Back in the day, the only electrical equipment some desi households had to get relief from the scorching summer heat were those metal air coolers.
And those who couldn’t afford the coolers or couldn’t bear the loud noise it made the whole night, they simply climbed on the terrace, laid out their mats and mattresses, and dosed off looking at the moon and the night sky full of stars.
Now, having those open, low terraces and a pollution-free night sky is a rare possibility. But those who have lived that life would agree that life was so different and calm back then.
Taking to Twitter, an IIT Delhi pass out, Sanjive Sethi opened the pandora’s box of nostalgia by sharing this picture:
Who all have slept on open roof of the house ! pic.twitter.com/YXzqxxw5kN
— sanjive sethi .🇮🇳 (@sas96553801) February 18, 2022
Desis online were immediately transported to that era. And the tweet was flooded with comments of people sharing their memory of the good old days.
It used to be the norm during summers till the 80s. Only way you could sleep peacefully not bothered about power cuts. Only expection was during Aandhi or rains.
— SarathyAmudhan #Jai Hind 🇮🇳 (@amudhan_sarathy) February 19, 2022
I have..😊
Oh those nights spent counting stars..and witnessing multiple shooting stars in single night..divine..https://t.co/PNU33efCoa— Kapil Sharma (@kapildsharma) February 19, 2022
Me…n v enjoyed r night out on our terrace…. Used to chat late into the night …”ghosts” was the favourite topic those days…miss those days❣️
— Pramila Shrivastava🇮🇳 (@Pramila695) February 19, 2022
Yes ! Lot of times! But for us kids problem in sleeping on terrace is that have we had to get up early as sunlight disrupts the sleep ! 😂😂🤣🤣
— Ramta Jogi 🇮🇳 (@joglekar_kedar) February 19, 2022
Those were golden days when we all cousins used to sleep in the terrace..
— The ಬೀಸ್ಟ್ Poorna 2 (@IAnnapurna1) February 19, 2022
Tub macchar bhee nahi hotay thae,
Pehlay paani ka chidkaao fir jhaadu maar kur bistar bichaao stars 🌟 sae baatay kartay kartay so jaao .
Jaane kahan gaye woh din 🤔🤔— Mukesh Kaushik (@mukeshkaushik62) February 18, 2022
🙋♀️we were joint family of 12 members plus almost everyday one or two cousins or relatives staying over. It was duty of us children to make beds for all after sprinkling water on roof. Content with one table fan at Taya Ji’s bedside.
— Anju Juneja🇮🇳 (@junejamkanju) February 18, 2022
There was always the fight for the bed near one table fan. Those first ray of son, birds chirping, mosquitoes, 🐒 monkeys roaming, Crows, the Chill early morning wind. 😍😍😍😍those were days at my village.
— Komal🇮🇳🔱🚩 (@Komal_28sid) February 19, 2022
Me, my brother, my cousins, my grandparents, my parents, my uncles, my aunties what a delightful vacation we would have when all of us would sleep on roof top and there was nothing called my room, your room. Everyone shared everything
— Geethapriya Iyer (@sangeet7580) February 18, 2022
Pretty much everyone born up to the 80s would have slept outside sometime because no one had ACs and the houses got too warm in the summers. It was great fun.
I learnt how to identify star constellations while sleeping outside using monthly starchart from the newspaper— ShailenChawla ⚓🇮🇳 (@shailenchawla) February 19, 2022
Every year during the visit to our native village in Rajasthan
It’s heavenly
— Damodar#kiran💙🇮🇳 (@kiran_jsk) February 18, 2022
I remember waking up at five, thanks to the first light of the rising sun, and rushing back to bed downstairs to complete my sleep before going to school at 7:30 am. And when sudden rains poured, we would just turn into superheroes saving our gadda and chadar from getting wet.
If you can still live this life, consider yourself lucky.