman came with the latest edition of Chandamama.
Tuesday, August 7, 2007
Rustic Kid books
Five Find-Outers and the dog : don't remember too much about this series except that it's by Enid Blyton
St Clares and Malory Towers by Enid Blyton: One had the tomboy and the other hadthe twins... even a girl from a circus who could ride a horse and do cartwheels. Both based on English boardign schools - girls' schools.
Naughty Girl series - naughty girl Elizabeth in a boarding school again!!
Faraway Tree and other magic series: this one was fun... it had goblins, and elves and all strange creatures.
Secret Seven : pam, george, barbara, peter, colin, janet, jack and scotter(or was it spotter) the golden spaniel. haighlight was the girl suzie who keeps barging in the secret meetings.. and she seems smarter than all the seven!
Chandamama, Champak and Tinkle: the Indian children's magazine with Suppandi, Shambhu Shikari... this was fun!!
St Clares and Malory Towers by Enid Blyton: One had the tomboy and the other hadthe twins... even a girl from a circus who could ride a horse and do cartwheels. Both based on English boardign schools - girls' schools.
Naughty Girl series - naughty girl Elizabeth in a boarding school again!!
Faraway Tree and other magic series: this one was fun... it had goblins, and elves and all strange creatures.
Secret Seven : pam, george, barbara, peter, colin, janet, jack and scotter(or was it spotter) the golden spaniel. haighlight was the girl suzie who keeps barging in the secret meetings.. and she seems smarter than all the seven!
Chandamama, Champak and Tinkle: the Indian children's magazine with Suppandi, Shambhu Shikari... this was fun!!
Friday, August 3, 2007
The best of the worst era (1985 -1990)
Some other movies come to mind from the 85-90 era...
Tridev '89 - for almost a year after the movie came out kids would shout 'oye oyeee' and you would have to reply with 'oye ovaa'...no matter wether you were trying to study or spending some quality time alone in the loo.
Aashiqui '90 - Great music... and i think love was generally in the air those days....
Mr. India '87 - Quite a decent movie even if the highlight was Sridevi's rain dance
Tarzan '85 - Kimi Kimi Kimi Kimi Kimi Kimi Kimi Kimi Kimi Kimi Kimi Kimi
Tezaab '88 - India had a new star and ofcourse 'ek do teen' to teach counting in hindi to less fortunate ones who were born in the south of the country
Ram Teri Ganga Maili '85 - I personally found it very depressing (off course there were some uplifting moments...)
any that i missed?
Tridev '89 - for almost a year after the movie came out kids would shout 'oye oyeee' and you would have to reply with 'oye ovaa'...no matter wether you were trying to study or spending some quality time alone in the loo.
Aashiqui '90 - Great music... and i think love was generally in the air those days....
Mr. India '87 - Quite a decent movie even if the highlight was Sridevi's rain dance
Tarzan '85 - Kimi Kimi Kimi Kimi Kimi Kimi Kimi Kimi Kimi Kimi Kimi Kimi
Tezaab '88 - India had a new star and ofcourse 'ek do teen' to teach counting in hindi to less fortunate ones who were born in the south of the country
Ram Teri Ganga Maili '85 - I personally found it very depressing (off course there were some uplifting moments...)
any that i missed?
1980's movies of the VCR age
A neighbour of mine had a VCR where we watched a movie every Saturday night. This friend's parents used to give us Rs 10 to go and choose a Video Cassette we wished from the video library (extinct today). Most of the times we selected the latest one released that Friday, but several times we’ve (innocently) picked quite the wrong ones!
Our favourite ones were the Neelam-Govinda-Chunky movies. Neelam was my favourite heroine and quite a trend-setter too! I remember having stitched clothes and bought accessories just like hers… frocks and skirts with broad belts, white shoes, and plastic earrings!
Here’s a list of the “Neelam” movies – as much as my rusty memory can remember – all seen on adolescent Saturday nights!
LOVE 86 – the names of the actors in this movie are – behold – Leena Omi Vicky Eesha (stands for LOVE)… remember the song “le jayenge le jayenge dilwaley dulhania le jayenge”
Aag Hi Aag – chunky pandey and neelam singing “saajan aaja re” in the woods. Perhaps later inspired “aashiqui”. Also I remember as a child practicing dancing to the song “lagli lagli lagli, aisi hichki lagli”
Ghar ka chirag – neelam and chunky are college lovers, and chunky dies in a car accident. A pregnant Neelam marries a much older Rajesh Khanna (for convenience, no sex) – has a son – and lo and behold! Chunky returns!!! Popular song “tootak tootak tutiya” which set the trend of bhangra numbers in hindi movies.
