I let my mind trace back to my childhood to identify some material things that were best classified mundane, but surprisingly seem so vividly etched somewhere in the memory. So I present a few to you:
1) Calcium Sandoz tablets in dog-like can
2) Phantom cigarette-like candy sticks -my only tryst with the puff unfortunately :(
3) Luxor sketch pens and Camlin pencil with the pink flowers
4) Reynolds ball point pen
5) Camel Ink bottle and Hero pens with the gold cover
6) Cherry blossom white canvas shoe polish
7) School uniform -a white shirt/white pant/black belt and shoes..We should have been beaten to death for even wearing this!
8) Bold and the Beautiful and Baywatch..Thank God for Star Plus!
9) BSA Bicycle
10) Malgudi days/He-Man and the Masters of the Universe/Superhit Muquabala
11) Crown CRT TV with switches to change channels
12) Finger chips/fries with Maggie hot and sweet tomato sauce
13) Assembly before commencement of a school day
14) Kangaroo exam pad with the clip to hold the paper and wooden ruler used to demarcate the margin from the main page- Often this was the trusty ally of a teacher to do some knuckle crunching!
15) The first pair of Bata/Corona black shoes with laces -I know everyone used to wear that proudly with anything and everything and loved the noise it used to make while walking
16) Big Fun bubble gum with the cricket statistics/collectibles
17) Gold Spot -The Zing thing!
18) Cutting chai glass -The smallest thing with a "satisfaction guaranteed" tag
19) Godrej shaving bar+brush
20) Pan Pasand/Mangobite/Coffeebite/Cadburys Gems/Nutties
21) VIP Underwear
22) Amul butter
23) Doordarshan Spirit of Unity short programmes
24) Balcony/Dress Circle seating arrangements in movie theaters
25) The Times of India, India Today and Sportstar
26) Usha Sewing Machine
27) Crocin and Anacin tablets
28) Lakshmi bomb cracker -There never was a Diwali without it!
29) Indian Railways food -shitty but I absolutely adored it!
30) Eveready batteries
These were some of the items/commodities that popped up in my mind. I re-lived my entire life as I thought of these. All of you have, at some point been associated with one/many or all of these. I am also certain that readers will come up with much more.
As an aside, this article lays emphasis on the importance we give to material items. Ironic because we do not give spirituality it's due!
