When I Was A Kid

Both these points revolve around McDonalds.

Growing up McDonalds wasnt really a big part of my life, but it was there. Its one memory I have clearly of my childhood, going to the Federal/Capitol cinema right round the corner to our place (which is shabbily managed, one half of which has become a wholesale store the other a sleazy looking Tamil cinema) at night, getting McDs right before the movie began just so I was all calm when watching, in my pajamas. I loved that about my childhood. The whole wear-your-pajamas-everywhere thing. I wish we could still do that as grown-ups. I would always order a Happy Meal, with the choice of 4 nuggets and Papa Yusuf would always reject the drink, which would always freak out the servers, because they'd be like, "Dude, the drink is free". But because I wasnt allowed to drink cold drinks (more so at night) and Papa Yusuf was dead against Ribena and Milo, we just never got a drink. And I wasnt allowed to eat bananas at night either. Or drink Fanta, at all. And, basically, alot of restrictions. Dont ask.

Anyway, the best part of the entire McDonalds experience was the lovely paper box the meal came in, which obviously also contained 'The Toy'. The tills displaying the current toys in Happy Meals would always get me extremely excited, whereupon from the time the cashier would take our order to when s/he asked which toy I'd prefer, Id be praying extremely hard for the one I wanted, to be in stock and not just on display.

It is in this context that I wish to tell you about the one time the most memorable Happy Meal toys came along and made my life miserable. Well, not really miserable. But I felt miserable because I couldnt get what was hyped.

I dont quite remember the year, but McDonalds had come up with this crazy pair of a boy and girl teddy, that you'd get in a pair, and every week they'd change. There was a groom and bride pair, a country themed pair, so on and on. Co-incidentally, Ayesha K. still has hers from childhood. In Bombay (JJYEAAAH!). Anyway, so the thing was, this whole bear-buying scene became really big, like REALLY big, because suddenly everyone was buying a Happy Meal to get these bears. Suddenly they were collectibles and before you knew it, there were huge long exhausting lines at the most sparsely located McDonalds in KL. The hype intensified because there was a massive plugging campaign on McDs part to generate more hype and attention about this. Newspapers and TV adverts had basically taken over alot of the important timeslots and ad spaces!

It was hilarious, and the effort to get the bears was real tiring too!

Papa especially was monumental in attaining these bears. I remember one bear incident very clearly where this was this particular pair that was going on sale for a particular week and Mama and I both really really wanted that one. So off we went to this obscure McDs outlet in The Mall (yeah remember that?), which was near our place and what sight beholds us- a HUGE line of people all wanting the same thing we wanted. We lined up, waiting for our turn, only to have heard while in the line that they didnt have that particular pair that we'd come there for. But Papa being Papa, we stayed in the line, got to our turn, and Papa showed his magic. He bargained with the Store Manager, saying that we'd come from a REALLY far away place and no other outlet that we'd been to had the teddy pair either and whether it was PLEASE possible to get us a pair. Of course, my adorable baby face was also used as bait to get the pair, which we eventually managed. Today I have no clue where the teddy bears are, but it was fun while it lasted.

The other thing I remember so well as a kid was the Armageddon tie-in that McDs had. I just googled the movie so I got that the year was 1998. What I remember most vividly about this was the fact that I thought the world was going to end. I'll tell you why I thought this.

Because they were probably with some meal deal or whatever, promoting the film and jazz, there were actually car stickers that had the tag line, "Its Closer Than You Think" along with the McDs logo. I thought Armageddon was the name of Judgement Day in English.

That is all.