Early background: Ratan Lal was the son of Ranjit Singh. Kanahiya Lal, Kundan Lal, Bishambhar Lal and Basant Lal were his elder cousins. Our father Brijbhushanlal was his younger cousin. He was born sometimes in 1885. Those were the days, when the facilities for education and opportunities for advancement in life, were extremely limited in the country. However, after completion of his high school, he entered the haloed portals of Thomason College of Civil Engineering Roorkee and completed the Upper Subordinate Course in Civil Engineering from there, sometimes in 1905. It seems, that, it was a great achievement for Indians in those days. Thereafter, he worked on construction jobs at Jodhpur and Bharatpur. He was at Bharatpur from 1910 to 1920 and was involved in the construction of Motimahal and other prestigious buildings. Subsequently, he moved to Kota and worked there as an assistant engineer in the state public works department till his retirement, sometimes in 1938. At Kota he was responsible for the construction and maintenance of roads and buildings of the state. Looking to the extremely limited facilities and general awareness at that time, he was perhaps very much ahead of the times. He was sharp and intelligent, and was adept in drawing, design and construction. He was very organized and methodical in all his daily routines. He had an excellent command on language and drafted and typed most of his urgent and confidential letters himself. He maintained a portable Remington typewriter in those days, when typewritten letters were not common in day to day office communications. After his retirement from Kota, he moved to Dehradun and set up a showroom for the sale of electrical equipment and accessories and thereafter, during the second world war, he got involved in military contracts for the supply of electrical goods and services. He breathed his last at Dehradun in March 1942 leaving behind his wife Bhanwati to wind up his business.
Life at Kota: He had a spacious three storeyed house in a neat and clean locality of Rampura at Kota. On the ground floor, there was a very big courtyard with a roomy baithak ( office) for meeting the visitors and a number of rooms for servants and stables for cows and buffalos. Ratan Lal was very fond of automobiles. He maintained one or two cars in those times, when the automobiles could not be seen normally on the city roads and except for the Maharaja of Kota, very few people in the city had cars. In those days, the price of most of the new British Cars like Morris, Austin and Hillman was of the order of rupees fifteen hundred to rupees two thousand and that of American cars like Ford and Cheverolet ranged from rupees two thousand to three thousand. His car used to be parked in the main entrance area. At all times, the family had one or two milch cows and buffalos for meeting the day to day requirements of milk and milk products. There was always a retinue of servants to look after the whole show and most of them had their living accomodation on the ground floor.
The living area of the family was on the first floor, which opened on a big terrace, leading to the family room. The family room had a luxurious carpet and members of the family squatted or rested on the carpet, as there was no furniture in the room in those days. Garden chairs and easy chairs were available on the terrace and were used in the early hours of the morning and late hours in the evening for pep talk, rest and recreation and for some of the daily chores of the family. The central portion of the first floor was in the form of a big hall which served as a living room of the family. There was no furniture in the room except almirahs. During monsoon and winters the cots were used in the living room and it served as the common bed room of the family. During summers the members of the family slept outdoors on cots, on the terrace. The rear portion of the first floor accommodated a kitchen and serving area. Those days, members of the family took their meals on the floor of the kitchen. Ladies of the house spent most of their mid-day time in sewing, stitching and embroidery and preparing evening snacks and refreshments for the family. There were a number of rooms in the living area and kitchen area to serve as stores. One of the rooms in the living area was used as a pantry for all types of snacks, which were served to members of the family in the evening. The room was always full of all types of homemade snacks and savouries.
Family: Ratan Lal was married to Bhanwati. She was the sister of Pyareylal, who had settled down at Meerut after retirement from Hissar. Bhanwati was the matriarch of our family. She was a very strong willed lady and she exercised absolute contol on all day to day affairs of the family. Ratan Lal and Bhanwati had a son Sohan Lal and two daughters Rajeshwari and Shakuntala.
Sohan Lal was plagued by a number of physical ailments during his childhood and consequently, he lost most of his early years and was able to commence his formal education at the age of 14 years. However, as years rolled on, his basic talents were in full flow and he finally completed his M.Sc. in Physics from Banaras at the advanced age of 27 years. He was married to Sushila the eldest daughter of Dr Nemi Sharan, a homeopathic practitioner of Kota. Sushila was a soft spoken, affectionate and accomplished lady. The couple had an infant daughter Kamla, when Sohanlal died. Subsequently, Kamla was brought up by her grandparents Ratan Lal and Bhanwati. Kamla was married to Dr Deoki Nandan Gupta, who was a surgeon and rose to the rank of Colonel in the army. Kamla and Deoki Nandan had three sons, Rajeev, Sanjeev and Sanjay and a daughter Kumkum, who was married to Ashok and is settled in Los Angeles in USA with their three daughters Renu, Rachna and Rakhi.
Rajeshwari, the elder daughter of Ratan Lal and Bhanwati was married to Murari Lal Gupta, who had settled down as a contractor at Kota. The couple were living in a house facing the residence of Ratanlal across the street. When Ratan Lal retired from Kota in 1938, they moved with him to Dehradun. They had eight children, three sons and five daughters. The eldest child was Shanti who was married to Girwar Prakash, who commenced work with Jodhpur Railway and ultimately rose to the rank of Divisional Accounts Officer in Indian Railways. Next was Jagdish Chandra who completed overseer’s certificate course from Thomason College of Civil Engineering Roorkee and served in UP PWD. Third child was Sarla who was married to Sher Singh of Muzaffarnagar, who was an Electrical and Mechanical Engineer from Banaras Hindu University. He was in service in UP Electricity Board, ultimately rising to the rank of Chief Engineer. Fourth child was Ramesh who completed his overseer’s certificate course from Roorkee and rose to the rank of a sub-divisional officer in military engineering services. Fifth child was Krishna, who was married to Rajendra of Bijnor. Rajendra was working as commercial taxes officer in U.P. Sixth child was Saroj who is settled with her husband at Bikaner. The seventh child was Shashi. She was an infant, when Shakuntala the younger sister of Rajeshwari took her in her care. She was married to Mahesh Chandra advocate of Ratangarh. The couple have a son Mukul and three daughters. Mukul is a mechanical engineer and is settled at Jodhpur. He is working as a deputy chief inspector of industries and boilers in the industries department of Rajasthan. The eighth child was Ashok, who rose to the rank of Sub-Divisional Officer in Military Engineering Services.
Shakuntala, popularly known in the family as Moona jiji was the younger daughter of Ratan Lal and Bhanwati. She was married to Hari Krishan Garg, a Rais and Zamindar of Jansath, a tehsil town in the district of Muzaffarnagar of U.P. They had a son Chandra Gupta. Hari Kishan Garg died when Chandra Gupta was an infant. Shakuntala was sharp and intelligent and managed the estate of her husband during the childhood and early years of the life of her son. Chandra Gupta was a brilliant student and topped in the judicial services examination of U.P. He was married to Pratibha and the couple had five daughters- Rajul, Anjul, Manjul, Babita and Kavita. Chandra Gupta died at a comparatively young age, when, he was working as a Civil and Sessions Judge of Mathura in U.P.