Paap ki Duniya – Remember Reema Lahiri singing some lines in the song “Chori Chori yun jab ho aankhen char kya hota hain” – sunny deol dancing funnily. Neelam and chunky are the guys from “good houses” while Sunny is a thief. The song “Main tera tota tu meri maina” and Bappi-da’s music were a big hit.
Mitti aur Sona – one of the boldest movies of the time (I think I must’ve cringed watching this movie with my friend’s parents) Sonam is a call-girl, and chunky who’s actually supposed to fall in love with the goody-goody Neelam falls for Sonam instead… who turns out to be Neelam’s step-sister at the end!
Ilzaam – One of the numerous “dance” movies of the time, Neelam and Govinda are professional dancers, who get separated because of Anita Raaj’s death. And how they get back and fight the villains forms the rest of the story. This movie had the “trendy” song – I am a street dancer.
Hatya – This big hit “thriller” directed by Kirti Kumar had a mute-deaf child being witness to his mother’s death. Govinda – a widower – finds the child and unravels the mystery – with Neelam as arm candy to provide relief in songs – Main pyaar ka poojari, mujhe pyaar chihiye, rab jaisa hi sunder mera yaar chahiye (rab jaisa? Like god?? Ganpati???))
Khudgarz - rakesh roshan’s big ticket to bollywood top directors! Two friends – Shatrughan Sinha and Jeetendra become foes and their children Govinda and Neelam fall in love – over some keechad-splattering! Mai se Meena se na saaki se… singing in the Himalayas!
Our favourite ones were the Neelam-Govinda-Chunky movies. Neelam was my favourite heroine and quite a trend-setter too! I remember having stitched clothes and bought accessories just like hers… frocks and skirts with broad belts, white shoes, and plastic earrings!
Here’s a list of the “Neelam” movies – as much as my rusty memory can remember – all seen on adolescent Saturday nights!
LOVE 86 – the names of the actors in this movie are – behold – Leena Omi Vicky Eesha (stands for LOVE)… remember the song “le jayenge le jayenge dilwaley dulhania le jayenge”
Aag Hi Aag – chunky pandey and neelam singing “saajan aaja re” in the woods. Perhaps later inspired “aashiqui”. Also I remember as a child practicing dancing to the song “lagli lagli lagli, aisi hichki lagli”
Ghar ka chirag – neelam and chunky are college lovers, and chunky dies in a car accident. A pregnant Neelam marries a much older Rajesh Khanna (for convenience, no sex) – has a son – and lo and behold! Chunky returns!!! Popular song “tootak tootak tutiya” which set the trend of bhangra numbers in hindi movies.
Paap ki Duniya – Remember Reema Lahiri singing some lines in the song “Chori Chori yun jab ho aankhen char kya hota hain” – sunny deol dancing funnily. Neelam and chunky are the guys from “good houses” while Sunny is a thief. The song “Main tera tota tu meri maina” and Bappi-da’s music were a big hit.
Mitti aur Sona – one of the boldest movies of the time (I think I must’ve cringed watching this movie with my friend’s parents) Sonam is a call-girl, and chunky who’s actually supposed to fall in love with the goody-goody Neelam falls for Sonam instead… who turns out to be Neelam’s step-sister at the end!
Ilzaam – One of the numerous “dance” movies of the time, Neelam and Govinda are professional dancers, who get separated because of Anita Raaj’s death. And how they get back and fight the villains forms the rest of the story. This movie had the “trendy” song – I am a street dancer.
Hatya – This big hit “thriller” directed by Kirti Kumar had a mute-deaf child being witness to his mother’s death. Govinda – a widower – finds the child and unravels the mystery – with Neelam as arm candy to provide relief in songs – Main pyaar ka poojari, mujhe pyaar chihiye, rab jaisa hi sunder mera yaar chahiye (rab jaisa? Like god?? Ganpati???))
Khudgarz - rakesh roshan’s big ticket to bollywood top directors! Two friends – Shatrughan Sinha and Jeetendra become foes and their children Govinda and Neelam fall in love – over some keechad-splattering! Mai se Meena se na saaki se… singing in the Himalayas!
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