By the way, just wanted to tell you guys that I have been visting your blogs, but have been too lazy to comment.

*sleeps*

Ohhhhh…my past! How can I forget. When we’d play foxy foxy, line line, kho kho. There was no PS2 or anything like that. Life was so peaceful then.
Watching Chacha Jee on TV daily before going to school. And watching those Cococinel (sp.?) cartoons was fun.
Licking custard-coated fingers out of the empty custard pot. 20 rupees in the name of pocketmoney was a blessing. Eating jalebi once in a blue moon would make us feel the luckiest person on the planet.
A time when we’d get 8 fanty toffies for just 1 rupee. When having a pencil other than brown Shahson 2 1/2 HB was considered ostentatious. When you were considered wealthy if you had a water gun!
I remember all that. Just everything!

“Meray bachpan kay din…kitnay achay thay din. Aaj baithay bitahi kyun yaad aa gai”

Today, we have got everything, just everything. But we dont have our childhood with us… Ahhhh

Cheerio =)

reminds me of sooo many things!!! i remember all the cartoons, esp thunder cats! hehe…. and ice lollies and icecreams… and playing with the kids from the other block! THose were amazing days!

aww…u make me remind of mmany thing specially pakistan…
i still remember …how i used to hide n seek wid my sis n cousin.Polka ice-cream….those cartoon come before going school..pinkpanter n tom n jerry..those mosquitoes alwayz bites n make our sleep hell…lol
n if the weather is bad…u got day off frm school..n giggles wid friends on stupid talks..
those dayz were really awesome….
i wish i could have them bak

…Nostalgia !!!

Ah! Orange flavored chewable aspirin! I ate a whole bottle when I was four!

Memories!

Saadat ………………… !! .. Thanks !! ……………… really !! …. I mean it !! ……………

I’ve lived.
The swings. The games in green fields. Running in pappaya fields. Trying to climb coconut trees then sliding down. Trying to swim in narrow water channels. Having the farmer chase us for creating a chaos. Having ducks, hens and as pet. Searching for their eggs every evening. Playing dolls. Making paper clothes. Going to Madressah. The Madressah smell. Walking on leaves barefoot. Making clay pots, clay plates, clay tandoors, and BBQing small potatoes in ‘em. Climbing the neighbours’ date palm tree after maghrib and filling plastics bags with the fruit. Getting out of home right at noon to hunt garden lizards every Friday. Playing chuppan chupai outside home till late night with cousins without fearing robbers. The feel of cool morning breeze and the sound of adhaan which we heard … just to realize we’ve been playing hide n seek all night.

That was my childhood. *teary eyed*. in a beautiful village. Why, Oh Allah, have I grown up?

Dinky Mind: Foxy foxy, line line, kho kho? What are these? And yeah, Chacha ji. Were you a beeba bacha, by the way? And water guns: I used to be a pretty wealthy kid!

NJ: Thunder Cats! You know what, I saw some of the episodes of Thunder Cats a few months ago, and all I could do was to laugh out loud as I remembered all those ‘discussions’ we friends used to have on the Thunderians. And tell you what, our matches with the kids of other block always ended up in fights!

Saroosh: Those stupid talks also used to be so innocent, don’t you think? Those mosquitos, by the way, were the greatest source of entertainment in those days (watching Thunder Cats can make you think of torturing others as entertainment!).

Nauman:

Laura: Yep. Memories. Those aspirins are fun!

Yousaf: You are welcome, buddy!

VLady: Childhood in a village is so more fun than the one in cities. The farmer’s chase is certainly a thing which would bring a smile to anyone’s face. And playing hide and seek all night, we used to do it when the load sheddings would take place. Everybody was out of their homes then, and that used to be the real chhupan chhupaee. And the lizard hunt with our chappals! We never used to see the beauty of those days then. I guess that’s why we grow up – to really know how golden those days were.

OK, so now you have given me an idea. Let me work on a list and tag you.

yes..Saadat..those talks were meaningful…i cant forgot tht….mosquitos..lol entertainment..ya rite…
ya i rem tricks which i did to teachers…lol i miss those dayz…

And Saadat, you know, during day time we used to play hide and seek in corn fields. A city person can’t imagine what lovely childhood village children have!
LOL@ lizard hunt with chappals. Cruel!! You hunted house lizards right? We hunted garden lizards and killed them by stuffing medicine, pills, creams in their mouths and then we would show-off exhibiting our hunts by waving the poor creatures in the air passionately while running through each gali and kona. How I wish somebody had taught us about animal rights then!! We were small, foolish and senseless!

