Friday, December 9, 2011

It Is NOT Just a Watch!

The Year is 2000 (or Y2K as it was known then). I was in the 9th Grade. :)
We drove all the way from Muscat (Oman) to Dubai (U.A.E) for the Dubai Shopping Festival like we did every year. It was something that I looked forward to a lot. Spend time with family and a long drive. Dad was the driver. Mom occupied the front seat and the controls to the music system (which was a cassette player). Me and Sis' were on the back seat, screaming along with the lyrics of the latest Tamil and Hindi songs.

Y2K was the year when Casio's G-Shock watches were so popular that every hand sported one. Boys wore huge black ones while girls had small pink or red ones - but everyone had it. I secretly longed for one too, but did not ask!

After reaching Dubai, we kids were left at a relative's home as our parents went "adults shopping" - which was obviously boring - as it involved buying home appliances or things that family back home in India had asked for. We gladly stayed back.

When Dad returned, he brought me a new watch. A Casio G-Shock DW-6600. I really don't have to say how excited I was. He gave it to me and said, "I have never had such a costly watch, ever in my life!". At that minute I vowed to take care of that watch with my life. And thus began the almost "12-year-long-and-counting" journey of me and my watch.

Soon we shifted back to India, and my watch always served as an ice-breaker when meeting new people. Whether it was new schoolmates or random people I met on the street - the conversation almost always started with, "Why are you wearing a freakin' clock on your hand?" (Yup! It was considered huge those days!). I was so proud of my watch.

The best part of this watch was (and still is) that it never ever broke down (touch wood!). Its battery needed replacement once in a year-and-half or so - that's it! This is no exaggeration, trust me!

The year is 2011 (December, almost 2012) now! And today, I have completed my graduation, worked for almost 3 years, post-graduation, and have joined a fresh new job. But all these years it has been my most faithful friend. Now, come every Friday (a day for casual wear! Yay!), I pick up my DW-6600 and proudly wrap it around my hand before I leave for work. The present condition is not that good - The water resistance has worn out, I have to use both my thumbs to get the backlight to work, and the hourly buzzer has stopped working. But that does not stop me from loving my watch! Call me materialistic - but I always will love this watch for what it meant to me when I was a 14-year-old-kid.

Even today, this watch is an ice-breaker! People ask me, "Why can't you spend some money and buy a nice watch?". I smile and move on to another topic. I don't try to explain. They will never understand. As my G-Shock is NOT just a watch!!!



P.S. Casio did not pay me to write this post... I just love my watch that much... In fact, they probably don't even know that this post exists... ;)

6 comments:

  1. who in their sane mind can ever ever call you materialistic? if anything, this post just shows how senti you are.

    12 plus years & the bond is as strong as ever - wow! even marriages don't last that long!

    now this makes me think if i have anything as old as that ......hmmmm......still thinking......ummm....thinking some more

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  2. haha Sujatha said it! Relations dont last 12 years sometimes and you have your watch! ! :) Well touchwood :D

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  3. @Sujatha: Haha! "Even marriages dont last that long... ROFL... Thank you... Most of my frens think this post is lame, but I just had to write this... I really love my watch, you see... ;)

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  4. @M in love: Yes, I have been touching nothing but wood since the time I wrote this post... Nervous... ;) God protect my watch!!! ;)

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  5. Casio did not pay me to write this post.
    That was funny :-)

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  6. I had to write that, or people would think (given the latest trend) this also is for some contest... lol...

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