Nostalgia -Down the Memory Lane

Certain memories and long forgotten habits cling to us, no matter how old we grow up! They come and they go, every now and then leaving a smile on our lips; making us miss those days. That’s the way nostalgia works out.  When was the last time you wrote a letter to some one? Or the last time you waited impatiently for someone’s letter to arrive? Hard to remember, isn’t it?? Emails have been of great advantage; but does it give us the ecstasy of waiting for someone’s letter? An email sent from any part of the world reaches the recipient the very next moment; no matter where the recipient is put up. Gone are the days when we impatiently held our fire for some beloved’s letter that took days or even weeks together to reach us. Yet we enjoyed it. Inlands and postcards have become out dated. Thank God, greeting cards are still there!! But they are gonna get replaced with e-cards in no time. Are you someone who still uses ink pen? Remember the days when our teachers insisted us on using ink pens so that our hand writing would improve? Our note books may have scattered ink dots raining all over; but still… Ink pens remind us of the days when we found ourselves matured and confident enough to switch over from pencil to pen.  Ink pens were succeeded by ball point pen. Cello and other brands were not in vogue. Reynolds was the most popular one. Wonder how many still uses that brand!! “Nataraj” ruled the pencil brand world. We were so particular that no other pencil brands satisfied us. Nataraj became synonymous with perfect hand writing. The fragrance of Bril ink and fresh Nataraj pencils still reigns the memory!  Fevistick may be a perfect option when it comes to gluing paper materials for the kids of the new century. Camel paste glue, which dominated the scenario once, can now be found in some post offices alone! Even though such gums get glued to our fingers and unnecessary portions of the paper or envelope or whatever, making perfection unattainable, leaving the paper shabby, the very smell of the glue is still nostalgic.  Children of 21 century may hardly have seen audio and video cassettes! So is the case of walk-man. There was a time when we recorded songs in audio cassettes. The tape may get nettled with the tape recorder, every now and then. It was not as convenient as CDs. Neither was it spacious enough to accommodate hundreds of songs. A maximum of ten songs would be there in an audio cassette. Video cassettes were there which could be played in a VCR. Even though they were large in size when compared to CDs today, they could afford only one cinema; never 5 or 6. Literally there are no cassettes- both audio and video- these days. iPods took the turn walk-man. More songs.. touch screen operations.. small in size… advantages are many; but still we miss the times when we carried a walk-man for entertainment.  Computers used floppy disks earlier. They were rectangular in shape. CDs replaced floppy disks too. Gone are the times when we made sure that there is enough film, when we go for a day out. Digital cameras have made films obsolete. The role of mobile cams in this revolution isn’t negligible. Film camera and film rolls have been dumped into the deep pits of oblivion! After all who bothers to carry film rolls all the way, when he can take as many pictures as he want with his mobile clicks?!!  But these memories still take us back to our good old days. Mobile and digital cams, emails, CDs, ipod and the rest too will become obsolete one day; may be after 5 – 6 years! Technology is on a high ride that it multiplies the content of our nostalgic chest every year; if not every moment!