Chacha ji was the prime of the morning wasn’t it? I remember once he said

“Woh ek baba bacha baittha hai jiss neh daant nai saaf kiay, jaein aap pehlay daant saaf kerein, phir cartoon laggein geh”

…and I got up and ran to the bathroom to brush my teeth

I have to say, this was a really great post (I said “great” not “nice” ). That did put a smile, no, more of a big stupid grin, on my face…

…just an afterthought, everything you mentioned in that post portrays a certain level of cuteness in childhood and it makes me wonder “was I cute, too”…hehehe…sounds lame, doesn’t it

A: Right!

Saroosh: Tricks with the teachers … I always used to make advantage of the beeba bacha impression of mine!

VLady: I would play chhupan chhupaee in corn fields any day. That must be fun! And woah! Look at your hunts, and you are calling hunts with chappal cruel? Maybe that was a part of being small, foolish and senseless. But tell you what: it’s kinda ironic … an advocate of animal rights with a childhood as a lizard hunter

Fallen Angel: No, that wasn’t lame, and I am still cute! And LOL at the baba bacha thing! I wonder how many of us started brushing their teeth just to watch Pink Panther or Woody Woodpecker. And thanks for finding the post ‘great’!

dunno abt foxy foxy..but line line and kho kho are games i played also.if we got tired of the usual ones we jst invented new ones with evn more outrageuos rules.there ws qaidi qaidi, corner corner, choti cricket (for small areas)..quite a lot in fact.nice post saadat.maybe i’ll write abt my childhood someday.it ws fun *smiles*

Yep, I mention it then and again! I was so cruel to animals when I was a child but I don’t know how I changed! LOL
I’ll let you know when we have corns here. You can come and play chuppan chuppai with the farmers!

ARGH im 19th this time.. man im never gonna be first to comment again. uf. *whimper* i feel like the last person to get picked for the team. hehe jk

man we can still do some of those things.. the good ol days dont have to be over.. do they?

lolz…yes…
how can i forgot my fav ‘Gili Danda’
awesome game n playing cricket…
wid my lil bro as no one there to play wid him…
i miss gol gapay..

wild1: We used to play qaidi qaidi too, but the rules might be different. (Hamaray qaidiyon ko kaan pakkarr kar khara hona parrta tha!) And thanks for liking the post, I’ll wait for your post about your childhood

VLady: Tell the farmers that they are going to lose, and they are going to lose badly. My mates could never find me in my childhood!

Sadiya: Yep, we still do some of those things, maybe just for deja vu, or maybe because they are so fun to do. And as I said before, 1st or 19th, you are always welcome

Saroosh: Never played gulli danda, but playing cricket with our own rules was fun. I remember my younger sis used to insist that a batsman can only be bowled out if the ball touches the bat first, and then goes into the wickets.

I wonder if you ever played that “book cricket”…we used to play it when we ended up sitting at the back of the class in the Art/Drawing classes (5th, maybe 6th class). All you to need play it is a pen, paper and a book. You open the book to a random page and use the last digit of the page number as the score e.g. page number 324 would mean I just hit a 4! , 210 would mean I was bowled out etc…that was fun.

Then there was “King King”, running around hitting each other with tennis balls, those who get hit are out of the game, if someone catches the ball, one of the “out” guys come back into the game. The last guy to survive is “The King”…

and not to forget those “one-tip one-handed catch-out rule” in “small cricket”…too bad nobody at ICC thought about it…

I dunno what to say buddy. ..Spell bound. Not a day passes that I dont think abt the stupid things that we used to do and smile…

@fallen angel…Man the one tip catch out rule..haha..i rememebr that..and the kho kho and corner corner or soemthing like that..haha… and the sitting next to the girls was a punishment. I was always on punishment..coz i talked too much..haha….and race issures..haha.. and those cartoons.haha..

the only thing i wonder now is…that did all of us have the same bachpans?

I think we did ! and each and every one out of us cherishes it !

hahahaha..>Saady knows what Kho Kho is… Saadat, havent you played kho kho? It was a very very famous game.

Interesting post.

Cheerio

Oh man that is a gr8 post.You really made my day.Playing kho kho,baraf paani,oonch neech,pakrum pakrai.Watching war of the worlds,kung fu,airwolf,Voltron,automan,manimal.That was the life man.I can’t thank u enuff for bringing back those memories.gr8 post.just wonderful.

we wonnnnnn.woohoo!

lolz..ya..cricket is fun..if u play wid ur own rulez…

wow…pak team make my day..
*yahoooo* they rocks!!!

