1. To begin with, we had SWEET cigarettes, for goodness sake

And literally, all of us enacted adults smoking.

2. A fun pencil box that got us through those boring SSt lectures

No hate for the subject, but reading about dams made my head swirl around.

3. Rasna felt like a sweet cold shower of relief after hours under the scorching sun

Rasna. Was. The. Best. Drink. Period.

4. Commercials which were more entertaining than TV shows

These were the ads we wouldn’t have skipped in five seconds, even if we had the option.

5. And it was during our childhood years India got its first superhero, Shaktiman

Only to grow up and realise he’s definitely NOT the person we had thought him to be. 🙂

6. We also had a man who rose from the dead

For the longest time, I believed The Undertaker & other conspiracy theories were real :))

7. Prized possessions ft. Tazo Cards

If you didn’t collect them, you are excluded from this clan! I’m sorry, but rules are rules.

8. A chocolate drink that made sense

Milo made many of us like drinking milk, much to our parents’ relief. And then it ghosted us.

9. A magic pencil that only worked for Sanju, but every kid wanted it

Our magic pencil didn’t do shiz, but the idea was exciting.

10. Cadbury Bytes is like that one ex you never moved on from

“My only one, my smoking gun, my eclipsed son…”

11. Roadrash, Prince of Persia, and other desktop games that were ‘true happiness’

If not them, you’d have surely played one among these 20 Classic Video Games From The Good Old Days That Will Take You Down The Road (Rash) To Nostalgia.

12. And you can’t debate that we also had the best Disney era

Hannah Montana, Lizzie McGuire, That’s So Raven, The Suite Life of Zack & Cody, Wizards of Waverly Place, you name it… we got to watch some of the most golden shows from Disney.

13. Back then, even selecting name slips for school notebooks was exciting

Or is it just me romanticising everything through glasses tainted with nostalgia?

14. OH, and we had some of the best films from SRK. He had already become the favourite actor for our lifetime

Now please don’t come and say, ‘Salman Khan better hai!’ YOU DO YOU.

15. We even had a social media site that did what it was MEANT to do – connect people

This was before people manufactured Hailey vs Selena narrative and propagated toxicity on social media. It was when things were real. A long time ago.

16. Cartoon Network & the iconic cartoons

Before Cartoon Network horribly dissected its logo, it gave us some really incredible shows. Powerpuff Girls, Scooby Doo, Dexter… gosh, it was whole another era.

17. Renting DVDs was our side hustle

Before OTT changed the way we consumed content, renting DVDs made content consumption so precious.

18. At one point, Pop Music >>> Bollywood Songs

Some of us still find ourselves going back to Channa Ve Ghar Aaja Ve & Aankhon Mein Tera Hi Chehra…

How many of these do you remember? : 50 Popular Songs You Forgot You Absolutely Loved As A Teenager

19. We also had talk shows that were as real as they could get

Simi Garewal had us watch even the most awkward moments between celebrities. In fact, hers was the last good celebrity talk show.

20. Handheld multigame device that oozed COOL vibes

If you owned this, I envy you already.

21. We had Star One. I need not say anything more

A special appreciation to Star One for giving us COOL daily soaps beyond the SAAS-BAHU drama.

22. Chewing gum we grew up with

I wanted to be a part of this ad. :’)

23. Stick-on tattoo was our idea of getting inked

We were ahead of our times.

24. Yeah, we had video games. That too the OG ones

This thing makes me strongly wish time machines existed.

25. Playing with Beyblades was the best pastime

Back before fidget spinners got viral, we had Beyblades. And they were pretty exciting.

Nostalgic much? You’re welcome!