Music during childhood days!

I have written in some previous posts about what music I used to listen to as a kid. I remember listening to Hindi songs from bollywood movies in the late 80's when I used to be a 3-4 year old kid. I remember QSQT, Tezaab and few other movies.

Apart from this, my father used to bring certain tapes which had english songs too. So here I could listen to U2, Madonna, Boney M, ACDC. I remember I never used to like ACDC, but now I enjoy them these days.

I loved Madonna back in that day and even today. Such awesome songs are hers. Then came the 90's. I still remember the year was 1994. One band re-appeared on the scene and they released a tape, the album was "Hell Freezes Over". And the band in picture was Eagles.

My father brought this tape and believe me, I too liked the songs a lot. New York Minute was my favorite and even to this date, it is still.

I never knew what was the story behind the Eagles. And after all these years of listening to their songs. Finally one day I thought let me read more about Eagles.

The year was 2010. It was never late. Apparently, The Eagles was an old band, which split up during 1980 and vowed never to re-unite again. And the saying goes. that the band would unite only if "Hell Freezes over" and so does the name come from. Someone please correct me if I am wrong.

When they re-united, they called themselves as a band which took a 14 year vacation. But how did my father know all about Eagles in 1994. The answer was pretty simple, he used to listen to them during 1970's too!

Same way, he knew about the Police too. I came to know about the Police only during 2007. I was aware of Sting, but never knew this 3 piece outfit existed.!

Then there was one more band which I grew up listening to, by that time satellite TV revolution had happened and I could get a hang of new songs in teh market. The band was MLTR. 2 albums and believe me, I used to listen to those songs again and again.

Even today at workplace, I listen to MLTR, The Eagles, and few others too. Years go by but the melodies remain!

So does Jagjit Singh! I shall write one more post about Jagjit Singh!

Cheers for today!

PS - Whilst this english music thing happened, we always had access to Bollywood movies, Phool Aur Kaante, Roja, Coolie No 1, Main Khiladi Tu Anari, Rangeela and many such Kishore Kumar, Mohd Rafi songs we got used to. Even to this date we still listen to those good old songs! Cheers once again.

Power cuts - during childhood!

This post is all about how I spent my time during power cuts during childhood.
It was a pre-internet era. Unlike most people in the west, we never had access to internet. I got a PC in 1996, but most of my friends could not afford one. Moreover there was no networking of sorts which we could make use of. Hence all of my childhood free time was spent on the streets, playing, speaking doing something with friends in the neighborhood.

So let me tell you couple of things which we did many times, once there was a power cut.

We used to sit on the street footpath and since the vehicles were not so common as of today, we used to sit there and tell out stories. especially ghost stories. Now after many years I realize all the ghost stories were cooked up, but believe me, at that age it was pure fun.

My friends were from all backgrounds, but the good part was, none of them were rich. they were poor, or moderate. All of them could not afford much of the richer things in life.

But being poor was a boon.
Life without internet was even more fun.
Without gadgets it was a bliss.. We could meet people everyday. There was no jealousy amongst our team.

Not sure where all of them have landedup. I hope they are earning sufficiently well. I moved out of Malleshwaram after 15 years, and been here for more than a decade at Uttarahalli.

Cheers,

A cartoon character which I liked :)-

I grew up watching cartoons, even to this day, I love watching cartoons. There are some cartoons which I really like and admire.

They are.

1. Looney toons show (fav being Bugs Bunny,)
2. Richie Rich,
3. TinTin.
4. Thomas And Friends.
5. Popeye the sailor

But my favorite cartoon character of all is none other than " ONION ".

Onion is one of the villain's assistant in the Richie Rich cartoon series.
I particularly like the way he keeps on eating onions. :)-

And the first time I saw Richie Rich cartoon was in N's house way back in 1993-94 may be.

Cheers,
Sandeep

Friends Circulating Library

Of all the things I liked in Subramanyanagar, the best was Venkateshwara Bakery and the next best thing was infact, the store next to it. It was none other than Friends Cirulating Library. I never was a big time reader, until this happened. Infact my mother enrolled my brother as a member of the library. I think the year was 1993-94.

So from that year, I started reading comics, Chacha Choudhry, Tintin and Mandrake, and many more. But I enjoyed reading Famous Five apart from all other books. I did not like Secret Seven that much though. so by the year 1999, when I was supposed to relocate to South of Bangalore, I had read many books of Hardy boys, Nancy drew and many many more..

