Jingle Rock

So I was taking a bath this morning, and when I was squeezing out some green liquid soap, a jingle I'd heard about gazillion times on TV when I was a kid came unbidden to my mind. It goes something like this:

"How about a Minty, when you are having fun?
How about a Minty, when you are in the sun?
How about a Minty, just to pass the day?
Just have a Minty, and let it make your day.
Minty! Minty! Minty! Minty! NP Minty!"

Or at least that's how I remember it.

Then later on when I was giving Raina a bath, I came up with another one:

"Bubbles! Bubbles! Bubbles!
Add something special to an ordinary day!"

I used to make my mom get that kiddie soap for me, just because of that commercial.

The memories got me racking my brains for all the jingles I remembered hearing in the bygone years. And boy, there were lots. Lots and lots. I can't seem to get them out of my mind now. So I'm planning to pass on the jingle-bug by mentioning a few.

My all-time favorite jingle:

"We're all in it together for the fun of it
For the taste of it.
Campa Orange flavor
Adds the flavor of fun!"

I remember watching that commercial wistfully. The kids in it seemed to be having such a blast. And hey, that clown, doesn't he remind you now of Ronald McDonald?

Favorite jingle with celebrity:

"Kapil Dev. The tough cricketer with the tough beard. He uses Palmolive Shaving Cream with SGL4.
Kapil Dev: 'Palmolive da jawab nahin!'"
Indeed!

Jingle when heard stays in your head for the rest of the day:

"Marlex pressure cooker. Khana jaldi pakaye, kaisi seeti bajaye.
Marlex! Marlex pressure cooker!"

Most annoying jingle:

It's the Hawkins pressure cooker one. Hands down. Can't recall the exact words, but I still remember Neena Gupta mouthing, "Hawkeenz! Hawkeenz! Hawkeenz!" at the end. Horrible.

Jingle that got the most adolescentish guffaws:

"Jo OK sabun se nhaiye, kamal sa khil jaaye..." with the clincher : "Kaafi bada hai."
That one still makes me scream with laughter.

What jingles from those 'golden years' can you recall?

Not for Future Einsteins

A friend forwarded me this crazy article on time.com (http://www.time.com/time/health/article/0,8599,1650352,00.html) on kids watching the popular Baby Einstein and Brainy Baby DVDs. In brief, according to a study conducted by University of Washington researchers, babies exposed to the DVDs don't grow smarter than infants not exposed to the DVDs. In fact, they show LESS language development than them.

This would be the moment I would pat myself on the back. I never bought into the hype that watching TV -- any kind of TV -- would make Raina smarter. Instead, we did a lot of talking and playing together -- with a heavy emphasis on music and singing.
Not to boast or anything, but Raina's verbal and vocabulary development has always been far ahead of her peers, and I totally believe it's because of the one-on-one interaction.

Anyhoo, so there I was, getting ready for the back pat with a smug smile forming on my face. Then my mouth fell open. As I continued to read, the article mentioned that the researchers found 40% of infants 3 months and younger REGULARLY watched DVDs, videos or TV. There's more: almost 90% of kids upto 2 years of age spent TWO OR THREE HOURS in front of the television every single day.

Unbefuckinglievable. Excuse the language, but that's pretty dang close to parental negligence. I mean, why have kids if you are going to plop them in front of the TV? I know mommies need to get things done, and sometimes, the TV can be a convenient babysitter, but TWO HOURS EVERY DAY? That's just nuts, people!