Our Grand Father: Our grandfather Laxmi Sahai was working on a professional engineering job in western Punjab. He used to visit us at Bundi in the early thirties. Our grandmother had died earlier and therefore, he was all alone, while on works and whenever he visited us. He was very gentle and affectionate by nature and left an indelible mark on us after every visit. He died at Bundi sometimes in the year 1935. Children grow up, when their parents are deeply involved in giving all their time and attention for the advancement of their careers. That is the time when the children need love, affection and attention all the time and naturally, they do not feel satisfied with the care and attention provided by a retinue of servants, babysitters and other attendants. This void is plugged by the grandparents, who have all the time available with them and can shower heaps of love, affection and attention for the children. Under the context, the relationship between the children and their grandparents is something very special. That is where the past, fondles the future and apparently, there is no generation gap.
Our parents: The parents always have a unique place in the lives of children. Love, affection, care and concern of the parents for their children survives all the ups and downs of life. Children are great observers and wonderful learners. They look to the parents, their daily routines, their struggles at home and at work, their interaction with the outside world and their unsatiable desire to equip the children to excel, in whatever the children decide to do. Initially, the children need all the spoon feeding and attention. But, as the children grow, they gradually pick up the spark and thereafter, the role of the parents is that of spectators, watching the emerging show, sitting from the sidelines. It is difficult to have a proper realization of the contribution, that elderly parents living with their working children, make to the lives of children. Parents are always a source of great strength for the children and their presence in the house, releases the working children from all the day to day tensions and worries of the household and in the process, the working children find, that they have all the time available to them for sustained devotion and dedication to the working tasks facing them, during their budding careers.
Our father : Our father Brij Bhushan Lal was born in the year 1892. He worked at Bharatpur for almost 10 years from 1911 to1920. During that period he was involved in running and maintenance of irrigation works at Ajan Bund and in the construction of building works at Moti Mohal. Thereafter, he worked as secretary of the Municipal Council at Banswara from 1920 to 1930. During that period he was involved in looking after the municipal services of the old town of Banswara and in the extension and development of the new township on the northern side of the city, which now happens to be the present town of Banswara. It is a hilly area with all ups and downs, on all the roads. During his stay at Banswara, he also functioned as private tutor to Maharajkumar Chandra Vir Singh, the crown prince of Banswara, who became the ruler of Banswara in 1944.
Move to Bundi: Our father moved to Bundi in the year 1930 as state engineer. At that time, Bundi was a small princely state, with very limited resources. Bundi city was land locked and had very few communication links with the neighbouring states and the outside world. Bundi did not have a railhead. It did not have proper roads, electricity, radio, telephones, piped watersupply or sewerage. Education and health services were extremely limited. Motor vehicles were not being manufactured in India at that time. The ruler of Bundi had a modest collection of different makes of British and American motor vehicles. Apart from the ruler, there were hardly any people, who maintained motor vehicles at that time. There were no trucks or motorized transport vehicles in Bundi in those days. However, a few passenger busses plied between Bundi and Kota, making one or two trips in a day, taking about two hours to cover a distance of about 38 km. Vehicular traffic was mostly confined to horse drawn tongas or buggies. Bullock carts were commonly used for the transport of goods, as also for passengers. The people of Bundi were mostly living and doing business in the walled city. There was hardly any development outside the walled city. Maharao Raja Ishwari Singh was the ruler of Bundi at that time. Major W.F. Webb a British Army Officer was the Dewan of Bundi and most of the senior functionaries of the state, who were also members of the Mehakma Khas, the so called cabinet of the state, were drawn from outside the state.
Construction of buildings: Our father was responsible for the construction and maintenance of all types of buildings of the state. He was also responsible for all works related to additions, alterations and maintenance of Taragarh Fort and other palaces. Some of the prominent buildings constructed by him during his tenure at Bundi were Civil Hospital, King George V Jubilee High School, Webb Club (Officers’ Club) and Dewan’s Bunglow. All these buildings were constructed outside the walled city along Bundi-Kota road and thereby, the construction of these buildings opened up the process of development of the city in that direction.
Civil Hospital was designed as the central hospital of the state, intended to serve the people of Bundi city as also the people coming from the far flung areas of the state. The Civil Hospital building had liberal accomodation for common indoor and outdoor medical facilities and emergency services. It was constructed on a large plot of land to accommodate the residences of staff and for providing sufficient space for future expansion. At that time, all services of the hospital were free for the people.
Bundi had only one High School in the state at that time known as Durbar High School, which was functioning from an old building in the walled city. King George V Jubilee High School building was constructed in the year 1935, outside the walled city on a large plot of land on Kota road, in commemoration of the silver jubilee of the reign of King George V. Thereafter, with the completion of the building, Durbar High School classes were shifted to the newly developed campus of King George V Jubilee High School. King George V Jubilee High School building had a massive structure, in line with the colonial architecture of those times. It had spacious sports grounds and other associated facilities.
Webb club was designed and constructed on a large plot of land on Bundi Kota road to serve as an officers’ club. Our father was an active member of that club. He was fond of playing tennis, when he was working at Banswara and continued to play at Bundi, when Webb club started functioning.
Dewan’s Bunglow was constructed on Bundi Kota road at about 5 km from the walled city. It was a magnificent structure of that time. All outside visitors to Bundi made it a point to see Dewan’s Bunglow during their visit to Bundi. It was an isolated bunglow, with well laid out lawns and a lot of empty space left on all sides from considerations of safety and security.
