The last few weeks, my work life has involved designing materials for a conference about international study programs, and what it means to be a “global citizen.” It’s a very erudite and academic group, and their approach to global issues is the same.

As someone whose global travels have been limited to vacations in Canada, Mexico and the Caribbean, my experience of the world outside of North America is all secondhand. So I value anything that allows me a glimpse into life outside our borders, especially if that glimpse is not government-stamped or pre-approved by cable TV executives.

While perusing facebook groups today, I stumbled upon something that gave me a anecdotal peak into of growing up in a rapidly developing country. Here is a smattering of entries from the group “You Know You Grew Up in India in the 90s when…” I enjoyed it not only for the items that were completely foreign to me, but also for those that were familiar. And it was curious to see the mix of references to cultural icons from India, England, Japan, China, and the U.S.

And of course, it’s nice to know that kids in India still read Archie comics.

1) You know the words to ‘In-pin-safety-pin’ and ‘akkad-bakkad’ by heart

2) Cricket is almost a religion for you, and you idolize at least one of Kapil Dev/Rahul Dravid/Sachin Tendulkar/Saurav Ganguly

7) You watched Cartoon Network, and then the late night movies on TNT that came after Cartoon Network ended.

You watched corny dubbed versions of Small Wonder, Silver Spoon, and I Dream of Jeanie

9) You were THRILLED when McDonald’s opened in your neighborhood (or even eight kilometers away)

18) You collected trump cards of wrestlers, cricketers, and airplanes, and did not quite understand why your younger siblings were obsessed with Pokemon and the other Japanese trends that followed.

21) Bole mere lips, I love uncle Chips!

25) You were the coolest thing in class if you had a computer in your house while it was still the 90s.

28) You often you terms and phrases like ‘kutti’, ‘abba’, ‘same to you, back to you, with no returns’, and ‘shame shame, puppy shame, all the donkeys know your name.’

31) You have said ‘haw’ or ‘haw ji ki pwji’ when you saw people kissing in English movies

31) You have seen Titanic at least 12 times.

32) You thought seeing English movies and speaking English made you the coolest thing ever.

35) Barbies for girls, and GI Joes for boys were the ultimate status symbols. And how can I forget Hot Wheels, for both boys and girls?

36) You have worn Osh-Kosh B’gosh and United Colours of Benetton clothes while growing up. And you thought ‘imported’ clothes were definitely way better than ‘made in India’ clothes (never mind that a lot of clothes brought from overseas by NRI relatives were actually made in India, before ‘Made in China’ started appearing on EVERY existing thing)

45) You watched Baywatch on Star World even though (or because) your parents said you shouldn’t watch it.

46) You bought packets of potato chips for the specific purpose of collecting Tazoa. And you had Tazos depicting everyone from Confucius to Daffy Duck to Daffy Duck dressed as Confucius.

66) You grew up reading, if you read at all, some or all of Nancy Drews, Enid Blyton books, Hardy Boys, Babysitters Club, Animorphs, Goosebumps, Sweet Valley series, Judy Blumes, and Tintin, or Archie comics. Because naturally, reading foreign authors made you much coller than reading Tinkle.

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