#Your100WordStory Contest - What I Miss Most from My Pre-Gadget Days | October 2021

Once upon a time there lived a little girl called Chitra. She had a ponytail which her brother used to pull. Often that was the cause of the war between the siblings.

Chitra lived in a colony. Every noon during lunch time, Chitra runs to Baiju aunty's home for she knew there will be fresh paapad that she can munch on along with uncle. In evenings she played with her friends Anu, Minu, Binu, Jinu. It was a feast to watch all toddlers giggling.

Did you visualize a little version of Chitra? Did you catch a glimpse of she eating a paapad or playing with her buddies? If yes then read further ..

This is what I miss the most – Story telling and listening to stories!...

The screens take us unidirectional whereas the version of Chitra you saw is different from mine and will be different for every reader!

I miss a lot my teenage whenever no gadgets no tv ,no instruments like today , so in our childhood days our morning was starting from the god prayer ,after that to give respect and namaskar to elders ,then there was only akashvani radio we listen news in marathi and Bhakti sangeet .we have no permission to go and watch movies except mythological movies,but growing field of gadgets my habits chaged in early morning watching status, reply, sending msg and wasting 20 minutes more for morning works.a big change , less communication

Gadgets have come into our lives to make things both easy and entertaining for us. There is a huge list of advantages that we can cite. I Miss Most from My Pre-Gadget Days
is Time. There were days when the whole family used to sit together and talk for hours. More over Reading different Books and Writing Emotional Letters with Inland Letter and Pen and Simple Mind Of People are Missed By Me..

Dear gadgets,
What I would have done had you not come in to my life?
Thanks to you, I send wishes to all, secretly wishing that I see the same excitement I had when a greeting card was delivered to my home by post
Used to seeing the glitter in my friends eyes as I wrote her name in "To address" during letter writing class at school, I am getting pissed off as I see the blue tick without reply from her
You have befriended my whole body and soul
From days when my hands balanced itself if I I was about to fall down, today my hands are searching for my phone and securing it, ignoring me
I keep refreshing the phone and scrolling all night as my mind yearns for the days when any news can wait, until the postman arrives or the phone rings
You have changed my life to a great extent thanks for that but I can't forgive you for that one thing you have deprived me of: my peace of mind

We are four children for our parents who are both no more alive now. We have been blessed with our parents' love, care and divine affection throughout our school days. We listened to the radio programmes during morning and evening times daily and during holidays, we visited one of our neighbour's home to watch a few television programmes like star trek, ek do then chaar and chitrahaar and occasionally a few cricket matches. Our mother served us daily in the mornings with delicious porridge drink which is highly nutritious. She also prepares all dishes with extraordinary taste usually and serves us with smiles even without worrying about her proportion of the food items. We had almost nil worries or sorrows as we led a peaceful life. We really miss those good old days and our late parents' fondness.

The gadgets we are using now. We are connected to everyone. I missed to see the messages daily. Forgetting Birthday, Anniversary, Celebration wishes to our friends. We had to write each and every events. I sometimes remembered after the events happened.
Lots of pressure in our minds. I missed picturised events to save and share for future. I missed to say Goodbye, Good morning, Good night, Sorry to friends who are far away. I missed online shopping, Online Payment, Online Games with friends like Free fire, Ludo, Chess etc. I missed video calling with my friends.

Gadgets have come into our lives to make things both easy and entertaining for us. There is a huge list of advantages that we can cite. But there are also certain things that seem to have lost after this gadget age ushered into our lives.
One very important thing that I can think of is "We Time". There were days when the whole family used to sit together and talk for hours. I come from a small town where power cuts was a norm. We, as children, used to wait for it like anything. Firstly, it provided us a break from our study time. Secondly, everyone used to come out of the houses and sit in the verandah. It was such fun playing games in the dark.
There was just no need of light-ffect or filters because the pictures of those beautiful memories used to save directly in our hearts.

