How
times have changed?
When I was in school, we had this orange cool drink called "Gold Spot" that was hugely
popular. They had a campaign at that time - to collect the stickers inside the crown
of each bottle, stick it in an album and exchange them for gifts. The gift I was eagerly
collecting the stickers for months was a full colour book of Walt Disney's Jungle
Book. Remember at those days we had no CD/DVD and books were fancied items that had
mystical powers to tell you a story, transport you to a new world. And the world I
wanted to be in (just like every other kid around me) was to the wonderful jungle
world of Mowgli.
Unlike today's kids I was not given any pocket money, for that matter I was hardly
allowed to handle currencies till I was grown up. So there is no way I could drink
those many Gold Spots to collect the stickers needed that would have got me the book.
So whenever I got a chance (which is not so often) I drank a Gold Spot - I did this
months but I could hardly collect more than few. That's when I sought out the help
of a local Pan shop vendor who gave me permission to collect thrown-away crowns in
his road-side shop. Living in Ranganathan Street, T.Nagar had advantages like you
being known to every shop keeper in the bazaar. Then one day my mother came to know
that I was scavenging (can this be called scavenging, I was on a mission) and I was
warned severely not to go to the shop and my cousin warned the shop keeper not to
let me near the shop anymore. With this supply cut-off, I was deeply disappointed.
Then thanks to my maternal uncle Nandakumar who knew someone in Goldspot office, who
got me the book directly. Though it removed the fun associated with collected the
crowns and exchanging it with friends, I was delighted that I got the book.
OK, why I am going in this nostalgic journey now?. Recently when I was in Canada I
purchased the Platinum
Edition of Jungle Book (DVD) for $23 for my son and that's when I remembered these
childhood memories. Just now I told the story and played the DVD to my son who is
enjoying the fun. Coming to think of it, what a timeless piece of work Walt Disney
has created. His work captivated me 25 years back, today it is being enjoyed by my
son and I am sure it will be magical for future generations as well. Interestingly
I noticed it in shops
today that the DVD is available for Rs.600 ($15) in Chennai itself, I needn't
have bought it abroad.
I am not the only one who is nostalgic about Jungle book and Goldspot, when I googled I
saw many
other posts who feel the same (one
more). Finally my son today didn't scavenge, he didn't even ask for it, yet he
got the DVD on his bedroom. That's why I started by saying - Times have changed.