Shelf Life

Mourning the loss of the past

The last bell of the day rang, our little selves rushing to get back home and watch reruns of the morning’s cartoons. Obviously we need something to munch on so we slip a five rupee note over the counter and grab the most elite snack to ever exist - Cadbury Bytes. That’s right, the iconic yellow and purplish-blue puffed packet holding sweet crunchy little treats that melt in the mouth faster than an ice-cream on a hot summer day. Memories. It has to be one of the most disappointing discontinuations of a product. I don’t remember the day it happened unfortunately. It slipped away quietly. 

Over the years, many such products (not just food) have been discontinued or replaced and I feel most privileged to have experienced the naiver versions of those in my life even though I deeply mourn the absence of them from time to time. Some of these nostalgic products were creative modulations of something else and some were new inventions. Those tiny scented erasers that come in a variety of fruits and vegetables, those really bad quality crayons that have the heads of superheroes, that little dog inside a house that collects your coins and keeps guard, all these practically shaped my childhood. It was the introduction of creativity to us kids who knew nothing about it. An example of breaking the mould, showing that things can be flexible with just a little bit of imagination. 

Like they say, the value of something increases only once you’ve lost it. And I miss all these products that have gone extinct not because of the quality but because of the nostalgia attached to it. God knows technological advancement has brought us better products but it’s the sentiment behind it all. I saw Rob from M.A.D talking about this. He said that people always say that they miss him but he’s still here making art. He posts reels on Instagram and other platforms all the time, it’s just that the format has changed and that doesn’t resonate with us anymore because we are only used to seeing him on TV, in Pogo, in the early 2000s. Nostalgiacore they call it. It’s hauntingly beautiful and wonderfully melancholic at the same time. Remember the days when the toffee marbles used to be da bomb? Or when we could spend hours playing the snake game? I can’t either but I know it’s too far to look back at. 

Sure we’ve had a few replacements for the OG products. Most of them came out of nowhere, totally unnecessary, just to show that the brand is doing something. Nostalgic marketing is now having a good time though bringing in “throwback”  flavors, using too much grunge texture on posters and promoting limited re-releases. Even the recent Jurassic World movie had one too many scenes copied and pasted from the first part but it didn’t work. There are some indie bands I listen to that tap into that exact feeling of nostalgia. From the instruments to the lyrics everything takes us back to a different time. Sometimes to a time when we didn’t exist and leaves us there. 

I’m sure there are still products that exist from the past but we have outgrown it or don’t feel the same feeling having it. I’ve gotten little knick knacks from the past that I thought didn’t exist anymore and the present memory writes over the one I had from the past. It’s kinda scary because I lose that past memory that I held so dearly all these years. The very act of trying to recreate something feels like a disgrace to the original. 

The mourning is also quite generational. My parents don’t miss the same things I miss. In a way we are missing a part of ourselves that existed back then when everything was simple and unaffected. 

I’ve still not been able to figure out if nostalgia is good or bad for us. I think it’s nature. From time to time this process needs to happen. You’ll have something when you’re young and you’ll lose it somewhere in the chaos of life and then you look back and mourn the loss of it. But when it does find you, it will make sure you clean the shelves searching for it. 

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