Infact there were days, when I used to read two books per day, morning- afternoon - hardy boys, afternoon - late evening, Nancy Drew. (During holidays I meant). Loved reading them along side listening to MLTR, (Paint my love).

So finally in 1999, said goodbye to Friend's circulating library and transferred my account membership to my friend Abijit.

But since 1999, I have found it difficult to find a library in South of Bangalore. These days, I get books from Strand book stall / festival or from Avenue road.

Lately I heard, Friends Circulating Library ceases to exist and its given way to a browsing center. I have never been to Subramanyanagar after 1999. Sad to hear this update.

After coming over here, I have found Bugis National Library a metro station away, and have become its member. Its been 3 weeks since I ve been a member, and I ve almost read 4 books by Stephen King.

Wow, I could manage only 1 per month whilst I was in Bangalore, thanks to my travelling and the IDIOT box.

Cheers,
Sandeep

PS:: Yes even after 11 years, I can still remember my account number, It is infact 374 .
Long live the legacy of Friends Ciculating Library

As a child, I was afraid of my teachers :)-

I just recollected about this, a day after Gurupurnima. As a kid, I was afraid of my teachers. There is nothing wrong in admitting. I was extremely afraid.

Taking beatings with a wooden scale, teachers, squeezing our ears, even using bamboo stick, seemed to be very embarassing and even more in front of entire class.

Once, I had forgotten to bring a notebook to the class. We had the concept of classwork and homework, notebooks, one for classroom writing and one for writing exercises at home. I had not brought one of the book. I was so scared, that I will be made to stand out of the class, that I wasted two hours pondering over it and when the class was over,  I can recollect, the book was never needed. What a waste of time.

This might be the reason, I ended up carrying bucket loads of books to school, out of fear. (Might be, I am not sure, I cannot prove it, because I have forgotten about it).

As I approached high school, I can recollect, it became an obsession to carry lesser and lesser books to the class. Infact, we used to show each others' bags just to see whose carried more books. The fear just gradually came down and down as I grew with age.

One more instance I can recollect, I literally forgot to complete my homework on time, and was about to get a signed letter from my parents, saying I was out of town and was not able to complete homework on time. But luckily, I stayed back at home for some more time and completed the same.

I still wonder, why I was so afraid of my teachers. May be it brought discipline in me. But I feel, fear results in lesser self confidence.

And in my case, it might have resulted in losing bucket loads of time. May be I could have read another TinTin comic or a Famous Five book or something else,

And as I grew up, as the fear gradually came down and after which what happened, well.. thats another story.

Cheers,
Sandeep

Walking on the railway tracks in the hot sun :)

Some of the most memorable childhood memories, I have, is, about growing up, in the area called Malleshwaram. It was an awesome area. Loads of good people, loads of places to hang out, lots of options.

As a kid, we used to have summer holidays, infact, we had 2-3 months of holidays in a continous stretch. It was awesome. There we so many things which we got to do, during such holidays. One such thing, which might sound not so good, is walking on the railway tracks during afternoon time.

There are many such occasions, I can recollect, when after having afternoon lunch, sleep was difficult to come by, and, it being holiday time, I was always, wanting to play. So when I got bored of playing cricket, hide and seek, reading books or finishing my summer holiday homeworks, I used to walk along the railway tracks.

Yes, it might sound bizzare, but yes, doing bizzare things, gives me happiness, (not sure about you), like walking along railway tracks, and recollecting about them, writing about them,  may be 15+ years later.

There is a railway line which passes close to Malleshwaram, which then goes to Yeshwantpur railway station and then to Tumkur etc etc.

So when nothing was left to do, me and my friend used to walk along the railway tracks. Dont worry, its not on the railway tracks, it is alongside railway track, at a safe distance from where trains used to go.

It was loads of fun, watching different trains go by.  Meanwhile in between, all the train services were suspended, not sure if I am correct, because there was a conversion of railway line from meter gauge to broad gauge.

So there I was spending almost many afternoons, in the hot sun, after lunch, watching the workers as they laid new tracks.

It was fun, doing these kind of things over holidays. Sometimes, I feel, I am lucky. Even though, I did not have computer, internet or cable TV those days, still we had a great time, doing things, which people only can imagine doing.

One such thing was walking along railway tracks. I am sure, not many people would have grown up doing this.

Cheers,
Sandeep

PS:: Please note, I have always maintained a safe distance from trains and I have never walked on the railway tracks.

