Any presents? Anyone?

We often hear things like..

"Live in the present. Not the past."
"Learn from your past and move on."
"Forgive and forget."
"The present is a gift."

What great words. Great ideology. Great philosophy. Awesome consolation. Words of wisdom. No, really.

But hey, how many times are we constantly reminded of the past even when we want to move on?

A girl married at the age of 22, naive, gullible, and innocent, divorced later, may constantly be reminded of her "one mistake" when she attempts to find a partner again, a mammoth task for those who live in conservative cultures.

A woman who has had an abortion for practical reasons may be told later when she indeed wants to embrace motherhood that her chances of conceiving are now close to minimal due to that one abortion.

A teenager, drunk at a club, involved in a fight, may have charges of misdemeanor placed against him and will continue to face issues when trying to find employment even at 40 after years and years of a dry spell.

A man who has unprotected sex with his partner just this one time realizes that he now has the HIV and will never be able to lead a normal life again.

Rash driving, road antics, cheap thrills causing someone to fall off their motorbike, hitting their head on the pavement, losing consciousness, and perhaps mobility for the rest of their life.

Sometimes, try as we might, we may want to learn from our mistakes. The question is will we ever be able to? Sometimes, try as we might, we may want to undo just that one moment. The question is can we do that? Will we be punished for the rest of our lives only to hear over and over again.....what we always do. Those golden words of wisdom.

I remember..what about you??

I wrote this one a long time ago but went back to it again today after talking about the past with a few friends last night. How those days were so different and how things have changed so much now that though more luxurious, our lifestyle can never be the way it was. Here are a list of things that I remember from good old days..

I remember those days.........

• When Wednesday and Friday evenings were spent watching Chitrahaar in Black and White..
• When the use of a remote control (the size of a brick) was only to increase/decrease the volume or to turn the TV on/off..
• When Saturday nights were reserved for movie rentals from the one and only rental store in the area...
• When relatives used to gather every Saturday evening to watch that one special movie...
• When the remote control connected to the VCR through a long wire...
• When I used to listen to Binaca Geet Maala (later known as Cibaca Geet Mala) hosted by Amin Sayani religiously every Tuesday night on Vividh Bharti...
• When the people in my apartment complex gathered at my place to see the new color TV...the only one that they had ever seen...
• When DD-2 released, people were ecstatic that they could now watch a second channel.
• When cable TV released, it had only 5 channels.
• When going to the airport or the railway station meant I would get to drink Thums Up...
• When we did not have a cassette player in our car and used to carry a portable one with me everytime I travelled in it...
• When having a cordless phone was not only a big deal but was also the size of a vanity case with the shrillest sound possible...
• When letting my hair loose was a privilege...
• When I saw QSQT for the third time and told my mom that I was in love with Aamir Khan and I was allowed to buy a poster of him...
• When cellphones were the size of a cordless phone and each minute used to cost 16 rupees...
• When I asked the store keeper if he could copy a CD for me just like an audio cassette and he laughed at me and said that it was not possible...
• When I used to play solitaire on the black and white monitor of my computer...
• When opening an internet site like hotmail would take ten minutes...
• When the family used to make special plans to go eat pizza at the only restaurant in town that served pizza with mozzarella cheese...
• When Maggi used to cost only 5 rupees and was known to be sold in Prawn, Sweet and Sour, Capsica, Masala, and Chicken flavors....
• When I was allowed to have Maggi only on Thursdays and I used to count down the days to Thursday....
• When Frooti was available only in Mumbai and we used to request people to buy us a crate when they visited the city...
• When the milkman used to bring milk to our place in a big container and sell it to us according the quantity we needed as opposed to today's poly packs...
• When people used to ask relatives to buy them jeans from abroad because they were not sold in India...
• When being seen talking to a boy would mean that you are going out with him...
• When I was young and innocent..ignorant of the responsibilities that adulthood brings with it...when my life was about smiling, laughing, dancing, and singing...and not about careers, education, bills, money, cars...

I remember those days...the days of my childhood...which remain only a memory.

What do you remember? Put in a comment and I will add it to your list with your name next to it!