Construction of Roads and Bridges: Kota was a progressive state, lying on the south eastern side of Bundi. The two states had fraternal ties with each other. The cities of Kota and Bundi were connected through a gravel road at that time. The total length of the road was 38 km of which 28 km fell within the borders of Bundi and remaining 10 km passed through the lands of Kota. There used to be a regular border and customs post, at the point, where the road crossed the border between Bundi and Kota. Bundi portion of the road passed through three low level causeways on rivers Mangli, Ghorapachar and Talera involving delays and disruption of traffic during rainy season. Kota portion of the road had a high level causeway on river Chambal outside Kota city. Our father realigned the road and constructed a fast moving metalled road within the borders of Bundi State. High level causeways were constructed on the rivers Mangli, Ghorapachar and Talera to minimize disruption and delays in the movement of traffic during rainy season.
Kota Junction was the nearest railhead for people of Bundi at that time. From considerations of providing an independent railhead for the state, a link road was constructed from Talera, which was a prominent tehsil on Bundi Kota Road, to Keshoraipatan. After the construction of the link road, Keshoraipatan railway station on the broad gauge railway line from Delhi to Bombay was renamed as Bundi Road railway station. The road from Bundi to Talera and thereafter, from Talera to Bundi Road ran all along through the territories of Bundi State and provided a direct railhead for the people of Bundi.
On the northwestern side of Bundi, the gravel road ran from Bundi to Deoli and then from Deoli to Ajmer and Deoli to Jaipur. Our father was responsible for the realignment and construction of the road from Bundi City to Hindoli and beyond upto the border of the state. This included construction of a major bridge on river Mez.
Bypass Road: At that time, a passenger bus known as Royal Mail used to run from Ajmer to Kota carrying the postal mail and through passengers. It used to pass through Deoli, Hindoli. and Bundi. While passing through Bundi, Royal Mail used to run through the the paved street inside the walled city. It had a stop at the post office in the city, for dropping and picking up postal mail and taking local passengers. The gates of the walled city were installed in the good old days from considerations of safety and security in times of war and were intended to obstruct and slow down the movement of the invaders. As through traffic on the road from Kota to Deoli developed, movement of motor vehicles through the walled city became inconvenient. Our father was responsible for the survey, alignment, design and construction of a byepass road by cutting through the side slope of the southern hill. The byepass road links Kota-Bundi road on the east side with Bundi-Deoli road on the west side of the walled city. It runs at a level higher than the built up areas of the walled city and provides a panoramic view of the city, while considerably facilitating speedy movement of through traffic from Jaipur and Ajmer to Bundi and Kota, without disturbing the peace and tranquility of the walled city.
Construction of an aerodrome: The daughter of the Maharao Raja Ishwari Singh was married sometimes in the year 1935. Although Bundi was a small state with very limited resources, the ruler of Bundi used to be ranked very high in the Rajput hierarchy. Some of the ruling princes, who were invited for attending the marriage indicated that they would be coming to Bundi by air. Bundi did not have an airport at that time and from considerations of Rajput sense of honour, it was decided to construct a temporary aerodrome at Bundi. Our father was responsible for the construction of this makeshift aerodrome. It involved levelling and compaction of a vast stretch of land, construction of temporary accomodation and provision of necessary infrastructure to make it suitable for landing and takeoff of a few light aircrafts.
Electrification of Bundi: Bundi did not have any electricity in early thirties. Sometimes in the middle of the thirties, our father was responsible for the construction of a thermal powerhouse outside the walled city and for providing distribution lines for electrification of the city, including street lighting and electrification of public buildings.
Life of our father at Bundi: Our father spent most of his morning hours on works and evenings in the office. He was normally very quiet and composed and a man of few words. He was always very formal and meticulous about his dress. He used to wear turbans in the office and on works, which were washed and starched everyday. At home, he was fond of furnishing the drawing room with best available carpets and furniture. His shelves in the study room were always full of books. He spent most of his time there, working on his ongoing projects. He looked after all the educational and other needs of the children, without anybody having the need to ask for it. He was good to almost everybody, who came in contact with him. Father also had a small cohesive circle of friends. They were mostly senior officers of the state. He used to invite some of them off and on for dinner. These friends looked after us, whenever, father and mother went out of the state for fulfilling family commitments. Father was basically very caring and used to distribute free homeopathic medicines to local people, who dropped in, off and on, from the neighbourhood. Snakes, scorpions and water worms were very common in the area, at that time. People with scorpion bites used to come to him seething with cracking pain. Father would put few drops of a light rose-coloured liquid in their eyes and within a few minutes the pain would disappear. Even after his working years, his homeopathic medicine chests remained full and were available for all and sundry at all times and provided inspiration to a number of inquisitive youngsters to take on to homeopathy.
Departure from Bundi: After working in the state for a period of ten years, our father retired from the services of Bundi State in the year 1940. Those were very hectic days for him. He was always on the move in his tonga from place to place. His shelf was always full of technical books, which were his main resource and guide. Those were the days when construction materials, skilled labour and transport facilities were not available locally. It is really very difficult to imagine, how he made things work under those conditions. I have some memories of visiting some of the works under construction, with my father during those days, in the versatile horse driven tonga. Our father used to be formally dressed and was always calm and collected. He maintained personal rapport with almost everybody involved in the construction and was able to look to the minutest details on works, thereby, every structure carried his personal marks. He left Bundi, log stock and barrel in the year 1940, as soon as, he was relieved from his formal responsibilities in the state. However, the lore of Bundi never left him.