Then and Now, How!!!!!

 

Long long ago but not very long ago, when I heard my grandmas start with “maa kalam lo aitey” it meant a conversation loaded with skepticism about me and my generation….little did I realize that they had some very interesting and insightful tales to tell J

I can’t put my finger on when exactly I started using similar phrases, but start I did! We are sooooo far away from the 70s and 80s that, when you show endangered traits of ethics, humility and loyalty people end up asking “meeru 70s/ early 80s model aa?” :D :D

As I thought through and observed over a period of time, I did realise that few things hadn't changed, it was just the perception that did, but few things DID change and my valuable unsolicited opinion on them are painfully illustrated below:

THEN	NOW
Our parents used to send us off to their parents’ place.	Most of us pack up the troubles and send them off to camps!
It was thrilling to get a personalized greeting/post card, even though you knew a similar card may have reached a huge chunk of humanity, it was still endearing to read your name above and the sign below!	The very fact that someone has taken the time out to actually type in your email ID and sent in an e-card is touching!! (who said emotions have dwindled)
The then snail mail – The joy of  receiving an authentic hand written letter from a friend/cousin and the thrill of opening it carefully, since the slightest gash may mean an incomplete sentence….that joy, that thrill remains unparalleled!!!	The now snail mail – all you get by post now are your mounting credit card statements and waning bank account statements!   The now e-mail – thanks to the absurd emails of ‘find love!’, ‘you have won $300,00,000’, ‘Your June eStatement’, ‘Transaction Alert!’, that when you get even a two liner from an ACTUAL person, you most often than not, read it twice J
If you were feeling low and wanted some retail therapy, you would go the nearest flea market bargain yet hardly buy, roam around, have fun looking at new collections and get home.	Now you still continue to feel low and still feel a pressing need for retail therapy, but all you have to do to feel better is, login and buy something online!
We were mostly on a see food diet, we saw food and we ate it!	We don’t drink maaza since it is contaminated, we cut down on most fruits as they have carbide, we are skeptical about veggies as they have chemicals written all over them, we are vary of soft drinks as they have pesticides, we  aren’t sure about Maggie since there is some appalling video doing rounds!!! Thank god I can have a glass of water in peace or can I?
Long hair.	Longing for hair!!!

After saying allllll that I have said above and still not saying most of it, I will never know how it feels to be a teenager having some cool gadgets/apps and they will never know what it feels like to push a VHS tape into a VCR :P :P

Who's Buying????

A and me were watching TV (a very rare occurrence) and there were sooooo many commercials! That’s not the point, the point is while watching one of those I said “kaun khareed ta hai yeh sab? Kya faltu ad hai” and A said, “you aren’t their target audience”!

That got me thinking, realllyyy thinking, I started watching commercials profoundly and I realized (based on what and how they are trying to sell):

·       Fastrack watches clearly aren’t for me – definitely NOT, though I have couple of those in reality!

·       Raaga collection – only if my arms/forearms/wrist is anywhere closer to what Katrina Kaif’s is – which in current day is not even a distant possibility!

·       Levis – to be bought only if you are running all day and jumping balconies!!!

·       Maaza – Who in the world drinks it like Katrina? I just gulp it down my throat!

So, is the TV not selling me anything at all?????

It is:

·        Harpic – an extremely fake ‘ordinary’ looking housewife opening the door for a semi-celebrity to clean up her washroom.

·       Moov – it’s a must to remember the ad and the product every time a mom/home makers have an aching back, because the other half of the humanity is likely only to have low energy levels not back aches.

·       Dish washing soaps – again a housewife profoundly immersed in a ‘family soap’, being disturbed only to sell a ‘washing soap’!

·       Ready-to-eat snacks - Inspite of the fact that I can’t picture Kareena Kapoor even lifting a spoon in her kitchen,I did try these!

As someone aptly said – “Advertising is the art of convincing people to spend money they don't have for something they don't need”