For five Mumbaikars who were teenagers or in their 20s during the 1980s, the decade was not a sepia-toned Instagram filter. It was their everyday life, they tell Rediff's Rishika Shah.
And while they remember its limitations, what they seem to miss most is something technology can't recreate -- the unhurried warmth of human connection.
Today, you can ask AI to show you how you would have looked in the 1980s and, within seconds, there you are -- denim shirt, oversized sunglasses, dramatic hair and a picture-perfect retro life that, if you were born after the '80s, never actually happened to you.
The '80s have become an aesthetic. A filter. A fashion trend. A moodboard.
But for those who actually lived through the decade, the '80s were far less polished and infinitely more real.
There were no smartphones to document every moment, no Instagram to turn your life into a performance, no WhatsApp to make you constantly available and no Google to answer every question in seconds. There were fewer conveniences, fewer choices and, perhaps, most importantly, fewer things competing for your attention.
For five Mumbaikars who were teenagers or in their 20s during the 1980s, the decade was not a sepia-toned Instagram filter. It was their everyday life.
And while they remember its limitations, what they seem to miss most is something technology can't recreate -- the unhurried warmth of human connection.
Sachiv Parikh
'Life was fun'
Sachiv Parikh, who was in his 20s during the 1980s, remembers the decade as a simpler, almost responsibility-free time.
"It was a black and white era," he says, but quickly adds that the personal warmth, enjoyment and the free time he had during his 20s remain unforgettable.
There was no social media fuelling aspirations and no pressure to constantly keep up.
"No responsibility. No commitments. No one to question us. No social pressure. No Instagram to fuel your aspirations. No WhatsApp to be accountable. No X to care for what's happening in the world. No parental pressure to perform. Not jumping into multiple classes to perform," he recalls.
And then comes the cheekiest reminder of all: "And finally, no spouse."
The technological differences were enormous. Air conditioners were not commonplace in homes. Colour television had only entered their lives in 1982. There were no computers or mobile phones. Cars such as the Fiat and Ambassador were part of everyday life.
Luxury brands like Louis Vuitton, Prada and Gucci were hardly part of the vocabulary. Sneakers came from Bata. There was no OTT, no streaming and no superhero universe occupying every second weekend.
Dating culture, too, was worlds apart.
"No dating. No live-in relationships. Most of us were virgins when we got married. Even kissing on a movie screen was taboo," Parikh says.
Yet, he doesn't remember the decade simply for what it lacked. He remembers what people had.
"Music was the best. Even today they groove," he says, remembering ABBA, Boney M and Elvis. "We socialised and spoke to each other. Life was simple."
Perhaps the most telling answer is his response to what was better then: "No showmanship stress."
Pallavi Shah
When 60 per cent meant a celebration
Pallavi Shah, who was in her early 20s during the decade, remembers an India where the benchmarks of success were dramatically different.
"Words like 'depression,' 'stress' and 'anxiety' were not words in the youth's dictionary," she says.
Academic expectations, too, were nowhere near what young people are accustomed to today.
"In SSC, if one secured more than 60 per cent, we celebrated. More than 70 per cent was distinction and WOW!"
The structure of family life was different as well.
"Joint families was the norm. Nuclear families were rare," she recalls.
Even buying everyday conveniences involved patience. Motor vehicles had waiting periods that could stretch to a year while two-wheelers could take even longer.
Want to watch a new movie? There was no booking app. You physically went to the theatre and booked your tickets in advance.
Want to communicate something urgently? You went to the post office and sent a telegram.
And food wasn't simply a matter of opening an app and ordering. Families had ration cards for food grains and kerosene. A decade earlier, even milk could involve cards to buy it from Aarey booths.
It was an India of queues, waiting and limited choices. But perhaps those limitations also meant people learned to make more of what they had.
Manoj Shah
College, sandwiches and looking at girls who didn't notice you
For Manoj Shah, being young in the '80s involved a familiar combination of college, friends, food and a healthy amount of mischief.
