Those were the days, we thought they'd never end

Do you remember the days when a bottle of Coke would cost four annas? That's 25 paise in today’s money. Even at the time, this was not an insignificant sum. I would have to cajole Mummy to buy me a Coke. And it wasn't just my teeth she was concerned about!

- Karan Thapar

Those were the days when we would collect Coca Cola bottle caps. We'd been led to believe that if they carried the Coke bottle symbol, they could be exchanged for a gift. I collected several, but never got a gift.

Coca Cola is only one example of how our world’s changed. Language is even more tellingly so. In the 1960s and '70s, rupees were referred to as chips and bucks. Money was called dough. Chicks was how we spoke of girls. And movies were dubbed flicks. This was the smart way of talking. We all did it.

When it came to music, our choices might seem restricted to what's on offer today, but we thought they were abundant and plentiful. We would hear vinyl records on our radiograms. Those who were lucky had tape recorders. Later, both were overtaken by CDs. Now, none of this exists and few would know how to identify them.

We wrote letters in those days and urgent news was delivered by telegram. The post office sold 10 paisa postcards, green inland letter forms and blue aerograms. Today, you might not even find them in a museum. I haven't seen one for years.