Someone take us back to the good old days, when life was simpler and our worries revolved around incomplete homework, kya din thay!
And today the internet is reminiscing just about one of those days, with a tweet that has them recalling their favourite urdu story books:
Raise your hand if you grew up reading these instead of Harry Potter and shit pic.twitter.com/z0vcAebv2U
— Sheldon (@Avicenna911) April 22, 2020
Yeh cheez!
Everyone's a jadugar until Umru joins the party. https://t.co/qyySfcJxK8
— Necromancer (@sob4n) April 23, 2020
Most definitely!
I’ve never read them but Ma says Umro Ayyar could have outsold Harry Potter any day had it the means https://t.co/bYM1pxQjRB
— علیزا سکھیرا (@aliza_sukh) April 22, 2020
People were taken back to the time when they used to rent out these books:
🙋♀️🙋♀️
دو روپے اس کی فیس بھرتے تھے تین دن کی— بنت (@bintehawwa80) April 22, 2020
1 rupee karaya pay buhat parhi hain.. i really miss Amber, Naag, Maria Series..by A Hameed
— Shreky Singh Sindhu (@shrekydogre) April 23, 2020
Never ending cycle:
Two books for 1 rupee and you could exchange those books later for one book and buy two more with the next day's pocket money ❤️ https://t.co/rGmLUlzjfc
— Ali Warsi (@thealiwarsi) April 22, 2020
Some kept adding to the list!
ہرکولیس بھی شامل کر لیں اس میں pic.twitter.com/e9SixCyV3l
— AR Khan (@khan_ahmad007) April 23, 2020
They were treasured memories for some:
Mama used to buy these for us and used to read these to me and my brother after lunch everyday during our childhood. Those days were absolute treasure. ❤ https://t.co/nQxI1nriak
— Anam Munsif 🦋 (@anam_munsif) April 23, 2020
People agreed on loving both the classics, Urdu and English:
Harry Potter is not shit, but Until ayyar books had there own charm. Ferozsons "Dastan e tilsm e hoshruba" is just another class and is not inferior to Harry Potter universe in any way. Read and loved both of them https://t.co/GOBEmcm2RL
— Sherry (@CherieDamour_) April 23, 2020
Jo baat hai!
In k baghir to bachpan socha bhi nai ja sakta tha un dino… aap ny tarzan bhai or taleem o tarbiat ko miss kr dia. 😥
— Qamar Iqbal (@QamarIqbal81) April 23, 2020
Many were recalling how reading these stories during study time got them chhittar:
🙋♂️
اس ٹُٹ پینے کی وجہ سے مجھے بہت مار پڑی ہے۔ 😍— Dr. Sheldon Cooper (@Sheldon_Thinks) April 22, 2020
Exactly!
Far better and intriguing. I would love to read them again if I could get my hands on them. They would teleport you in a completely other world!
— Bilal Karim Mughal (@bilalkmughal) April 22, 2020
Some thought the comparison was uncalled for:
I read this and watched harry Potter as well i love them both! There's no comparisom.. Tum logun ko kia ho gaya hai. 😂 https://t.co/AJ5PcIOjiH
— 𝓒𝓪𝓰𝓮𝓭 𝓹𝓱𝓸𝓮𝓷𝓲𝔁 (@Alinalogy) April 23, 2020
People were remembering the good times:
میرے بچپن کے دن کتنے اچھے تھے دن 👍
— nudrat jahan (@Nudratjahan1981) April 22, 2020
Some shared the preceding series as well:
The first series of ten books were "DasTaan-e-Amir Hamza" and then followed "Tilsam-e-Hoshruba", with another ten book.
IMO, Harry Potter does not hold a light to them. As for English fan-fare, much rather prefer Enid Blyton then whatshername that wrote the Potter series.
