The book is based on the memories of 90’s kids. It has a collection of various objects, things and activities 90’s kids will relate to.

Preface Everyone wishes that their childhood should come back, the memories attached should be experienced once again, therefore to give every 90’s kid nostalgia, this book is put forward. The book contains all the memories, all the things, all the games every 90’s kid has experienced in their childhood. As the book have a photographic approach every reader can connect things to their childhood.

Contents Vacations

1

Games

16

Schooling

26

Stickers

34

Memories

36

Bibliography

38

1

1. Vacations

Summer was the last day of school eating bhel with friends and calling it a party. It was buying the latest Tinkle and Champak. It was living on the streets all day. It was one night sleepovers that felt like vacation. It was when happiness came in a packet of cola

2

Write it down or forget it forever Calls on telephones are a rare thing nowadays. Back in the time, telephone ring was a joy and listening to the voices of our loved ones was a bliss. Writing down messages to be conveyed and telephone numbers in a tiny pocket diary is a highly cherishable memory now

And another one for our stamp collection!!

They used to wait for letters to collect the stamps.. the letters and the stamps both went into the memory box

3

4

A Letter! for me!! And the best part of writing them was the anticipation of receiving a reply to a specially-decorated letter. They had the most atrangi yaari, where they wrote letters to each other even though they saw each other every day at school. Handmade drawings can never replace the artificial stickers that float around on social media these days.

5

The pinnacle of barter system

Early on in their schools, the one who had their birthdays didn’t distribute chocolates. They spent months deciding what to give, which included story books. And then followed exchanging those story books for something more interesting in return. Those colorful pages and covers were always a special attraction. It was the best barter system ever!!

6

Custom made playlist There had always been a chest full of custom made cassettes, CDs and DVDs in almost every other 90’s kid’s house. One can still find cassettes and CDs that have a totally different cover on the outside, and a surprisingly different playlist inside. Recording them was a task and they most likely messed it up. But, who cares, right?

7

New day New Character!

These were a root cause of fights and many other evil things. They used to randomly dial numbers and prank people because no one ever knew who called. Thanks to the dabba, non-digital phones, they were untraceable, or so they thought! This probably must’ve stopped when someone they pranked scolded by saying they would complain to their parents.

8

Playing guessing games with photo negatives: is that you or is that me? The photos were interesting, yeah. But more than the negatives, which showed the ghost-like faces siblings? Hell no! Everybody would look crazy zombies!

Summer Sleepover Specials: Terrace and Ghost stories

9

Open starlit sky, pleasant cold breezes, makad-topis, and ghost stories to specifically scare the youngest sibling to death, and then yelling from the elders. Putting on macchardanis was never a successful tasks, until some uncle came along. Those kind of sleeps were the best and peaceful ones always!

10

A light break Loss of electricity meant boo-ing in the society together from the core and story time in the house. Entire family would surround the candle and it was always baba’s turn to tell stories. If not that, the kids would play “catch the shadows,” until other family members were tired of seeing them run everywhere in the house.

Riding to our imagination

11

It was the best ride when parked in the parking. And the most uncomfortable, while actually riding. Because kids always were either squeezed in between the weirdly-placed seats, hurting our bums or stood in the front, even when you were in the way of driver’s POV and hurting our knees.

12

The only rainbow we didn't looked forward to The only kind of rainbow we never wanted to see and the only kind that was intolerable.

Reading tinkle and champak

13

No comics books can ever come close to the adrenaline rush Shikari Shambu gave us and the deligth Champak brought. And many other story and fairytale books! Reading and re-reading them, and the kids never got bored!

14

Radio: all time best friend There was no day, until they probably passed schools and entered colleges, that the radio didn’t play in their rooms. One could find it playing all day, all night. It was the best study-time companion 90s kids ever had. And the song “school chale hum” would make a great start to the day! Beautiful times..

Securing our entertainment

15

POV: It’s a Sunday, you’re waiting for Shaktiman to begin and you see the “loss-of-signal black ants” on screen. That’s when it was super essential to fix the antenna. And banging the remotes to make them work!.

