BANDRA (4): AAHH! DOSE WERE THE DAYS...

(A ‘Back In The Day’ Exclusive)

Do you often think back on some of the things you used to do when you were younger or haven’t heard of being done in a long time? …Things, which nobody actually cares about anymore, as they would be too quirky to do now…
Here’s a small flashback of some of that (now dull and boring, but back then ‘completely’ justifiable and fun) stuff:

When…

· People used to have ‘Train Friends’ and ‘Contract Bus Friends’ and go for their annual ‘Contract Bus Friends Picnic’ by train.

· Schoolboys knew all the intricate rules to complicated marble games like Aandya-Bonedya and used to bet their personal collection of ‘Chinese’ marbles on ‘top’ fights.

· Office friends from Ghatkopar, Vikrohli and other far-flung parts of North East Bombay used to visit their friends homes in Bandra for Bandra Feast Sunday Lunch after the high mass at the Mount.

· We would line up in front of our grandaunts to get the 10 bucks to spend frivolously at the Fair.

· The WigWam and the September Garden Jam Sessions were ‘the’ places to be seen at during the Bandra Fair Week.

· You couldn’t go to the Bandra Fair and ‘not’ see the Well of Death…(with that one Anglo-Indian bugger who used to ride his motorbike in it).

· People would queue outside the front gate of the Bandra Gymkhana for the whole night in order to get tickets for the Christmas Dance, even though the booking office opened at 8 am the next morning.

· Maurice Concessio and Braz Gonsalves were like the Justin Timberlake and Robbie Williams of that time and you just ‘had’ to book them to play for your wedding.

· People knew all the local wedding band members names and their entire life histories, as well as kids nowadays know the details about Britney Spears and the Spice Girls.

· Christmas Dances lasted till 5 am and then later you could go to Searock for coffee.

· R.A.T.C. (Rock Around The Clock) and Illusions were ‘the places’ to be at during the college lunch break or in between lectures.

· The closest we came to a McDonalds or a KFC was Andoras and Mac Craig.

· Children waited patiently every week to watch episodes of Giant Robot, He-Man, Fireball XL5 and Fraggle Rock on Doordarshan.









· Most of the children were forced to go for piano lessons and singing lessons, only so that they could compete against each other at the annual Parish Talent contest.

· We used to ‘luuurrvvee’ listening to Saturday DateLine at 11pm on All India Radio because they played ‘English Songs’ and Desmond from Virar would always request ‘Sacrifice by Elton John’ for his loving wife Molly.

· We would still get our lunch delivered in Cuffe Parade by the dabbahwallahs.

· The ‘doodhwallahs’ were the first people to give you the ‘breaking news’ headline of the day.

· All ‘homely’ catlick girls between the ages of 18-25 yrs had to go for Stitching, Typing and Shorthand Classes.

· People would cycle all the way from Mazagoan and Wadala to Bandra to buy sorpoteal and vindaloo from the aunties stall in the Bandra Fair e.g. Martin’s Corner.

· You had to learn to ‘jive’ almost as soon as you learnt to walk, because there was never ever a party without a ‘jive’ session (unfortunately there still isn’t…).

· You used to see the small boys from the village running around catching butterflies in the summer and fishing for guppies in the gutters in the monsoon.

· Kids watched ‘musicals’ on Sunday afternoons, in the house of whoever’s Daddy was in the Gulf… because he had a ‘National’ VCR.

· ‘Thomsun Original’ was like the Napster/ Limewire of those days, and you heard the ‘stop record’ sound after each song on the compilation tape your friend made for you.

· In the rest of the world…while Michael Jackson’s Thriller and Meatloaf’s Bat Out of Hell were largest selling albums of all time…in Bandra however, they could not compete with the cassette sales of Jim Reeves’s Christmas Carols, Jive Bunny and The Mastermixers and Kim Cardoz’s HOT HOT HOT.