There are certain humble joys of life that only childhood pocket money can buy. Unlike trips, getaways, get-togethers, and planned parties, these are just little detours of life that can be lived fully only in childhood.The thrill of walking up to a school canteen counter or a roadside stall with a few coins jingling in your pocket, knowing exactly what you were about to get, cannot match the recreation we do today. Back in the 80s, it didn’t matter that the treat cost almost nothing. What mattered was the fascinating ritual of walking to the shop, the careful counting of coins, the small burst of joy that followed.This ritual revolved around the same handful of names, those tiny, slightly questionable snacks with negligible MRP, which had no real nutritional value but somehow left a permanent mark on memory.Here’s a look back at five of those daily treats that, despite costing next to nothing, managed to feel like the biggest deal in the world.
Phantom cigarettes
Made by the Pune-based Harnik General Foods, these chalky white sticks with red tips let kids play-act being grown-ups without the actual harm. Modelled in a fun way on the masked comic hero Phantom, these sweet candies were less about taste and more about the swagger of holding one between two fingers, mimicking film heroes.
Poppins
These colourful sweet buddies have been around since the 1950s, packed five brightly coloured, fruit-flavoured candies into a single roll, so no two of them tasted the same.The most fun-loving part of its charm was the tiny ritual of deciding which colour to eat first, then saving your favourite for last. Long before flavoured candy became a whole marketing category, Poppins was quietly doing it even for all those years.
Toffee
These red and green tinsel-packaged toffees mimicked the grown-up ritual of consuming paan, into something a child could pop into their mouth in two seconds. The sweet-tangy, faintly spiced flavour felt exotic next to plain candies, and its wrapper became instantly recognisable in every school bag. For many kids, it was their very first, safely sugar-coated introduction to the flavour of paan, minus the betel leaf and the grown-up feelings attached to it.
Pepsi cola ice tubes
Sold in thin plastic tubes from handcarts and canteens, these frozen, cola-flavoured ice pops had nothing to do with the actual soft drink brand, but the name remained intact anyway because the fizzy, sweet flavour was close enough. You’d bite off one corner and suck the melting ice out slowly, making it last as long as possible on a hot afternoon.
Cream roll
This Swiss-roll-style bakery treat was a thin sponge cum pattise rolled around a layer of sweet, whipped cream, and was the closest thing to “fancy” that most neighbourhood bakeries offered.Priced just a rupee or two, it felt quite indulgent and addictive for something so simple, almost like a small birthday cake on an ordinary day. Picking one up after school, still slightly soft and fresh, was often the highlight of the routine walk back home.