Family moves to Bareilly: Most of the members of the family stayed on at Meerut for a week or ten days after the marriage. Those were the days, when prolonged stays of girls at the parental house was considered as something usual. Most of the time was taken by post marriage rituals and ceremonies and man to man chatting and interaction between siblings and other close relations. Ladies knew how to keep themselves happily occupied and nobody seemed to be in a hurry to leave. Fifteen days after the marriage, our bhabhi Smt Bhanwati and Moona jiji, wound up the show at Meerut Sadar and moved to Bareilly accompanied by our father, sisters, their children and the bride Smt Krishan Bala, known in the family as Kiran.
Administrative quarter of the irrigation department at Bareilly was one of the prestigious places in the civil lines of Bareilly. It covered an area of four acres with towering trees, lush green plants and shrubberies and well laid out lawns. The main building had two suites of three bedrooms each, built in colonial style. That was the place where our family stayed for the first few days on landing at Bareilly. Everybody was totally relaxed. Elders were busy in their morning and evening strolls and chatting and frolicking with children. The children were busy in playing in the lawns and running all-round the building. It seemed as if time had frozen. Those were perhaps the happiest days of our life.
Bhojipura: Bhojipura was a small village located about 15 kilometres north of Bareilly on Bareilly-Kathgodown –Nainital highway. Bhojipura was also a junction of Oudh and Tirhut Railway with Kasgunj-Bareilly-Kathgodown metre gauge line running from south to north and Bareilly-Lucknow metre gauge line bifurcating from Bhojipura and thereafter, running east through Pilibhit and Sitapur to Lucknow along the foothills of Himalayas. Rohilkhand Canals had a beautiful inspection house by the side of Bareilly Kathgodown highway at Bhojipura close to the Bhojipura railway junction. The inspection house was spread over an area of 10 acres and was connected to the network of canal telephones and telegraphs. The main building had two spacious suites. The kitchen was located about 50 metres away from the main building. Further down, it accommodated establishment quarters and quarters for staff of touring officers and maintenance personnel. That was the place where we moved with the family after our short stay at Bareilly. The whole setting and environment was rural with open space, lush green fields and fresh air. The children found a lot of space for playing all types of their improvised games and the ladies got a lot of fun in making their frequent trips to and from the main building to the kitchen. Fresh vegetables could be picked up directly from the fields. Milk, butter and other food items were readily available from the village. Canal telephones and telegrams were freely used for all types of odd jobs. A number of convenient train services were available between Bhojipura and Bareilly. That provided an opportunity to the elders to make almost daily runs from Bhojipura to Bareilly to see off the members, who were leaving and to receive the newcomers. The whole environment was very relaxing, with all the freedom for the members of the family. In the meantime, I was busy with my drives, trots and strolls on canal banks in the mornings and camp fires with the family in the evenings.
Suman and Shobhi: Suman was the eldest child of our sister Sheelwati. After our marriage, Suman accompanied her mother from Meerut to Bareilly, alongwith other members of the family. She was six years old at that time. When our sister left Bareilly, she allowed Suman to stay on with us for about six monthes. Shobhi was the youngest sister of Kiran. She was six years old at that time, with ‘moon’ as her nickname. She was very much attached to her sister and therefore, after our marriage, our mother-in-law allowed her to go from Meerut to Bareilly with her sister. Shobhi stayed on with us for about six months. Shobhi and Suman had nice time, playing, frolicking and travelling with us from place to place. Incidentally, they provided a very happy and satisfying environment for all members of the family during their short stay with us.
Settling down at Bareilly: A residential house was allotted to me in civil lines of Bareilly in March 1947. That provided some semblance of stablility to our household. The house had three main rooms and some other side-rooms. It had a very big courtyard in the rear and a lot of open space in the front. One of the side rooms in the front was taken by the english clerk, who was responsible for general correspondance, accounts and establishment and another side room was occupied by the urdu clerk, known as the peshkar, who dealt with all the revenue matters. Our guard of five persons took control of the front verandah by tying the cash chest with chains to one of the pillars of the verandah and started ringing the bell every hour. The peon placed my office table in drawing room, facing the verandah. There were four outhouses attached to the residence. These were shared by five members of guard, two peons, two runners, three cartmen and personal servants. A handpump was sunk in the open space lying outside the house and our father gradually converted the virgin land into a high yielding kitchen garden. Incidentally, the kitchen garden served as a magnet for the staff, who started devoting some of their leisure hours there. The daily pickings of vegetables were plentiful and were shared by all members of the staff.
Our three brothers and a sister moved to Bareilly in May 1947 after completion of their studies at Meerut. Thereafter, Jai Narain joined MBBS course at King George’s Medical College Lucknow. Krishan, Hari and Uma joined local schools and colleges.