First trip to Chickmaglur in 1996

My first trip to Chikmaglur was way back in 1996. I have been to many places before 1996, Hubli, Dharwad as usual, Mumbai, Goa, and some places back in and around Bangalore.

But I cannot recollect any instances of going to Chickmaglur before 1996. But this first trip to Chickmaglur was a memorable one. As memorable as it can get. I dont know how to put it, but it was magical.

I remember having summer holidays at school, during that time, my father along with the colleagues of his office had planned a trip to Chikmaglur, infact Koppa. Infact a relative of one of my father's friend had a estate in Koppa, so we were all invited.

Few collegues of my father along with their kids came along in a rented Matador, yes those days TT was considered to be expensive, since Matador was available and it could seat more people than TT.

Infact I remember catching cold a day before the trip. I was worried, how would I ever manage it. I somehow took some homeopathic medicine and started on the trip. Would you believe or not, my cold just vanished as I left Bangalore and reached out other places.

I still remember, we passed through Kunigal then to Holenarasipura, where the driver of the rented vehicle had his house. We stopped at his place, where he loaded a 25 kilo jowar sack into the back of the vehicle, so we had to keep our luggage in the seating area.

Then we had lunch at Hassan, yes, we proceeded towards Koppa. It was 8 45 pm in the evening when we reached over there. Next day, we proceeded to Shringeri, then in the evening to Agumbe to watch the sunset.

Yes these are my memories of my first trip to Chickmaglur, way back in 1996. Yes, it was as beautiful as it is today. I can write more about the places I visited. But i do not want to. You can get that information anywhere on the internet.

I can also recollect having bath in the pond which used to run across in the backyard of the estate.

I have been to Chickmaglur after this few other times, but never been to the estate, yet again. May be someday, I shall get another invite.

Cheers,
Sandeep

Stationeries

DISCLAIMER - These are my childhood memories, some of the things which I liked, adored and some of the things which I did as a child. I know, when I recall those days, I feel, its absolutely ridiculous and even I feel absolutely embarassed as I am posting some of the thoughts over here. Yet I have made some courage to write over here, just to keep myself entertained, at same time, holding back these memories for many more years to come. Some of the memories dates back to mid and latter part of 1980's, when I was still writing in a four lines book, trying to improve my handwriting :). Yet I can recollect them, yes by God's grace.

As a child, I loved so many things. I cannot name them and I cannot remember many of them. Infact one thing which I can still remember is I love stationeries. [I somehow felt the smell of a brand new eraser to be very attractive.]. How do I remember it? 

Answer is very simple. I still love stationeries. Everytime I went to the stationery, my eyes lit up. I wanted to buy so many things in a stationery shop. Initially, as a kid, love to buy pencils, erasers, stickers, labels of cricketers, cars. Yes I think everyone can recollect we used to have two books, One calle CW and the other called HW. [ Classwork and Homework]. We used to have labels on top of them identifying to whom it belongs to. I am referring to those labels over here.

After few years, when I was introduced to a fountain pen, I started liking Hero pen. I loved to write with a Hero pen. Everytime I went to a stationery shop, just wanted to buy a Hero pen. But yes. I could not.
Also I would like to share an occasion where I used to get stationeries for free. As kids, we all used to celebrate our birthday. So whenever there was a birthday, there used to a free distributiion of pencils, sharpners and erasers to all the kids of the class, by the birthday boy. And yes it was one of the most joyous moments I can ever recollect.

Though at the places where I have worked, over the years, we generally are provided free stationeries, the joy does not match up to the joy what we felt when we got free stationeries on someone's birthday. Not sure why.

Cheers,
Sandeep

PS:: Recently I had purchased a 400 page long unruled notebook, in India, to write something. Could not bring it over here. Also saw a drawing book @ Mustafa. I somehow feel like buying it..

First visit to Hubli, Dharwad

My first visit to Hubli, Dharwad was in the year 1992. I was there to attend the marriage of a close relative of mine.

Its almost 18 years back, but still I can recollect many instances of the trip. I had been there with my cousin's family.

Hubli and Dharwad was awesome during the early 90's. Now also its awesome, but the traffic thing just got the better of it.

I fell in love with Hubli, Dharwad because of its, then calm streets, good food, and the weather.

Infact, I travelled to Belgaum first, I can recollect I stayed at Hotel Satkar. Then I came down to Dharwad. Those days, the steam trains used to run between Hubli to Dharwad. So the Dharwad station had a turn table.

