Museum fire guts history, sun-kissed memories

A million memories lay in tatters today with people tracing their childhood back to 80s and 90s waking up to find a blaze burning through the floors of their favourite summer retreat, the National Museum of Natural History in Delhi.
The nostalgia found echo in numerous tweets, blogs put out by those, who used to frequent the place, during a time when the definition of leisure, even in the national capital, was radically different from what it is in today's time.
In the blog, 'The Ladies Finger', author Meenakshi Reddy Madhavan, reminiscing about her trips to the museum, which was opened in 1978, with her mother during her summer holidays, described how "heartbroken" she was after came to know about the incident.

"A city is only as good as its museums and with the Natural History Museum gone (and so many others falling into disrepair) I don't think kids today will ever feel as my generation did - like a building was your friend and everything would always be in exactly the same place when you went again," she wrote.
Senior journalist Barkha Dutt expressed her anguish through a tweet. "Horrid to see Delhi's Natural History Museum gutted in a fire. Million childhood memories tied to it. Was right next to my school as well."
For senior Congress leader Jairam Ramesh and noted writer of Malayalam literature NS Madhavan, the fire evoked memories of their early parenting days when they used to take their children there which was an evergreen hit for a generation.

"Part of young parenting days dies with Natural History Museum fire. Used to visit there on holidays with d kid - to her utter delight," Madhavan tweeted.
"It is a matter of deep sorrow and anguish that a fire has gutted the entire museum of natural history. It used to be quite a popular among children. Even I frequented the place both as a father and as an Environment Minister," Ramesh said.