Sparks from Memory

Thomason College:   Thomason college of civil engineering Roorkee was a prestigious college with a halo, during  the pre-war period. There were only eight engineering colleges in the country at that time. Thomason college was one of the oldest institutions of the country and perhaps that of Asia. Thomason College was established in the year 1847 … Read more

Ganesh Vatika: The eldest cousin of our father and patriarch of our family was Rai Sahib Kanahiya Lal.  He was involved in  military contracts during the first world war and the modest surplus that he was able to generate during that period, turned out to be a big fortune.   He utilized it for the purchase … Read more

Roorkee: Roorkee was a small sleepy village of mud hutments on the banks of river Solani,  during the times of Moghul Emperor Akbar. It  formed part of Landhaura State in the eighteenth century. In 1813, it came under the control of  East India Company. Roorkee touches the foothills of Himalayas on north and north-eastern sides … Read more

Jawahar Quarters: We moved from Kota  in May 1941 and joined our father at Meerut, where he had set up a small business and was living at Jawahar Quarters. He  was sharing the accommodation  with the family of his business partner. His business partner belonged to a zamindar family of Jansath from Muzaffarnagar district of … Read more

Meerut in the year 1940:   During  the year 1940, Meerut was a prosperous town and was the hub of western districts of UP.  Highway running from Delhi to Meerut,  Muzaffarnagar and Roorkee and going upto Haridwar and Rishikesh  on one side and to Saharanpur, Dehradun and Mussorie on the other,  passed through the heart of … Read more

British Provinces: Before independence, India was divided into British Provinces and and a large number of princely states scattered all over the country. Princely states had treaty arrangements with the British Government and they had substantial freedom in the day to day  administration of their states. Baluchistan, Sind, North West Frontier Province, Punjab, United Provinces, … Read more

Move to Kota:  After completion of my High School studies from King George V Jubilee High School at Bundi, the state of Bundi underwrote unqualified support for all my further education. I had the option to pursue studies anywhere in the country or outside the country. Kota was the closest  available place from Bundi. Consequently, … Read more

Kota: Kota lies on the south eastern side of Rajasthan between latitudes 240 25’ to 250 51’ and longitudes 750 37’ and 770 20’.  Kota  is bounded by  Bundi and Chittorgarh  on the western side, Jhalawar and Mandsor on the southern side, Baran on the eastern side and Sawai Madhopur and Tonk  on the northern … Read more

Socio-economic conditions:  Salaries, rents and prices of common consumption items  in those days were extremely low and it is very difficult to comprehend, as to how the system worked at that time. By and large, the whole country was very undeveloped. Industrial production was extremely limited and the country looked to imports,  even for some … Read more

Learning the alphabets: There were no nurseries or pre-schools in those days. The starting point of our schooling was the  alphabets of Hindi, English and Urdu. We used to write on a wooden plate (takhti) which used to be painted by multani mitti (Fuller’s earth) with the help of a sharpened straw and black ink. … Read more