Wednesday, December 26, 2012

20 Things From the 80s That We Grew Up With

The past thirty years have moved on so fast technologically that several things that were essential for us to lead our lives back in the 80s are now objects that will make no sense to today's kids. Let me try and capture some of these essentials here and see if I can make a comprehensive list for posterity. If one can find these items, or some reminiscences of them, perhaps even a museum!

Each one separately has to be written about because each in its own way deserves an explanation lest their importance in our lives back then is not fully understood.The list goes somewhat like this and I invite everyone to add to it (before we all forget about them).

1) Radio / transistor
2) TVs / TV stands / TV boxes with shutters / TV antennae
3) Telephones /Trunk calls and PP numbers /Telephone Directories / Phonograms
4) PCOs / CTOs
5) LPs / EPs / Gramaphones
6) Inland letters / Aerogrammes / Cards /Telegrams
7) Birthday cards / Greeting cards
8) Bicycles with dynamos (even license plates)
9) Cassette players / cassettes
10) 5 1/2 inch and 3 1/2 inch floppies / Early computers
11) Ink blotters / ink fillers / fountain pens
12) Carbon copies / ammonia prints
13) Negatives / Camera rolls / Prints / Albums
14) Cars with crankshafts to start
15) Encyclopedias
16) Water boilers
17) Milk bottles on the doorstep / Milk booths
18) Video players / Video cassettes
19) Cycle rickshaws / Trailer buses / Double decker buses
20) Alarm clocks

More surely?

2 comments:

Madhav said...

Irani cafes will soon have to be added ro the list. True irani chai is hard to find these days.

Harimohan said...

Madhav, I think they should be added to this list anyway because the true nature of the Irani cafes is already missing from the ones we have today.