Our habitats at Lucknow: Our first residence at Lucknow was warden’s quarter of Civil Engineering School. We had very limited accommodation, but, it seems that we were very happy and satisfied with what we had. I was teaching structures and irrigation in the institution at that time. Since the students were drawn from different academic backgrounds and attainments, the understanding, grasp and pace of the students varied widely during the conduct of the design classes. To top it, I was in the habit of giving different numerical data to every student for design calculations. That involved checking the calculations and drawings of each and every student individually and invariably a good number of students found it difficult to keep pace with the class. That was the time, when I made an offer to all those students, who were lagging, to come to our warden’s quarter on sundays for completion of their unfinished jobs. That made us busy from morning till late hours in the evening on week-ends. All the same, that placed us in intimate touch with the students and we thoroughly enjoyed the whole exercise. Light snacks and refreshments were provided to the students to enliven the environment and to keep the students working, till they finished their jobs.
The hostel had some open space on the ground floor. We utilized the space for playing volleyball and badminton in the open court, as also in the open space. The students living in the hostel were very enthusiastic about it. During practice sessions, the students were encouraged to concentrate on anticipation, taking positions, footwork and returns. This helped in generating long rallies, good physical exercise and perspiration. Footwork happens to be the secret of all games and sports activities.
Motinagar: Motinagar was a comparatively new development close to our institution. After our stay for about six months in the hostel, we were able to get shared accommodation in a newly built house in Motinagar. The area was open and was free from through traffic, dust and pollution. Mohan, our eldest child was four years old by then. He was able to get admission in primary section of Agarwal High School, which stood close to us, across the road. Then there was an open ground on the southern side of the house. The children of the neighbourhood played there, all sorts of their improvised games. Our father also got into touch with some like minded people of his age and utilized his mornings and evenings in leisurely walks in the open lanes and bylanes of the township. All that blew a puff of fresh air in the daily chores of our family and we felt seemingly settled and relaxed.
Blunt Square: Blunt square was a newly developed locality in the south of Charbagh railway sation, bounded by Kanpur Road on the east and a deep ravine on the west. It was a neat little development with open surroundings. Most of the houses in Blunt Square belonged to people working in secretariat services of U.P. government. Keshav Das was a close relation of ours. He had built his house in Blunt Square in thirties, on a spacious plot of land. He had gradually risen from some of the lowest ranks in the secretariat to the office of Budget Officer of the state government, in the rank of Deputy Secretary to Government. That was the time, when he was appointed as Examiner Local Fund Accounts with headquarters at Allahabad. That helped us into moving into his house in Blunt Square. The house was very well built, had a big courtyard and a lot of open space all round the built up area.
Scare, safety and security: Most of the houses in Blunt Square were built in brick masonry with pointing or plaster on the outer walls. Those were the days of small time thieves. The ravines of the nala on the western flank of the neighbourhood served as an ideal cover for the thieves. They normally moved along the nala in the wee hours of the morning and would mark one of the comparatively dark and quiet houses. Thereafter, they would wait for some time near the outside wall, for monitoring movements and sounds, if any. If everything went on well and appeared to be to their satisfaction, they would cut a small patch on the outer wall followed by removal of some of the bricks to make a hole in the wall, sufficient for them to get entry into the house. They would wait there for some time and if everything seemed to be quiet, they would enter the rooms and would pick up some of the things, which they considered to be easy pick, without unnecessary risk or alarm. However, they would take to their heels, as soon as they found some movements or rumblings of inmates in the house. The ravines of the nala, running along the west side of Blunt square was a perfect sanctuary for these thieves. A few incidents of theft on dark nights were sufficient to cause a scare in the neighbourhood followed by huddled voices and all types of forebodings.
There were about 100 houses in the locality. One fine evening some of the saner members of the households gathered and decided that enough was enough and that something had to be done to face the menace of thefts and burglaries. It was felt that there should be regular patrolling by chokidars, round the clock, day and night. Those days, Nepalis, Garhwalis and other people from the hills enjoyed excellent reputation for integrity and dedication to their tasks and were considered as an obvious choice for the jobs of chokidars. Every household was expected to contribute Rs two per month, which happened to be sufficient in those days for footing the bill. In addition, it was decided that one male member from each household shall make himself available for three hours, twice a month for patrolling the streets, lanes and bylanes of the neighbourhood, alongwith the chokidars. This provision had far reaching impact on the psyche of the people. Initially, those members of the households, who went out for patrolling in the inner lanes, had some fear of the unknown, due to the prevailing scare. At the same time those who were living and sleeping inside their houses under closed doors were also passing through restless nights. One call from a known person from outside and a confident response from the person inside, transformed the whole scene, lifted the spirits of everybody and filled them with a sense of assurance, safety and security. Gradually, interaction between members caught up, people found more occasions to meet each other and in course of time no outsider or unknown person could move through the neighbourhood without being questioned by somebody or the other living in Blunt Square.
Marriage of Sushila: Harish Chandra was a cousin of our mother. He was working as Sub-divisional Officer in Military Engineering Services at Quetta during the war. He was a strict disciplinarian and meticulous worker. Laxmi Narain was younger brother of Harish Chandra and was living with his family in Blunt Square. Sushila, the daughter of Laxmi Narain was getting married. Those were the days, when marriages were more like family get-to-gethers. It is difficult to imagine these days, how fifteen to twenty families squeased in smoothly in the house and made themselves comfortable in the limited space and conveniences available in the house. Harish Chandra the patriarch of the family had prepared working plans, to the minutest details for each and every activity related to the marriage of Sushila and had assigned the tasks to different groups of relations, who were keen to contribute their mite and work shoulder to shoulder with each other. Elderly people, working adults, boys and girls and even children formed part of the workforce and found ways and means to find satisfying work for themselves. From the moment of their arrival, the members of the marriage party got individual attention, man to man and were thoroughly pampered during three days of marriage ceremonies, meals and rituals. Bridegroom was a young officer of the Indian Police Service, who ultimately rose to the rank of Director General of Police of the state of Uttar Pradesh.
Social interaction: Incidentally, during Sushila’s marriage we came in contact with a large cross-section of our close relations and family friends and members of Rajvansh community, which helped considerably in enriching our social life and perspectives during our stay at Lucknow.