genda phool, delhi 6

Watching Delhi 6 and the genda  phool songs reminds me of the nights I used to sit in our aangan. I was not alone, my sisters, at times brothers joined us, to add to this excitement, neighbors too took part in our get-together what did we do? Bombay summers were balmy and filled with fragrances and stench. Our front door led us onto a cement verandah. It was covered with asbestos and the five feet verandah led to a long stretch of muddy expanse. around 900 sq ft and we had a small garden with jasmine, hibiscus, rose and other flowers. We also had the genda or the marigold flowers. Jasmine blossoms in summer gives a heady aroma and if it gets mixed with the exotic marigold and the wet earth we used to sit on either on mats or chairs, it is something that can only be imagined.
What did we do on these summer nights?  after dinner, all of us loved to have our chai/filter coffee at night. at times, the number of tea and coffee cups would go upto 3 to 4 cups per person and we always had a minimum of 6 people sitting under the starlit sky and discussion would vary from our favorite topic of old numbers from black and white bollywood films. if there were great numbers being played on Vividh Bharati on Chayageet (10 to 10-30pm). or history, specially how the books in the Nalanda-Takshila library burnt for days together. cricket and local games were also discussed, yes there were impromptu antakshari sessions as well. us sisters and brothers knew how to sing well, never out of tune, knew the lyrics by-heart.
life was so simple then, easy banter, no worries, we used to even keep our front door open at night. yes, this is true, most days/nights during summer there used to be power outages and we used to pour water on the verandah to cool off our homes. I remember reading my book by the candlelight. the candle was set onto the verandah so that I could also get the coolest air possible while reading. the cool air must have put me to sleep and when I woke up, I realised the front door was open and it was dawn already. Not that we always left our front door open at nights while we all slept, but the very fact that I slept without worrying about what if I fell asleep reading the book? let me quickly lock the door, etc, thoughts were far away from my mind when I slipped into easy slumber that night.
Ranga