CHILDHOOD CRAZES

It's always nice to look back on our childhood days. When life was easier because we had nothing to provide to the society. When we reminisce those times, we always seem to put on our rose tinted glasses, as if everything was better back then. All the cartoons were the bomb, no matter how bad they were. Remember the golden age of cassettes? Those were the days; music lost its magic when the CD was invented. 

Enough ranting, keep your glasses on because we're about to go on a trip to Nostalgialand, where we'll recall stuff that were hip, things we raved about. Let's start with the obvious, the name starts with a "P" and ends with "okemon". Still confused? Please, pay attention.

Pokémon: It's a cartoon about a blue alien that…wait, wrong childhood. Let's cut to the chase — the video games, the trading cards, our lives were saturated with Pokémon. Going to the bookstore to get a pack of those cards was heavenly. Getting the cards I already had was hell. In my school, Pokémon cards were the currency. Getting bullied? Bribe them with Pokémon cards. Want someone beaten up? Give them the shiny Mewtwo. The weird part was that nobody knew how to play the actual trading card game. We wasted thousands buying a game we couldn't even play. And then came the fake cards to destroy everything. Pokémon was serious business, and that's why I'll never forget the kid who swindled me for my cards. I'll have my vengeance, Abir from Class 4.

Game Boy: I wasn't part of this craze but my friends were. This was the time I realised I had an evil side within me. See, I didn't really bother my parents for a Game Boy but whenever I hung out with my friends, they used to play that stupid plastic piece of trash all the time. It used to fill me with rage. Not because I actually wanted it, but because they had it and I didn't. I did, however, vicariously live through the Game Boy phase with my PC, and a CD consisting of a Game Boy emulator with all the games in it. I believe I had the last laugh.

Beyblade: Japan, man. Revolutionising the spinning top which was already in our culture ages ago. I don't know who were happier, the kids buying them or the toy stores raking in the profits. Beyblades: edgier version of the spinning top. The first ones were just plastic, then they started adding some metal, and further it went. Beyblades with sparks, full metal beyblades. At this point, I think they were like, "Enough with the toy concept, we'll just make weapons for children." Oh, I also believed "Bit-Beasts" (the creatures inside Beyblades) were real and with enough willpower they'd come out. I didn't have enough willpower.

Duel Masters: This wasn't as big as some of the other ones but it took over after Pokémon died out. It's an edgier version of Pokémon cards (I'm seeing a trend here), where there were dragons and demons. Some of us knew how to play this game and it was actually pretty fun. It didn't have Chinese fakes either. So, it was better than Pokémon cards. This was the Pokémon cards for hipsters.

Yo-yo: Those kooky Japanese…wait, it's the Chinese this time? Wow. Blazing Teens - who would've thought this show would take off like it did. Just goes to show, kids are weird. Earlier, we had simple yo-yos which used to go up and down and were just boring. Then came the ball bearing ones, they used to stay down, still spinning. It was magic. One of my friends was really into it and would do all kinds of tricks with it. I cheered for him on the outside but inside, envy filled my heart. Getting into this yo-yo business wasn't easy, the good ones were expensive, starting from 600 taka or something. It's at least better than buying cards you couldn't even play.

Nostalgia's an amazing thing. It makes everyone happy almost all the time. Something that makes people happy and is not harmful is good. So, go ahead, relive your childhood but at the same time make new memories so that you'll feel the nostalgia twenty years from now.

Shoaib Ahmed Sayam doesn't need coffee because he stays up all night anyway, doing the things he should be doing during the day. Send him John Cena memes at facebook.com/ooribabamama