5 Ms - Before and After

5Ms - Before and After

Life is ever evolving, changing, enhancing and upgrading. Technology, urbanization and cultural impact are factors that bring about most changes. And how do these factors come in play? These are inputs from various people, sections, societies, influx and cultures that cause changes to happen, further ignited by vision, foresight, introspection and innovation. Things today are like, just snap your fingers and everything is right in front of you. But then, way back in late 1990s, life and styles were totally different.

When I reflect upon our college days, it was a regular Blue Line Bus route. Tickets range between Re. 1 to Rs.5/- while we never paid anything! It was, for us free. The one word to all free travel was Staff. You just had to be confident, outright, and look straight into the eyes of the beholder, the conductor I mean.

We happened to travel across the length and breadth of Delhi, in buses, in the sweltering heat, most often standing in a huge crowd, offering seats to those who needed it more than us which was always the case while we needed no visual reminders or people begging.

Our college was certainly one stationary building since you might wonder what took us to travel across the length and breadth for no reason! Don’t we still do it, by other means?

Chasing a girl to see where she lives, even if that meant hopping off and on another bus without realizing it will take you to a Trans-Yamuna destination from West Delhi and you’ll be hoping the girl sees you but doesn’t see you ;)

Dropping a girl! Yeah, in the bus, as was the trend. The autos were too expensive…Rs. 60/- for a 20 KM ride.

Accompanying a friend who had a fight recently or was heckled or beaten or threatened! En route, your eyes were constantly moving, your mind devising ways of how to safely jump off a bus, your heart in your mouth, and shit ready to enter your pants!

Buying notes or books from the famous Nai Sadak in Daryaganj or Lamba Book depot, Tilak Nagar. This was a task and a toll-taking one. Usually with 1 friend if not more to tag along. The exercise took time, and money but we learned excellent tips on how not to spend more and still crack a terrific bargain.

It could be for an outing with friends. Hotspots to hang out with friends were Rajouri Garden, South Extension, Khan Market, Ajmal Khan Road, CP, and Chandni Chowk which were swanky even then.

We’re talking 1998-99. Rs. 100/- was what I received from my Father as pocket money. Samosa was Rs.2/- Fountain Pepsi Rs 7/- Chai Rs. 2/- Travel Rs.0/- No Valentine, Birthday treat in the college canteen or best chai wale ka thela. Out of the Rs.100/- I tried saving anything that I could as a carry-forward.

If Girls and Boys were to go together, it had to be either 3 or 4. 3 would be 1 guy (hero) and 2 girls (heroine and her friend). This pattern was a huge success, those who have dated would know. For simple reasons like, that the hero and heroine do not fight; the hero can disappear and the friend can handhold the heroine in case of any hold-ups; the friend can accompany the heroine to her house. Reasons could be more but I leave that to your wise sense of imagination. But yes the hero’s expense shot up for sure.

The most difficult part was communication, when away. No, I’m not talking about Walkies, we had MTNL (Mera Telephone Nahi Lagta) landlines, the ones without any Caller Id!

Now imagine, I’m calling a girl, whose number I got from her and not another padosi. How on earth would I know who is going to answer the phone? Let me tell you that the Girl’s Fathers (often referred to as ladki ka baap) have been the evergreen and everlasting villains. We too had them, in high quantities, in our lives. I don’t know why did they answer most of the phone calls…Damn!!

Anyways, we always had the pleasure of disconnecting the line politely, without leaving a trace or footprints, else changing our voice and asking for Sharma ji to a Verma ji. The answer had to be a No! This problem was soon fixed and we fixed timings to call each other. The octane level was high at let’s say 6:58 for a call time fixed for 7. Testosterone was almost gushing through the roof and my Heart was Pounding!

The call connected and what a sweet pleasure to hear the girl’s voice. But what just happened, her sweet voice changed to sweat voice. We were quick to assess the situation and fire questions like… is the weather bad which meant is there someone around? Rain would mean Mother, Thunder would be Brother and Tsunami would be Father! The girl’s sisters were the best…like Sunshine J sometimes maybe drizzle!

For us, it was more of that Palika bazaar and Weekly flea markets. Trade Fairs were nothing short of redemption, to get lost in the crowd and be found at the rear end, somewhere, sometime later.

I don’t know how we managed all through those difficult times without the Famous 5 Ms today, without which the youngsters seem to be struggling!

These 5 Ms are:

• Malls
• Metro
• Mobiles
• McDonald's
• Multiplexes

Wonder, how we lived king-size in those days and still enjoyed being with/apart from one another, never disconnected though. We looked at the Moon and communicated…yeah!! A lot of you must have done that too. What superb technology that must have been!!

The 5 Ms have definitely contributed a lot to our lives, given us and taken from us at the same time.

I am a testimony to that world and this. The phone was a possession for sure but it brought us all together, thankfully it was tied down there. We remembered all the phone numbers by heart because there were so less people to call.

The Mobile has set us not just free, it has actually made us our slaves. Checking and rechecking and then checking it yet again. Watching the whole world of nonsense on it and sharing it with our specific groups. Ensuring that a crude video is not sent to the Family group or a पारिवारिक quote to the Boys' gang!

The Malls these days are visited more for window shopping or eating out in the food courts or just hanging out, and also dating! While the concept of Malls is simple – have everything under one roof. The first mall in North India, we boasted of in 1999, was Ansal Plaza, in South Extension, followed by Ebony, Rajouri Garden.

Multiplexes are definitely the new norm and need of the hour. We have watched movies in quite pathetic conditions, in halls like Janak cinema, and Sonia cinema where the economy class ticket cost Rs.7/-The first PVR experience was when I watched Lagaan, while seated in the very first row! Gosh! It took me 20 minutes to fix my eyes on the screen because it was so big!! And I just can’t tell you how harrowing it was to measure the pitch from there J

The Delhi Metro, is a world-class transportation network, and who doesn’t know about it. We had our own Blue Line, Green Line, Red Line, and DTC buses. To top it up, there was a certain fleet of infamous DTC buses and a famous joke about them – today I travelled by अपनी DTC bus जिसमें horn के अलावा सब कुछ बजता है! It was actually that way…these were like the generations-old buses in which the windows made a deafening noise.

So yes, I proudly belong to the generation where we have seen and gone through all of the above. We have lived in the era that saw the use of paisa coins – 1, 2, 3, 5, 10, 25, 50, currency notes – 1, 2, 5. And we have survived that to see today! It’s we who have seen the real technology breakthrough, literally. Was life better than or is it now…there will always be multiple schools of thought, ready to conflict with one another! It's a never-ending discussion between - Before and After.

I hope you enjoyed the article! If you were able to relate or relive or smile, do leave your comments.

Cheers!