Our Residence at Jodhpur: The princely state of Jodhpur was a progressive and well administered state, before its merger in the newly formed state of Rajasthan in 1949. Imposing buildings of High Court, Jodhpur State Secretariat, Government Schools, Colleges and Hospitals and an extensive network of Jodhpur Railway provided an identity of its own to the state. In the process, the state had built a number of spacious bungalows for the residence of its officers. When we reached Jodhpur in November 1961, one such bungalow in Civil Lines, close to the polytechnic was allotted to us for our residence. The bungalow had a number of rooms on the ground floor and a substantial number on the first floor. The land covered by the bungalow was about two acres, with well laid out garden and a big lawn in the front. The garden was maintained by the garden department of the state. The accommodation was much more than our needs and our stay in the house was extremely comfortable.
The polytechnic was at a walking distance from our bungalow, which helped in my movement to the polytechnic conveniently, at almost all odd hours of the day. Our father was able to find a lot of relaxation and engagement in the garden, which kept him busy, happy and cheerful.
Our Children: Mohan was our eldest child. He was studying in final year of Higher Secondary School at Government High School at Ajmer. He was due to appear in the Board’s Higher Secondary Examination in March/April, 1962 and therefore, he continued to stay on at Ajmer till his examinations were over. Our daughter Rashmi was studying in Sophia Girls School at Ajmer in class VI. St Patrick’s Vidya Bhavan at Jodhpur, which was a sister institution of Sophia of Ajmer, had no problem in taking her at Jodhpur in the middle of the term. Alok, Nishith and Ram, who were attending primary schools at Ajmer found places in local schools at Jodhpur. Roopam was born at Ajmer in 1959 and Reena was also born at Ajmer in 1961. They had not attained the school going age.
Picking up the threads at Jodhpur polytechnic: After my sudden transfer from Ajmer to Jodhpur and a week’stay at Jodhpur in November 1961, I had wound up all academic activities of the polytechnic going on in the campus of MBM Engineering college and at a number of other places in the neighbourhood and had shifted them to the permanent campus of the polytechnic, where the workshop block of the polytechnic had been completed and the main building was in an advanced stage of construction. In the mean time, the classes had started running smoothly and the staff and students had got used to the improvisation, in the available facilities. I had no intention to interfere with the work load and academic and other assignments of the teachers in the middle of the session.
Every organization or system has its strong areas and its weaker links. As such, the best thing is to pick up the areas which need help and support and try to bring them at par with the best in the system. On return from Ajmer after the conclusion of inter-polytechnic meet, I started interacting for about an hour, with all those students, who had difficulties in the class and asked them to identify the subjects and the specific topics, where they had problems. This led to the arrangement of special classes in the evenings to cover those specific areas, supported by suitable write ups. The entry to these classes was open and we found that apart from those students, who had difficulties, many others found time to attend these classes.
All professional courses are expected to be hands-on courses, and are intended to equip the students to work freely on all types of jobs on the shop floor or in the field. Naturally, during their stay in the institution, they need sufficient facilities in laboratories and workshops for conduct of most of the practical work individually. That was something, which needed immediate attention and kept me deeply involved during those eventful days. Soon after, the mid-term examinations and annual week celebrations cornered all the resources, time and attention.
Our Ambassador Car: Sometimes in February 1962, a circular letter was received from the collector of Jodhpur, stating that some funds were available with him for the purchase of personal vehicles by the staff. We had purchased our first car in 1946, when I was working in irrigation department of U.P. at Bareilly. Our Chevrolet Tourer was a powerful car and it served us very well for almost five years on the rough and dusty rural roads of U.P. We sold it in 1951, when I took up assignment as a teacher at Lucknow. The possibility of acquiring a new car, kindled some happy memories of the yester-years. Necessary formalities were gone through and a loan was sanctioned for the purchase of a car, within the financial year closing in March 1962. Those days the manufacture of cars in India was in its infancy. Hindustan Ambassador was a family car and was available at short notice. Fiat was a popular car, but, the delivery time was eight to ten years. Standard was a light car. Our options were clear. We went for the family car, which was readily available. Sainiks Motors of Jodhpur delivered to us a brand new Ambassador car from Hindustan Motors Calcutta in the last week of March 1962 for Rs 14000 which included road tax, insurance and some of the extra accessories. Ambassador was the Indian model of Morris Oxford, which was being manufactured and sold in England. The car served us for more than thirty years.
Back to Ajmer: SK Agrawal had joined as the first principal of Jodhpur Polytechinc in September 1958. He had his office in the administrative block of MBM Engineering College and he continued to function from there for almost three years. He was transferred to Bikaner in November 1961 for the establishment of a new polytechnic at Bikaner, thereby, triggering my sudden movement from Ajmer to Jodhpur. However, he contacted the education minister and was able to convince him to cancel the order, on the plea that his children were likely to suffer, if they are shifted in the middle of the academic session. The Director of Technical Education agreed to his transfer back to Jodhpur on the condition that after the completion of the academic session, he will be transferred back from Jodhpur to Bikaner. As usual, the files had their run in the secretariat at a snail’s pace and the issue of formal orders for his transfer from Bikaner to Jodhpur, took time and were issued in April 1962. Consequently, after relief from Jodhpur, we moved back to Ajmer in April, in our newly acquired Ambassador Car. Our short stay at Jodhpur was extremely satisfying and memorable. Fortunately, on return to Ajmer, we were able to settle down in a spacious house in Adarshnagar and started picking up the threads again at the fag end of the academic session at Ajmer Polytechnic.
Malaviya Regional Engineering College at Jaipur: Malaviya Regional Engineering College Jaipur was one of the first fifteen regional engineering colleges sponsored by Government of India in the country during sixties. Shri VG Garde Principal of MBM Engineering College Jodhpur was entrusted with the task of establishment of the college. However, he continued to function as Director of Technical Education of the state. A 100 acres plot of undeveloped land was allotted for the establishment of the college. That was May 1962 and we took up the conduct of field survey and preparation of development plans of the area, for the project work of the final year students of civil engineering of Ajmer Polytechnic. Triangulation stations were set up followed by plane table surveys, which yielded a contoured map of the whole area after a week’s fieldwork. Thereafter, development plans were prepared during three weeks of office work at Ajmer. Subsequently, a contoured survey map of the area traced on long cloth was made available to the Engineering College. Completion of field oriented projects instil a tremendous sense of fulfillment in the budding youngsters.
Back to Jodhpur: The new session of Ajmer polytechnic opened in July 1962 with all the gaiety and enthusiasm and everybody was looking forward, for a surge of academic and games, sports and literary and cultural activities. In the meantime, the state government, which had taken almost four months for the issue of transfer orders of SK Agrawal from Bikaner to Jodhpur, was processing his next order for re-transfer from Jodhpur to Bikaner. The orders were finally received sometimes in the middle of July 1962 and we found ourselves riding again on our Ambassador Car on the single lane, newly built highway, leading to Jodhpur. Those were monsoon days and most of the rivers and local streams were running full. We were held up, about 24 miles from Jodhpur on the banks of Mithri River, where a sheet of two feet depth of water was running on the causeway of monsoon fed River. We waited for sometime in the fond hope that the water levels will go down. However, the torrential rains continued and we realized that in spite of all the fond hopes, there was no possibility for a safe crossing and we moved back to spend the night at the Jain Temple at Kaparda, which happened to be a well known pilgrim centre of Jains. Next day, we reached Jodhpur under fine weather.