Weddings in the late
80’s and the early 90’s were a blast for the kids.
Back in the days a peculiar toy vendor was parked outside
every Shadi hall .He had all sorts of goodies that excited my little self beyond
imagination. The toys were special as you couldn’t source them from your
regular toy shops but were only sold at these Venus. They were
simpler times when The Hamleys was an alien world
and games of hide and seek were far more captivating than your Angry Birds
genre today.
One would find toys like :a
snake made out of cane , that flexed up
to two feet and came with stinger at the end, (my mum never bout me this one ,
she was always worried id poke someone
in the eye with it), a kaleidoscopes made out of broken bangles ,a black rectangle
projectors with 5 negatives (mainly of iconic places of India).
One of my other favorite was
a magical trick paper that came with a glass window in the center, and every time I folded
it ,a new picture appeared in the window(i dont know how). It had beautiful pop art pictures of
the Taj Mahal and The Bengal tiger.
These toys didn’t
cost a fortune .Hence the parents didn’t
mind the little treat, as it kept the kids busy and they could happily focus on
socializing ! The best part about all these
toys was , they were proudly made in INDIA .
Cut to 2012 ,
The toy vendors are nowhere
in sight , they are replaced by posh valet services. Whatever vendors that are still
left in smaller wedding Venus , sell cheap imports from china, whose unboxing
time and the time it takes to fall apart is pretty much the same . Not to
mention the toxic colors and the choking hazards that come free with it.
I wish I could source the toys form back in
the days . would love to see my son enjoy them as much as I did .Any of you
reading my post know what I m talking about holler back at me , Also if you
know a place where I can find these toys, let me know. Will be ready to gate crash that wedding any
day!
(p.s. did try and source
pictures for my post but looks like Google doesn’t have a clue what i am talking about )