— Sheikh Chilli (@sheikh69chilli) April 23, 2020
Haha, we’ve all read these at some point in life:
There is no match to these digests 😻😻😻 #WorldBookDay #worldbookday2020 pic.twitter.com/jaOJdpQrNs
— Julie Caesar (@JulieAlexandar) April 23, 2020
Many shared how they still had these books with them:
I still have all of these
— Humayun Akhund (@humayunakhund) April 23, 2020
People were also sharing how these books had then falling in love with reading:
In fact from this I started reading books, famous 5 than , Sidney Sheldon’s sometimes Mills n boons 😉 phir Urdu addab, poetry I never liked fiction later 😊
— Aamir Hassan (@saamirhassan) April 23, 2020
Hahaha, ata hai yeh phase sub pe:
I would read moat ka manzar, Jannat kay haseen Manazir and whatnot lol
— تھوڑا سا گھبرالے (@Aysh_Lib_femi) April 22, 2020
Some even claimed how they felt Harry Potter series were plagiarized 😱
Yup! Read all of these plus Imran series. When I read Harry Potter and saw the movie I strongly felt it was plagiarised and/or inspired by dastan e Ameer Hamza.
— Saifullah Mahsud (@ChiefMahsud) April 23, 2020
Umro Ayar was a clear favourite!
Umro Ayyar my GOAT. https://t.co/GUtBZIo1Dh
— MGMS (@MGM_Safyan) April 23, 2020
Same!
I feel sad for people who never read these https://t.co/1mnZ31wnAg
— mary (@haraamtequila) April 22, 2020
People were recalling how this was a monthly norm for our dads:
Humare baba khud laya karte thy, nonihal phool humdard or sindhi gul phul.. ye sb mere liye aate thy hr mahinay baqi kahanoyon ki books lalag 🥰
— ڳوٺاڻي (@gothaani) April 22, 2020
People were feeling nostalgic:
Yaarrrrrrr this was my childhood. Oh u made me nostalgic. Sunehri yaden
— عثمان (@ithelionking) April 23, 2020
I’ve read all of these and I’ve read Harry Potter. This is such a blast from the past. Thanks for sharing
— Local Loco (@Misbaji) April 23, 2020
Extremely nostalgic! 😭😭
— Nillionaire #SixFeetAwayOrSixFeetUnder🙏 (@TeamNaMehram) April 23, 2020
I still have many of these. Loved them all. Memories of the golden days 😍 https://t.co/oakrupEstJ
— Zainab (@ZainabZ_J) April 23, 2020
Money well spent!
I used to spent my entire pocket money on these
— Nadeem (@SirNaadim) April 23, 2020
Spend all my savings to buy Umero ayyar novels 😀
— Xyahid (@zahidismaeel) April 23, 2020
That was the first thing I used to buy from my savings
— Irfan ahmed (@ahmedirfanmka) April 23, 2020
Those were epic!
Also, the Series of Inspector Jamshed, Inspector Kamran Mirza and Shouki Biradaraan – all written by Ishtiaq Ahmad.
— Irfan Chishti (@irfanchishti) April 23, 2020
🙋♀️
Raise ur hand if you read both and called none of it shit cause u a bilingual queen 👑 https://t.co/5thiB0EINv
— – (@maulana_banana) April 23, 2020
True that!
These were great story books but why call Harry Potter and other books shit. Literature of all the languages is equally important for the avid reader provided they know that language https://t.co/DNCbBL5mpS
— J.Kamal (@jyakamal) April 22, 2020
I mean I've read and loved both Harry Potter and desi fantasy fiction*
No need to insult one to enunciate the importance of the other. https://t.co/iRTTxkAKNS— . (@ZiiSays) April 23, 2020
Some wondered if children still read urdu stories today:
I wonder if kids from middle and upper classes read Urdu stories anymore ? https://t.co/hqhIOpZOgl
— Amir Zafar Khan (@ChAmirZkhan) April 23, 2020
Lol, business!
I remember i couldnt afford to buy them so i befriended a gal “khalida”she was well off n her bro used to buy n read n i ll borrow from https://t.co/r9HPZfxSK6 return i would help her in class tests.She was dumb in studies so we had this committemnt. https://t.co/viwmsgPrFq
— Saadia Malik (@saadiamalik5555) April 23, 2020
What books do you remember reading as children? Let us know in the comments below!