It was fun going to the station, sitting there watching trains come and go by. Now the story is different, the twin cities have changed a lot. The turn table still exists in the railway station, but it has never been used after the conversion to broad gauge has happend.

We visited lots of places around Dharwad, Yellamana Gudda, Gokak, Saundatti, Ramdurg,
Apart from this, we also purchased lots of Dharwad Pedha from Mishra Pedha.

Also one more incident I remember was @ Belgaum, where I ate Kunda for the first time. My parents gave me Kunda ,mixture and milk and told me to have the same. I found it very very difficult to consume milk with a sweet. Could not eat much of it.

Apart from this, I can also recollect, my mother and aunt, took us to the Potdar jewellers in Belgaum.  I recollect sitting there for more than an hour, while my parents were discussing about some pattern on the jewel they were planning to order. (I have never again been to that place till date, coz there was absoultely no need).

So these are my sweet memories or recollections of my first trip to Hubli, Dharwad, Belgaum.

I might have gone to Hubli or Dharwad before this, but I do not remember anything about the same.

I have travelled to the twin cities a lot many times after this, yes, everytime, I have fallen in love with the twin cities more and more.

Cheers,
Sandeep

Why do I love a weekday holiday ??

I love the idea of having a holiday during the 5 working days of the week. Its something which makes me go GA GA, or you can say I feel like I am on moon, whenever there is a holiday on a weekday.

But what is the reason behind it, since when did I start loving them?

Frankly speaking, it was since I started working, I fell in love with this idea. But I can recollect it was during my childhood days, that I first experienced weekday off and YES, I still remember the same.
 
The year was, I think 1986, and I was in pre-nursery. I have stayed @ Malleshwaram for the first 15 yrs of my life. So the pre-nursery was close to the railway tracks, somewhere in Malleshwaram West.

It was one such days, (during a weekday), that a leave was declared, not sure why. I came to know about the holiday only once I reached the pre-nursery. Infact my father used to drop me over there.

So I came back home and yes, I had food and slept, played and played the whole day.

It was the beginning, since then I have had so many days off during the week, many of them have been memorable, once in HighSchool,  the school was closed on a working day, that too on the day of a test. Nice. So the whole day we played cricket and came back and started revising for the next day.

Such is the impact of a weekday off on me that, in my first company, I have bunked office few times on Monday, not because I was unwell, but just due to the fact that, I am lazy and wanted a day off during the week. And yes, the whole idea peps me up !!!

So here goes the first post in the collection.

Cheers,
Sandeep

Few posts which I have in my mind

Couple of weeks back, suddenly a thought came to my mind. How would it be, if  I write about interesting days of my childhood and teenage days. Though most of them were as memorable as it can get, but I can recollect few of them very well. So here I am finally deciding to write about them.

Btw, all of a sudden how did I get an idea to write about this?

Two weeks back over the weekend, I saw few kids playing hide and seek whilst I was sitting in the park and muching over Murukku, it looked cool, I thought, miles away even in India, we used to play hide and seek when we were teenagers / kids, may be till 10 yrs back. So like is I found enthusiasm to write about my childhood days.

So thought about it for a day and came up with a whopping 15+ items in a single attempt. I hope I recollect more, I hope I write about all of them and also I hope I label my posts.

I have no particular interest in knowing that, anyone else apart from me is reading these posts. These posts are just for keeping me entertained and making these childhood memories everlasting.

So here are the topics:

1.  Why do I love a weekday holiday ? Story behind it.
2.  My handwriting as a kid.
3.  Introduction to my childhood friends ( N, Nsis).
4.  Why do I love stationeries.
5.  Why do I collect coins?
6.  My summer holidays at my grandmother's place.
7.  Playing hide and seek, in the dark, during evenings, across localities.
8.  Hubli, Dharwad visit for the first time.
9.  Music I listened to as a kid.
10. Small wonder @ N's house.
11. Richie Rich @ N's house.
12. Cycling across Malleshwaram, Mysore Lamps.
13. Of playgrounds and cricket.
14. Walking on railway tracks in hot sun, during holidays.
15.  Friends Circulating Library.
16. Vivekananda College grounds and cricket.
17. Watching old movies on DD1.
18. Trip to Koppa, Chikmaglur.

So planning to start one by one and add more entries to this list.

Cheers,
Sandeep