The story “The missing siren” in Metro on Sunday on November 4 touched a chord in many hearts. Several readers wrote to us about what they miss most from childhood. Here are some of the letters:

Childhood reminds me of siren at 9am, circuses in winter, cinema halls all over Calcutta, children’s magazines, running back home from school to play and mega-serials like Buniyad and Hum Log that had characters we could identify with.

Kaushik Guha, SN Roy Road

I think of Bengali songs whenever I think of childhood. There are more songs to choose from now but most are not as good as they were in the 1970s and 1980s. The soundtracks from Bengali films used to be very popular then. Now I can’t recall a Bengali film song of the past 15 years.

Relatives and cousins often used to stay over at each other’s house. The visits sometimes stretched to a fortnight. Now even overnight stays are rare.

Preparing for para or school Saraswati pujas used to be great fun. Now, it’s just another holiday. Watching cricket was also a group activity involving an entire household or para as there were fewer television sets.

The haluikar used to prepare a variety of sweets in our house on Navami — bonde, nimki, pantua. The mothers used to cook ghughni and the friends’ mothers always did it better.

A group of us used to go from house to house on Vijaya Dashami. Touching of feet and kolakuli on Vijaya are dying practices. SMS texts have taken their place.

Biswajit Chandra, Salt Lake

Inexpensive games like concealing tamarind seeds and carrom were common when I was a child. There were a couple of orchards near our house. Vacations were spent playing hide and seek there.

Dilip Kumar Chakrabarty, Salt Lake

Change is the only constant. Nostalgia is beautiful on a Sunday afternoon, redundant on a Monday morning.

As kids we saw the ownership of the para rok change hands every evening — from us to the dadas and then to the kakus back from office.

Your para’s name categorised you — upmarket, tough, good street cricket team……

Kakimas knew you by name, the dadas looked out for you.

Bylanes have apartment blocks today, few paras retain the para feeling. Our city has changed and is still changing — and the generation gap will widen if we cling to our memories.

The challenge, as ever, is to move forward even as we preserve the good in our past. I wonder if the new, emerging Calcutta is visionary enough to do both.

Day Tripper,by email

The article took me back to the 1980s from the third millennium. Cable television was the most conspicuous absence when we were young. I used to fight with my sister for sitting space in front of the television for half an hour every evening.

Our grandmother used to provide a running commentary to Ramayana and Mahabharata as they were aired. We used to count the number of advertisements during breaks. It was great fun.

There were two types of electricity in those days — AC and DC. Ours was the only building in the neighbourhood that had a DC connection and it was a matter of pride.

I was an avid collector of stamps and coins. I still look for people with whom I can exchange stamps but I rarely find anyone.

I once heard Anupam Kher say on television that the richest person is the one who has endless stories to tell about his childhood. I agree with him totally.

Gautam Sureka, by email

I never spared a thought for what I missed from childhood till I read the article. I grew up in Delhi but used to visit my mamabari in Calcutta during the summer and winter vacations. Those were the times to devour Amar Chitra Kathas in Bengali and other children’s literature.

Sonali Sengupta, Baghajatin