So when was the last time any of you played Anjali anjali ? I heard it playing on TV while having lunch today and thoroughly enjoyed it. I mean, i don’t ever remember noticing before today – but the lyrics & melody combine very well indeed and left me feeling nice & corny.

I felt the same thing when i ipoded ‘Akele hain’ and ‘gazab ka hai din’ last week. I’ve been playing them over and over – they’re quite timeless really.

These are just examples – there are truckloads of lovely 90s music that came out we were all too young to fully appreciate.

But then, by today’s standards - there wasn't much we missed either.

Let me explain.

In one sense, i think, we’re MUCH better off (as kids growing up in the 90s) than kids who are 1 or 2 years old now and kids who’ll be born in the next 5-6 years who’ll be teenagers in 2020/25 etc.

Back then - the only music channel was MTV, the only VJs were Nikhil, Cyrus & Raageswari, the shows everyone talked about were GI Joe, Johnny Quest, Popular mechanics for Kids, Inntimate Escapes & Lonely Planet, the only music program was first chitrahaar, then the MTV Top 20 and the only Tamil movie program was Sun TV top 10. There were no websites, no google, no youtube, no feedreader, no feeds. Everyone read tinkle digest, Archie comics & The Famous five – then boys moved on to Hardy boys & girls to Nancy drew.

You went to Bombay once in a lifetime, to grandparents during summer vacations, to Madras once in a year if you were lucky. You only went to theatres to watch Jurassic park & James Bond. Heck, there were never more than a handful of movies releasing every month.

Duet was the top song on the Sun TV list for maybe 2 months, all kinds of content had HUGE amount of shelf-life & airplay – we all had the time to absorb every detail in depth and be influenced properly. Nice & Slow & Steady.

By contrast - we have this stimulus fest today – stuff hitting us from all directions – and i wonder what kids will do – how they will cope up. Concepts like schooling, peergroups, playmates, socializing, games etc. will take on HUGELY different forms & meaning.

Interesting. no ?

I’ll conclude with that thought to chew on – and as bonus – i am happy to present these lovely lines from Anjali’s last stanza.

(Recommmeded usage: Play the youtube video – get a hang of the tune once – then sing these lines out aloud. alone.) 

அழகியே   உனைப்போலவே  அதிசயம்   இல்லையே
அஞ்சலி  பேரைச்சொல்லி  அவிழ்ந்தது  முல்லையே
கார்த்திகை  மாதம்போனால்  அடைமழை இல்லையே
கண்மணி  நீயில்லையேல்  கவிதைகள்  இல்லையே

(p.s – On the same subject – i wonder if my children will know to read and write tamil. I’l bloody make sure of that – ruddy shame it would be  if they cant, no ? )