Technology is an indispensable part of our lives today. So much so, that even a five-year-old today is well-versed with the functionalities of a tablet better than he or she would know the rules of playing “I Spy”. On the other hand, we were the mid-generation who was just discovering the delights of the world wide web, though the hard way. We didn’t have the technology but we did have some sweet and sour things that today’s tech savvy children will never understand.

Those school projects, for which we had to rush and issue Encyclopedias from the Library, praying all the while for at least one copy to be there.

 

The pain of watching files getting transferred from the desktop onto the CDs, taking ages and a substantial part of our patience along with it.

 

The absence of YouTube in our lives meant we waited feverishly for our favourite toons on TV and missing it made us sulk.

 

The androids, windows, and iOS came much later. We had some really tough basic handsets that we flaunted to no end. Just that these were high on sturdiness but ridiculously low on memory.

 

Waiting for the music release date for our favourite movie’s soundtrack, so we could get our hands on the cassette. We did not have downloading websites then, and even if they existed, the internet speed ensured that we took the more expensive route of buying tapes.

 

Windows XP was the new cool as Windows 98 users were considered old-school, while we flaunted the newer version.

 

Playing games that were by default installed, while the servers had a tiff with the system and the internet. We were the champions of the Desktop Gaming League.

 

Since cell phones were a privilege limited to some lucky few and telephones too weren’t so common in every household, P.C.O.s were our gracious saviours back then.

 

We went to bookstores to pick up the latest novel of our favourite author. E-books may have a tonne of advantages over the old-school and bulky paperbacks, but nothing beats the smell of fresh print, and the feel of leafing through the pages, as the story proceeds.

 

Online orders were not in vogue, but shopping with friends was, as we flitted from one shop to another, in search of that one perfect pair of jeans, or that top which we loved in the latest flick.

Nostalgic, indeed!