Tikli Fataka Gun

 

Tikli Fataka Gun

These were the some of the first toy guns that became popular during my childhood times. 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WSqrkEdNxQw

Let me take you to the times, when firecrackers were a mandate during Diwali. Our families were big and all our cousins had craze for fancy crackers. Each year, we would request our Dad to take us to the firecrackers shop 2 weeks prior to the Diwali festival. At the crackers stall, we would select each kind of fancy crackers atleast 1 in number. Some were too costly but were fun to see. In our words, let me name some of the firecrackers, they were 'Fuljhadi' , 'Anaar' , 'Chakri' , 'Double shot' , 'Top tiger' , 'Gondli bomb' , 'Tikli roll' (displayed in the above picture) , 'Rocket' , 'Lighter' , 'Colour smoke' and many more.

When I was small, I use to get my toy gun with plenty of rolls with me and all day, I was like 'Thak thak thak' just annoying everyone with the noise :D lol , one day I got tired of bursting those tiny fataka one by one. And I decided to use 5-10 of the tikli bombs together. So what I did was, I tore these rolls and gathered 5-10 tiny pieces, arranged them to make a pile and got an iron hammer to burst them. I thought it would be fun, as I wanted to hear the louder noise and what was its impact. So, I took the hammer and hit the tikli pile from a good height. It gave a bright luminous glow while bursting and a much louder noise that made my ears numb for about 5 minutes. And I was like, Wtf! this was fun but quite dangerous too. I was scared for a while and decided to never repeat it :D

Peppermint candy

Peppermint candy

                                        These candies were so cheap that I used to think that shopkeeper is either a big hearted man or he is in jolly mood that is why he's giving me a handful of peppermint candies for just a rupee. Their shape was very interesting just like slice of orange fruit. These peppermint has tangy citrus flavour that made me think that they are made from real oranges. But, soon I came to know, they are nothing but sugar boiled confections with artificial flavouring. As far as I remember, we used to get 8 units of peppermint toffee in one rupee, that is four units for 50 paise and one unit for 12.5 paise. Definitely, life was good and we were good in the matter of quantity.

                                         I want to share one of my delightful and one of the oldest memories; when my grandfather used to take me to a Pan Centre, which was next to the rail tracks where he use to buy himself a Pan and for me, he would get these peppermint candies wrapped in a piece of paper. We would sit there for a while to see a freight train pass by and I used to call it 'chuk chuk gaadi'. I use to enjoy my peppermint candies watching those long trains also I used to try counting the number of coaches of train but could not count them all because I didn't know numbers after 30 and those trains have 60 to 70 coaches. I can only imagine how young I was that time, still I remember this memory, I can say I have a sharp memory. Can't I?

Pepsi ice-candy

Pepsi ice-candy

                                      These frozen drinks in a tube like pouches were our life saver in summer during childhood. Without this, our summer vacation could not be a summer vacation. These were sold at 50 paise per unit. They are made up of artificial colour and artificial flavouring & then  freezing it. These were the source of relief from the heat of summer. They come in many flavours such as green mango, orange, lemon, cola, kala khatta etc. but we use to say like "I want the red one", "I'll take the orange one".

                                           Those hot afternoons when I use to be hidden in my room just because my mom won't allow going out. And when I try to go in sun making an excuse of hide-n-seek but actually have to buy a few ice-candies from local vendor, mom would catch me and make me sleep in front of the air-cooler so that I won't catch fever due to hot winds blowing on the streets. At that time, I use to feel irritated as my noon, that could've been lot of fun, was spoiled, but now I miss that care, that scoldings for good. Mom used to tell me "don't have these frozen stuff right after coming from sun". So, I use to wait, cool myself down sitting in front of cooler. Then enjoy my pepsi one by one.

Kismi bar and toffee

                                         Kismi bar and toffee

                                These had been our favorite when we were in 90's. Also, this toffee was the best substitute for the shopkeepers when they didn't had the exact change. We all miss those moments when shopkeeper use to give this toffee as substitute of one rupee or 50 paise. In the beginning, the kismi toffee was sold at 25 paise per toffee, after a few years it was raised to 50 paise per toffee. And that of kismi bar was 2 rupees, later it was made to 5 rupees per bar.

                                I still remember the days when I was in 1st standard and when it was birthday of a student, he/she use to bring a packet of kismi toffee and would distribute to the whole class and it was plenty in 50 rupees. In present day, we cannot imagine buying a packet of chocolates for our colleagues that would cost only 50 rupees. Can we? Hell, no. No matter what, this toffee will always be our childhood favorite and will make us nostalgic every time we see its picture or talk about it.

Kismi toffee is still 50 paise/unit. Have a look at its official site:
 www.parleproducts.com/brands/other_sweets/