Then: You felt elated just because your parent looked at you sideways and gave you a short chase over the flight of stairs. You were in sheer ecstasy when you were finally caught and tickled on your tummy.
Now: You have been on the couch cycling through 104 channels for the third time in the last 10 minutes but still haven't found "anything" worthwhile. You put a potato chip in your mouth thinking about your "growing" tummy and how "Jerry" used to have one and still outrun "Tom".
Then: Any gift you received gave you double excitement. One was the pride of showing off the gift itself, no matter how common or simple or cheap it was. The other was the plethora of things you could do with the boxes/covers. Like building triangular tunnels for your toy train, makeshift rain houses for "Jackie" your puppy, cutouts in the shape of stars.
Now: The USB stick you got just 6 months ago doesn't seem interesting enough. Yes it still serves the "function" but you could have got one with FM/MP3/MPEG4 playback with a 30 GB storage. Is there an exchange offer for gadgets nearby?
Then: It's a birthday! There will be cakes, wafers, samosas, comic hero masks, cone caps, big balloons, toffees inside, coloured papers, agarbattis to burst them, games like 'hide and seek' and 'dog and the bone'. You hope that the friendly game of "Uno" cards you have brought as a gift will be used for entertainment in your friend circle in your summer holiday nights. You also hope that you get some comics as a return gift. Even a "Billoo" or a "Kar Bura to ho Bhala"-Bankelal will do.
Now: Sigh. Another senior member of the project is getting released. There goes a string of long speeches, especially by our Project Leader. Achievements, legacy, dependency, motivation, blah blah blah. My legs are aching. Hey that team member lady is wearing a nice pair of shoes. Wonder if there is a rum cake at the end of this.
Then: It is 5 pm. You hear your surname being shouted in a very crude way in the street below. Your sleeping father moans and gets irritated. You think "How many times do I have to tell my friends to use my first name? How hard is it for them to call me 'Ravi' instead of 'Singh'? At least they are not doing 'Kaalu' anymore. I'd rather put on my canvas shoes and take my bat or else this shouting will continue like everyday".
Now: The idea of a physical workout involves walking. From house to the bus stop, from platform no 6 to 1, inside a shopping mall, and if lucky, a garden or a sea face.
Then: The term "Adrenaline" meant a visit to the nearby mountain temple during monsoon. Who is interested to go for a Darshan? We go inside the premises only because of the laddoos we get for prasad. We are more interested in exploring the muddy and shrubby mountain and if lucky spotting a snake and running for our lives.
Now: I can feel the testosterone in me. Let me flash the message on DC++ : Anyone interested in a 2 hour game of Counter Strike 1.6? No? What about Halo? Thankfully I paid for LAN in this connection as well.
Then: Finally! 3 months of saving pocket money. Finally got my hands on the new "Savage Garden"/"Kaho na Pyar hai"/''Jagjeet Singh" cassette. I will listen to it at least 5 times a day on my walkman. Would my crush Pooja/Sumit like to listen to it with me?
Now: Who is this Amy Winehouse who has been on page 3 all the time? Lemme see what youtube search sputters? "Rehab"? Sounds more like her addiction problem than a video to me. Anyways, let's see how the first 30 seconds are. Or else it's back to "Race" for me.
After the journey of "Then"s from your 2 year old phase to being a teen: When was the last time when the words "simple" and "pleasure" seemed synonymous? Was it your last visit to the sea beach? Was it the friendly game of ball you played with the 3 year old in your society? Was it the melting of chocolate on your tongue? Was it the head oil massage you gave to your mom/grandma? Yes we have moved far ahead with the times. Is it time to return to innocence again?