His most vivid memory? "Waking up late at our time. Going to college and not attending classes. Looking at girls who didn't notice us. Eating a sandwich outside college. Before that, complaining about school teachers."
Back then, he adds, "We had more energy to waste."
But beneath the humour is a serious point about friendship. "We chilled with our dear friends who also had time for each other. There was nobody closer to us than them."
Entertainment wasn't always affordable, so people simply spent time together.
"We had no responsibility; parents took care of us. Pocket money, though limited, was provided by parents."
And then there is his list of things he believes were genuinely better -- school teachers, air, water, time, almost no traffic, fewer skyscrapers, knowing your neighbour and petrol that "almost cost nothing".
Deepak Mathrani
When free time meant getting out of the house
Deepak Mathrani was a teenager in the '80s and remembers a childhood where the default setting was not staying indoors with a screen. It was getting out.
"Everyday life in the '80s was more active. It was a no-mobile zone because there were no mobiles and there was more socialising with friends, with family," he says.
Weekends meant visiting relatives because parents told you to. Or meeting friends. And when children had free time, they didn't need to be told to exercise.
"We wanted to just go out of the house and play active games."
There was lagori, chor police, gilli danda and countless other games that required nothing more than a group of children, some space and imagination.
But his strongest nostalgia is reserved for movies.
"When I was 13 or 14 years old and there was some content, some substance in the movies," he says.
He remembers films with stories, climaxes and characters that stayed with audiences.
"The movie had substance. They had a story, they had a form and there was a nice climax. The movie had some good, beautiful stories."
For a movie buff like Mathrani, the speed at which films are now made is disappointing. He believes the time once spent developing stories and making films memorable has been replaced by an increasingly hurried entertainment ecosystem.
Technology, he admits, has its advantages. It has put information at our fingertips and made it possible to see and speak to someone miles away instantly.
"But we don't write letters to our friends," he says. That loss matters to him. So does the disappearance of planning.
In the '80s, going out for street food wasn't a delivery notification. It was a plan. "We used to go on a street food eating spree with our friends. We used to make a plan that let's go this Saturday. Five friends would meet, we would dress up and we would take a mode of transportation."
Today, a few taps on a phone can bring almost anything to your doorstep.
Rosemary Dewey
Fifty paise, a rented cycle and a whole day outside
For Rosemary Dewey, the '80s are inseparable from long summer vacations and an enormous playground at the Airport Colony, Kalina (north west Mumbai).
Her mother would go to work and she and 10 to 15 friends would spend the day outside.
"We used to play so many games," she remembers. They climbed trees, played jhaad bandar, flew kites and cycled.
For that, owning a cycle wasn't necessary.
"We didn't have our own cycle so we used to rent cycles, all of us friends. Fifty paise for half an hour. We'd gather whatever money we had. In one rupee, I think we used to get one hour cycling."
It sounds almost impossible today -- a group of children pooling coins together so they could cycle for an hour.
The absence of mobile phones meant that communication required effort. There were coin-operated phones when you needed to make a call. There was no Google to settle an argument or provide an instant answer.
If you wanted information, you looked for it. "We used to copy everything from books. We would hunt for information in the library."
The '80s Were Not Perfect. They Were Present.
Today, technology has made almost everything faster. We can order food without leaving home, watch almost any movie instantly, speak to people across continents and use AI to recreate ourselves in almost any decade we choose.
We can even ask a machine to show us what we might have looked like in the '80s.
But AI can only recreate the look.
It cannot recreate the feeling of collecting one rupee with your friends to rent a cycle. It cannot recreate waiting outside a theatre to book a ticket. It cannot recreate sitting at a roadside shack for hours because there was nowhere else you needed to be. It cannot recreate writing a letter and waiting for a reply.
And it certainly cannot recreate the peculiar freedom of being young before your life could be constantly photographed, compared, measured and displayed.
Photographs curated by Satish Bodas/Rediff
