Back Then...

By: Rabia Tirmizey

Do any of you remember the candy floss man passing on the street outside your house and filling you with excitement? Were you one of those who would wait anxiously for those five minutes of your favorite Cartoons on PTV just before going to school and once more in the evening?  Do you remember fighting endlessly with siblings for your turn on the sole set of “game and watch” (the only handheld gaming device available then), a packet of Slims and a Frost juice pack making your day, or itching to finish homework and sneaking out to play on the street with neighborhood friends? Were you one of those who would know all tracks of the latest Vital Signs and Junoon albums (on both Side A and Side B) by heart? Were games like Hide and Seek, Kings and Dark Room the primary non-sport games you loved playing with cousins and friends? Did you wait for months for a dinner treat at a fast food restaurant, or a picnic at the Hawks bay?

 If you were born and raised in Pakistan in 70s or 80s, or even early 90s, there are high chances that you will be able to relate to this.  For the newer generation, some of this may sound like Greek, but these used to be the major highlights of an average Pakistani kid’s life back then.

 

That’s not the case anymore. It is surprising how lifestyle for Pakistani children raised in a middle class household remained static for more than a decade. But when it started changing, it progressed so rapidly that it is difficult to track if there is anything left from the past.  Fewer choices, less advanced technology and media, a much better security situation and joint system being the more prevalent form of family structure are some of the factors that defined that period of time. All of these have changed to a great extent now.

The meaning of joy and happiness has changed tremendously for kids and even the bar for happiness has risen. While the little things mentioned earlier used to be the biggest sources of pleasure to children then, now I don’t see kids being happy unless they have bought something equally exciting as their friend’s dad recently got for him/her from abroad.  They prefer curling up in front of the idiot box (don’t have anything personal against it!) for hours instead of playing out.

On the brighter side though, there have been many positive changes as well. For instance, kids are a lot more aware today and answers to any questions that mum and dad cannot answer are just a few clicks away. It has become so much easier to learn in this day and age, and children today are making use of that quite well.

I am sure that given a choice, no kid today would want to have been born two decades ago. And given a choice, I would not trade my sweet, simple childhood for anything in this world! Would you?