"Aankhon mein", "Maine payal hai chankayi", "Made in India" are few of those innumerable songs listening to which gives us goosebumps even today, drawing us into the remnants of those memories, making us nostalgic and producing a craving in this soul to go back to the same phase with the same people around it but without this so called "Modern" world of bassy songs, "cool" gadgets and consoles. Such a time travel is not possible for sure but what remains with us are memories - memories of a world that every 90s kid would love to visit given a chance.
Yes, our songs did not have exotic locations to boast of, neither did they have high quality audio and videos but believe me, those songs were way much more worthy than those of the present time. Sure, the present time songs have variety of instruments, random bass drops, electronic fusions, autotunes and what not but still they are no match to the quality of songs of 90s enriched with meaningful lyrics and better voice modulations than what is being done by technology today.
Not only the songs but the gadgets to listen to these songs were such that they made the listening experience even more delightful. We didn't have pen drives, neither iPods nor smartphones. All we had were Walkmans, MP3 CDs and casettes and tapes to play them. Walkman & mp3 CDs were generally priced high and the "purchasing power" of most of us being low, we had to go for casettes that we often had to buy by collecting the meagre pocket money we got. Sometimes we even had to hide the casettes that we bought without the consent of our parents and played them only when they went out. The experience of listening to songs on the walkman of my "rich" friends is as inexplicable today as it was 15 years ago.
We waited impatiently for programs like "Rangoli", "Chitrahar" to be broadcast on TV. We had a show like Indian Idol of ours that was called "Antakshari". The timings of these shows and hence the timings for listening music were fixed and this raised the levels of our excitement making us wait for these programs more eagerly.
We also have some similar memories from the early 2000s where we were introduced to newer music channels and cable TVs. I still remember that time when me and my friends gave each other a missed call when the others' favorite song was being aired on TV. Then we only had a handful of music channels like Channel V, MTV, B4U music. It was our version of Saavn and Gaana.
But Alas! Times have changed. Today, that zeal, that enthusiasm and that excitement to listen to songs has faded with globalization bringing in the latest technology, the growing demand for greater accessibility and ease of listening to songs. I am happy that we have moved ahead technologically. But somewhere, in this bid to come at par with the developed world, we have lost our originality, technology has taken prominence and vocals a backseat.
The fact remains that we grew up listening to music which finds little ears today. That music has died a sudden death in the music industry but left with itself a decade of awesomeness that will remain evergreen in the hearts and memories of the kids who have been through the golden era of the 90s. Memories which such souls will cherish for a lifetime. Memories, which will bury only with their soul.
