2020 takes me to the 90s

Phrases to describe the year 2020:
Stay at home.
Social distancing.
Wearing masks.
Covid19.

I have already given up watching news on the television due to the drama and the negativity. So I just scroll through my phone to get updates. Looking at the same morose news, I just lose focus and give up. I start the radio instead and set it to a radio station where they are playing ‘Retro music’. I can’t believe that the 90s songs are already labelled as retro. I hear the Backstreet Boys crooning to ‘Everybody yeah rock your body yeah’ and I simply smile. I think, “The songs you grew up listening to are the songs that give you all the warmth and fuzz that you need on a cold and grey day!” It is not literally a cold and grey day but it feels like one.

It’s afternoon now and my son comes to me saying he’s bored (as usual). So I switch on the television for something to watch and they are showing ‘Ducktales’, a cartoon I would love to watch as a child. We make some popcorn and get comfortable on the couch to watch it together. We also make “Rasna” together. I act out the Rasna ad in front of him and he giggles.

We go on the terrace to play or just walk in the evenings. As I need to keep my son engaged, I carry a chalk with me and draw some squares and we start playing hopscotch on it. Later, we play ‘Simon says’ and then I asked him some General Knowledge questions just like they used to ask on the ‘Bournvita Quiz Contest’. When he answers a question correctly, I reward him with a Mango Bite.

It’s time to go to bed now and it’s also our reading time so we read Champak and some other comics such as Chacha Chaudhary and Tinkle. I’m amazed that my son also likes them as much I loved them as a child. He especially loves the line, “Chacha Chaudhary ka Dimag computer se bhi Tez chalta hai!” “Jab Saboo ko gussa aata hai toh kahi na kahi jwalamukhi fatta hai,” makes him crack up.

Finally my son is asleep so I switch on my laptop in the hope of watching something interesting and all the scrolling takes me to the movie ‘Andaz Apna Apna’ , my favourite movie as a child!

This quarantine period has given me a lot of time to spend with my family, especially with my son. It has given me a chance to live my second childhood with him, laughing and giggling over silly things. So I’ve decided to share things from my childhood, from the 90s, with him. And boy is he enjoying them!

This may not be the best period in our lives right now, but we are certainly trying to make the best of it as much as we can!