Memories of summer holidays and music can make you cringe

Children of the ’90s, remember Backstreet Boys? Those songs, those lyrics? What you loved back then can make you squirm now. It’s natural — the lens of nostalgia gets all fogged up with time. We’re squirming too

Back in the day, school vacations were synonymous with flying home to Bangladesh. It was an annual ritual that gave me mixed feelings, as the downsides seemed to outweigh the pros. While dinner invitations from relatives and affordable shopping were fun, being devoured by mosquitoes, especially after monsoon rains, and experiencing heat waves were not. It was unbearable in the eyes of a spoilt Dubai-raised child. Adding to our entitled nature, my brother and I would unite to complain about several things — why would the electricity cut off at random times? Why were there so many snails on the veranda? Where were the fast food joints? Why couldn’t we roam outdoors and buy candy from street stalls? The grumbling tested our parents’ patience to no end. Despite protests against living a different lifestyle for two months, we had no power to change this yearly habit. Instead, we had ended up seeking various sources of entertainment to make the best of our annual holidays. We were simple-minded children after all. The things that tickled our fancy would in no way appeal to today’s urbane kids, who are inseparable from technology and gadgets. The Internet did not exist. We didn’t have YouTube or Netflix, nor did we have a social network like Facebook or WhatsApp to keep in touch with classmates. We were limited to sending letters (long-distance phone calls were taboo). The closest thing to “wireless technology” for us was the cordless phone. And that too, did not allow you to stray far from its charging booth. But our restrictions came with unlimited imagination and creativity. From conjuring silly games such as a contest to see who could kick off a slipper the farthest, to penning fiction featuring favourite cartoon characters on scraps of yellowed paper, those idle summer days were blissful and fulfilling. Another hobby I’d picked up was noting down song lyrics as they played on my uncle’s cassette player. Tunes from The Beatles, ABBA, AC/DC, Bon Jovi and Bryan Adams were the norm, but as I entered my teen years, I became enamoured with music icons of the 90s, such as Boyzone, Backstreet Boys, ’Nsync, and Britney Spears. Before I knew it, it had become a daily habit following our family’s four o’ clock tea time. Armed with a notebook and pen, I’d started off with a total of two tracks a day, but on days I felt extra bored, I’d challenge myself to complete one whole side of a tape, meaning seven tracks on one side of an album. At a time when there was no way to pin-point the elapsed time of a track, I found great accomplishment in carefully rewinding a tape over and over again to confirm each line in a song as I jotted it down. Although these albums actually came with a lyric booklet of its own, my uncle would keep it out of my reach. I now realise that he must’ve done that either out of embarrassment, or to protect my innocence because a recent revisit to my “favourite” songs of the 90s revealed innuendoes of sorts. From Bryan Adams’ Let’s make a night to remember to Backstreet Boys’ If you want it to be

good, girl, get yourself a bad boy. Oh my God! I am literally cringing right now, as I recall stubbornly fighting over the audio player in the car, causing my parents to endure similar 15-track albums in awkward silence.

Nostalgia evokes different sets of emotions in people. In my case, I’ve had my fair share of embarrassing moments, and this is one among many cringe-worthy memories I don’t think I’ll ever forget.