Pre gadget days were like smell of an old book,a rose found in the book ,dried but with lots of emotions n feelings attached to it.
The moment I thought of those days all I can recall are funfilled talks with my parents, my sisters brothers n friends.the picnics the parties the play time etc.it involved all the members of the family.
Without gadgets the bond love n the time each family members had for each other was very very special.
Nowadays we can't even get a call to wish us on some special days because of whatsapp n other apps .we miss the voices that had so much love n care for us.
Life without gadgets was like gods blessings to all to stay connected always for a better fulfilled loving life.
Mrs Deepmala Tejankar

Gadgets have surely made everything easy and well connected but the thing I miss most about pre gadget days was personal connectivity. The family time , the conversations and games when everyone would sit together and talk and everything was a combined effort. When every occasion was made special by your own presence. The connection was so strong that we knew each other well and had time for each other.Gadgets have made every person a loner who lives in his or her own world. Pre gadget days were the days of bonding with each other.

Tring ...Tring ..Tring ..sound of the alarm was one wake up call to peneterate and awaken our body senses back then,there was no option of snooze or reset on the Alarm clock.unlike the cell phones of the present era.

Not being a gadget freak,it was astonishing to watch the alarm go on for multiple times on the mobile with no effort to snooze it.

What an Irony,with one Alarm hand,the whole family would be on their toes to face the challenges of yester years.On the contrary,now with every family member owning a mobile with multiple alarms....our dreams and ambitions are buried in slumber.

Story written by
Sindhu Narayanan

The days when there was no mobile phones I use to rush to my gate to fetch morning newspaper. I will brush up with news than I will go for running for half an hrs. After coming back I will call my mom and dad at home wish them good morning and enquire about well being of all at home from STD booth. Than I will have glass of milk than do lighter exercises at home. Than I will freshened up and listen to BBC hindi service from approxmately 6 AM to 6:30AM. Than switch on to TV and watch all the latest in India and abroad. And after that I will listen to music on ETC.

I vividly remember my pre gadget days filled with a lot of letter writing to my parents, brothers and sister. Every week, I used to write long letters expressing my emotions and sharing information. It also includes receiving their letters with a lot of anticipation and joy, reading their words of encouragement, motivation, love and blessings. These letters were not for simply reading once and then to be discarded. They were preserved to be read again and again,each time providing the same comfort and happiness. Powercut times were times spent together, sharing anecdotes and displaying talents. Oh, how I wish we could gain back those days of yore!!!

My pre Gadgets days were stress free and had lot of time to give full priority to all things
My morning began with pleasant devotional songs played in tape recorder .I had time to observe the chirping of birds, sound of Conch shell of neighbour house in early morning .
I miss most is Community local games which we played with our neighbourhood friends like marakoti ata, gully cricket, stone and marble games,shuttle cock which is now replaced by our smart phone .
I want back my good old days which is very healthy,natural and not fake .compared to our today's artificial gadget life .

I miss those pre-gadget days, stress free & peaceful. In the morning, I would go to the balcony to feel the fresh air, water the plants and chat with my neighbours, wishing them a very Good Morning. Dad would prepare tea for us and I would run to the bakery to get some nice hot paos which we would enjoy with tea. I miss going to the cycle shop and hiring those cycles, which me and my siblings would ride on those bare roads, no traffic and noise, so peaceful and serene, enjoying the beauty of Nature. We did not need fancy mobiles and tablets to get in touch with our friends, but we would personally visit them and their families and give them their due respect, something which is missed so much in these times, the most effective gadget of our old times was our humility and personal touch.

Way back in the 90's my alarm clock was a gift given by my father's office-Lipton Tea now called Unilever India. The alarm used to be the theme song of Tazaa tea, which sang "Zindagi umang bhari, kamaal ki tazzgi" believe that's what morning felt-super enthusiastic.
I used to bow to the Lord, peep out of the window, see the sun, the shadows of the buildings, trees, hear the crow caw. Then lazily brush my teeth,do some breathing exercises,have a glass of fresh filter coffee and read the newspaper.
All that is sadly forgotten now. I start with the alarm of my phone, reply to the good morning messages, see God online and rarely peep out of the window.