'Era'tic

[041] ... [General]

Came across a bundle of neatly stacked large-sized paper envelopes, and was surprised to see many old newspaper clippings that my father had carefully preserved. Some were older than thirty years, turned a bit yellowish but clearly readable. Some were clippings and others a full two to four full pages, neatly folded. It was interesting to flip through old content, mentioning many people now no more, political news of yester years, Ads of many products in black and white, grainy photos of buildings that are gone and snippets that are so nostalgic.

Those full pages had interesting info around what was clipped. Some were dedicated to movies in a gridded form, small and big, with just the name or serving as little posters, with the different theatres screening them and timings. Obviously those were the days when movies reined, and most tried to catch up with the missed ones through reruns as a morning show somewhere, or get to know where all the current ones were released to plan their family weekends.

Ironically these days too there are full pages devoted, not to movies but mainly to various electronic gadgets, phones in particular, or the discount sales and weekend offers. Movies, having seen their salad days hardly figure anywhere, overtaken by the OTT, cable TV and other forms of entertainment.

Times change, and looking at older news of every decade is like passing through the altered strata that we have been through. Save a copy of today's newspaper, someday it will take you back to an era, which like all other eras that our fathers and grandfathers mentioned with reference to the present: was so good...