Fallen Angel: Of course we used to play that book cricket (and not just in Art classes but in all others In art classes I used to draw cartoons!) And the ‘King King’: yep! I was never good at hitting others, but used to dodge pretty fluently. Now I have become a lazy giraffe. The one-tip-one-hand-catch rule of cricket is still the favourite among us cousins when we play in our homes’ corridors!

Saady: Haha, yeah. The punishment! And yes, I wondered the same thing (same bachpan) when I read this article for the first time. That’s what made me like it so much, that a person I don’t know has gone through all those things I have been too.

Dinky Mind: Maybe I know Kho Kho by some other name.

Saad: Thanks for liking it, man! (Airwolf, Manimal, and Automan used to be my favourite too, though now I laugh at them whenever I see them on occassions!)

Aapi & Saroosh: Yep! We won!

If wonder if you remember the “Turtle Fever” (Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles). I was in class 5th when they started showing them on NTM. I somehow managed to pen down the lyrics to the title song and my class fellows actually BOUGHT them from me (ofcourse, back in those day, buying was done by trading lunches )

Saadat,
After reading your post hundreds of pictures went through my mind. The times, the people, the places…

Ahhh… the bitter sweetnes of nostalgia.

Thankyou for making my day and also forcing me to hum the intro of Air Wolf

PS. I Have Lived (as long as we dont count the snowfall part. We have dust falls in Karachi)

I don’t remember my childhood that well, and I’m thankful to God that I now I have grown up to have a “somewhat” matured perspective on this world that surrounds me.

Maybe it’s because of our perception & our experiences. I would never like to revisit my childhood, becuase of several embarrasing things.

I’m glad you posted this

Fallen Angel: I have that Turtles’ title song in my collection and amuse myself by listening to it at times. Those turtles were among one of the greatest passions of our class, and our drawing copies were filled with nothing else but sketches of the Ninja Turtles and their mentor, Splinter. I wonder why we didn’t sketch Shredder though. I think he was pretty cool too.

Jalali Baba: Glad you liked it I wonder if you know about the ‘translation’ of the Airwolf’s track. It became immensly popular in my school, and was something like: khana na kha, pani na pi, kuyain mein ja, ja kay mar ja! (It’s really funny/silly if you sing it with the tune!) And dustfalls *sigh*

M.Y.K: We all have done many embarrassing things in our childhoods. But as you are saying, it’s the matter of perceptions. Those things, no matter how embarrassing, can always be enjoyed by our ‘mature’ minds as childish. As they say, bachpan tha yaar, bachpan tou aisa hi hota hai.

Mansur: And I’m glad you liked this

Yeah! My childhood memories may bring a few smiles with them, I guess, when I’ve got the time to look back and reflect upon ‘em.

Being embarrassed and being denied the approval that you wanted as a child is something that I’m better off forgetting.

But as you mentioned, there are always some fun moments, that come to mind when I see li’l kids playing games–and ‘politics’ too!!!

I tried the khana na kha song after being haunted by boredom.And believe me i laughed for half an hour after that.It was just so funny/silly.but man did it bring back memories.Post more often man.anxiously waiting.

Muhammad: Childhood politics rock, don’t they?

SHA: It sure is hilarious, no matter how silly!

When I was a kid, I used to burry money in our backyard.

When I was a kid, I used to spend money in our backyard! (Mayfair bubblegum!)

lol.king king.i remember tht one too.and yeah the one-tip-one-hand cricket is the choti cricket i ws talkin’ abt..man i love ths post of urs.

hmm…how come no one’s mentioned – patakhays? Especially during Eid (mostly cause all the cuzins would get together).

Oh and remember the weddings? When every 6th degree relative would be living in your house. Lineups across YOUR bedroom to go to the washroom. You and your cousins are either sleeping downstairs in the basement (where the Jinn and Churails are) or on the roof..staring in to the sky..and all the desi insects.

Ok…not a nice story..but i have to let it out.
Big line up in the washroom.
Shaadi ka khana not settling very nicely.
No one in the basement.
Let’s just say I feel sorry for whoever had to clean up the mess.
Twice.

I WAS A KID!!

:S

wild1:

Fahd: Patakhay, yes! I wasn’t much into them, but I did use to plan the strategy for planting them And the wedding thing. The jinns and churrails usually turned up to be one of our cousins, so that helped us overcome a lot of our fears! And in some ways, I am still a kid!

Loved your list, am getting very nostalgic…im so glad i experienced those days..