The Wonder Years

Sittu posted something on his blog about "The Wonder Years" today, & it took me instantly into flashback mode.

Circa 1992, & I had just stepped into adolescence. The gang comprised of similarly aged dudes such as Bittu, Abhishek, Dhiraj, Harpreet & of course, my the then best bud, Swapnil. Those were the days when cable TV had just taken off in India & Star Plus (the Star Plus that was, not the K-soap-trash laden Star Plus of today) started airing this serial - The Wonder Years.

Kevin Arnold, Winnie Cooper & Paul Pfeiffer were just the age we were then, & we identified almost totally with whatever was shown on the series. Kevin's first crush, his relationship with his parents, the community he lived in, his gang of friends, the pranks at school ...... it seemed as if the makers knew what was happening in my life & decided to show various aspects of it in every new episode.

Of course, some of the stuff shown, such as the kissing, Kevin's own car, the drive-ins etc were concepts that you couldn't be much exposed to living in the India of that time, so we had to keep a wary eye on the proceedings, so that the parents didn't catch us viewing something they didn't approve of. I remember, once the whole gang had gathered at Swapnil's place to watch one of the episodes (since his parents were out) & they chose to drop in halfway through it. Swapnil had a pretty hard time explaining what all of us were upto !

I also remember the excitement with which we had discussed Kev & Winnie's first kiss, on the school bus the next day. In fact, Swapnil was inspired to do a Kevin in pursuit of Roona after watching that particular episode (while I fitted into Paul's role perfectly!). Wonder what Roona's reaction will be, if she ever gets to know that Swapnil had a crush on her, especially now that she's getting married/is married already.

Good times, great memories ...... the guy doing the adult Kevin's voice over (in the last episode) summed it up perfectly when he said, "Growing up happens in a heartbeat. One day you're in diapers, the next day you're gone. But the memories of childhood stay with you for the long haul. I remember a place, a town, a house like a lot of other houses, a yard like a lot of other yards, on a street like a lot of other streets. And the thing is, after all these years, I still look back, with wonder."