16

2. Games

Football and cricket are favorite sports but playing badminton in pajamas at night will always be special.

17 The key to a good spin lies in a tight wrap and an experienced throw!

The coolest party trick

18

Challenging our inner ninja Can you see the ball coming towards you and duck on time? Or better still, aim the ball so that it hits an actual person and doesn’t just bounce away?

On most days, we felt like we were playing for India during the World Cup. We imagined the lights, the crowd screaming our name, the jersey. The Chappals were always boundaries and the cars were the free hit

Wishing on our lucky stars to bat first

19

20

Eyes on the wrong direction A version of Hide-n-seek very similar to “Kick the can.” The denner has to return the dabba to its location while finding the other players who are hiding. If a player gets to the dabba without getting caught, all other players are freed. Remember how much fun it was to shout “Pintu ka dabba ice-spice“

The one who had the best aim had the most marbles.

Focus, Aim and win!!

21

22

Its all about balance This was quite tough as well when you have to run on one leg. Now, this can be utilised as a good workout

Make sure your aim is absolutely spot-on. And the other team - make sure you’re fast enough to pile up all the stones again. This will be fun!

Sticks and stones to break the pile

23

24

Copyright on the best spot Or as we called it Chuppam chupai. Hide and Seek is a popular children’s game in which players hide themselves in a marked area, to be found by one or more seekers/denners. The denner closes his eyes and counts till a certain number, after which he tries to find the h dden players. And remember shouting, “DHAPPA!”

Your vision is as it is clouded when you’re plastered, and then you’re given the task to catch people blindfolded. Talk about hard work!

Following the giggles

25

26

3. schooling

Nostalgia (noun) : The smell of new books, the art of filling ink in an ink pen, the 1rs coins hidden inside the bag, the pen fights, the collection of chalks....

Our biggest fear: edge of the corner seat and then out of the auto They wooden plank hurt their knees but gave the best ride (*only when you sat at the end of it, else it was like a bread cooking in an oven). School buses had no different scene than an autorickshaw. The same fights, friends and eating leftover tiffins on our way back home.

27

28

Last minute touch ups Waking up at 7 am and catching the school bus at 7.30 am. That half an hour journey was always a tiny rollercoaster ride everyday. 90s kids had a typical “sports” shoes for their entire schooling the famous “PT” shoes. Polishing them on time was a sweet surprise for their parents. Most of the times the white polish for their shoes were white chalk, cause the (ab)normal way of polishing took forever to dry

How many more friends for a full slam book It was an un-said rule that the slam books were distributed at the end of every academic year and the first pages were for best friends ONLY and those were to filled up at the end. Because the other friends should not know the secrets. And also, the best friend was allowed to read any page of the slam book. The thought of passing it to their crushes can still make their hearts race. There used to a be a kind of a competition to see whose slam books were filled more.

29

30

Happy to have a partner in crime Computer periods taught us sharing mostly because there never were enough computers for the entire class and there were only few that worked the best. It was one PC in two people with MS Paint open and a tree drawn

31

Scale gooood, Band Goooooood!! Who

Stationery was a rare treasure only one of each Stationery was among the prized possessions because they didn’t get the fancy ones everyday. It would only be one good day that would get them the fragrant eraser or a 2-in-1 sharpener. But would it last even for a day? Well, let’s never ask them that

32

33

Art of refilling an ink pen This was truly an art back then! The dropper, ink bottle and a rough cloth; sitting calmly with these things on the floor with all your concentration and trying your best not to spill even a single drop of ink on the floor. Who needed meditation back then?

34

4. stickers

35.

36

5. Memories Write or illustrate your memories down here and post this on your socia media accounts using the hashtags given below...

#nostalgia #90’s #memories #childhood

37

5. Memories Write or illustrate your memories down here and post this on your socia media accounts using the hashtags given below...

#nostalgia #90’s #memories #childhood

38

6. Bibliography Credits: Content Nikhila kulkarni Mayuri Upasni Scoopwhoop Images Abhay kanvinde Shutter Stock Book Design Rohan Dekhane MITU19BFAA0018

“I wish the 90's would just come back. It was honestly so much better!”