Mohan: Mohan was our first child born on 23 September 1947. He was a healthy child weighing 8 lbs on birth. Whole environment of the family found a pleasing change with his birth. Our father found a long lost purpose in life.
First Independence Day: After centuries of foreign domination, independence of India was round the corner. British government had cleared the Indian Independence Act and the last viceroy and the governor general of India was entrusted with the task of transfer of power to India on 15 August 1947. In spite of all the pangs of partition and ongoing massacres and uprooting of millions of people, there was a subdued sense of relief and a glimmer of hope for a better future, when Pandit Jawahar Lal Nehru, the first prime minister of India, unfurled the tri-colour on the ramparts of red fort at Delhi and delivered his historic address on tryst with destiny. Elaborate instructions had been issued throughout the country for the celebration of Indian Independence Day with all the gaiety, sanctity and enthusiasm and for hoisting the tricolor on all private and public buildings. It was something unique and people took time, before the realities of change, that were fast taking place, gradually soaked in.
Mahatma Gandhi: Mahatma Gandhi was a crusader. He was the undisputed leader of Indian National Congress and was in the forefront of all struggles and parleys leading to the transfer of power to India. In spite of all the bitterness and scars of partition, things were gradually settling down after independence of India. That was the time, when the first Mahatma Gandhi Jayanti was celebrated on 2 October 1947. Photos of Mahatma Gandhi were installed in prominent places, in all public offices in the country and the day took the shape of a national festival.
Mahatma Gandhi was not in the government at that time, but most of the national leaders always looked to him for guidance and consultation in crucial matters. Partition and the resulting bloodshed and uprooting of the people on both sides of the border had pierced the soul of Mahatma Gandhi and he got deeply involved in providing soothing touch to the scars of communal frenzy. That was the time when a diehard fired some bullets at him and one of the greatest men of the century left the people of the country wailing on 30 January 1948. I was on horseback, when I got this news. It was very difficult to comprehend, what had happened and what the country and the people of the country had lost.
Good bye to Bareilly: As days rolled on after independence, all public servants were formally directed to record their written option for service in India or in Pakistan. Subsequently, they were directed to sign an oath of allegiance for the country. Those were the days when communal feelings were taking all the twists and turns. Incidentally, our executive engineer Shamshad Hussain found himself sucked in, into this turmoil. On the first independence day on 15 August 1947, there were detailed instructions for celebrating the occasion with gaiety and enthusiasm and for hoisting the national flag on public buildings with all the sanctity and decorum. Shamshad Hussain, the executive engineer of Rohilkhand Canals was with us on that day, participating enthusiastically in all the celebrations. However, the flagpost was on the rooftop of the building and therefore, Shamshad Hussain waved from the ground to a member of the staff standing on the roof top to unfurl the flag, thereby twisting many eyebrows. The matter gradually snowballed and formed part of gossip at all levels, till some people took it to the highest corridors of the government. Formal enquaries were held, witnesses were called and finally the case was filed. Some days after, on the occasion of Gandhi Jayanti, on an official note for permission to purchase a good size photo of Mahatma Gandhi, Shamshad Hussain circled the word Mahatma and directed the office to correct it as Mr. Again there was a lot of furore and all those who were peeved by earlier rebuff from the government, picked up the news and pushed the case up to the highest levels of the government for action. However, there were no takers and the move fizzled out. That was the time, when all officers of the government were being directed to sign an oath of allegiance to the country. Perhaps, the stars of Shamshad Hussain were not in the right place at that time. He signed the oath of allegiance in the official format, but, added a line for extra emphasis. “ I have no hesitation in signing this affirmation, because the government has undertaken to protect the life, culture and religion of all minorities including the muslims.” This time, this did not attract any attention. However, as the dust settled down and the papers moved up, the file went up to the Chief Minister Pt Govind Ballabh Pant (known as premier at that time). And on one fine morning in February 1948, a special messanger from Lucknow landed at Bareilly with two sealed envelops. The first envelop was delivered to Shamshad Hussain, notifying him about his suspension and directing him to hand over charge to me within 24 hours. The other envelop was for me, for relieving Shamshad Hussain and assumption of charge of the office of Executive Engineer, Rohilkhand Canals within 24 hours.
I held the additional charge of the office of the executive engineer Rohilkhand Canals for about a month and a half. Subsequently, I continued as assistant engineer Rohilkhand Canals for another seven months, when I got my transfer orders for posting as assistant engineer Mohammadpur and Pathri Power Stations at Roorkee. We left Bareilly log, stock and barrel in November, 1948.