Life Back Then

Chittur Veer Vaidyanathan was born in Churu (Rajasthan) in 1948, and grew up in Jaipur. After a successful corporate career, during which his work with his company led to an Export Promotion Award from the Indian Ministry of Textiles, he is now a developer of real estate near Mumbai http://www.universalbuilder.co.in/.  He lives in Mumbai with his wife Hemlatha\; his son and daughter, both married, live in the U.S. His hobbies are swimming and traveling.

Subhash Mathur is a resident of Jaipur after superannuation from Indian Revenue Service in 2007. Presently, Subhash is engaged in social and charitable work in rural areas. Subhash is also Editor of http://www.inourdays.org/, an online portal for preserving work related memories.

Editor's note: This is adapted and expanded from an exchange on Facebook in October 2017. C V Vaidyanathan (older brother of one of my classmates) and Subhash (one of my older brothers) lived close to each other in C-Scheme, Jaipur in the early 1960s, and attended St. Xavier's School, Jaipur, followed by Rajasthan University.

Vaidyanathan

Kamakshi Balasubramanian is a retired educator living in Mysore. She is an occasional writer. Her interests include cinema, popular culture, travel (particularly within India), and sewing by hand. Kamakshi received her higher education in India, the erstwhile U.S.S.R., and the U.S.A. She speaks Tamil, English, and Russian fluently, and knows Hindi.

For over 50 years, my sister Savithri has continued to follow an age-old southern-Indian tradition in Hindu families: Navarathri Kolu.

In the households that follow this tradition, the family sets up an arrangement of handmade figures made of wood or clay. The figures are generally religious divine beings, such as images of Vishnu reclining on a magnificent snake, Shiva in his exquisite dancing form, Lakshmi seated on a pink lotus, sometimes the Buddha under the Bodhi tree, and of course, Ganesha, without whose presence nothing auspicious ever gets off the ground in Hindu households.

Clay doll depicting Goddess Lakshmi on a pink lotus. Sourced from internet.

Chittur Veer Vaidyanathan was born in Churu (Rajasthan) in 1948, and grew up in Jaipur. After a successful corporate career, during which his work with his company led to an Export Promotion Award from the Indian Ministry of Textiles, he is now a developer of real estate near Mumbai http://www.universalbuilder.co.in/.  He lives in Mumbai with his wife Hemlatha\; his son and daughter, both married, live in the U.S. His hobbies are swimming and traveling.

Before India became independent in 1947, Rajasthan had 22 Princely States, under British control. Some of these States had established good educational institutions. Jaipur was one of them.

St. Xavier's School for boys was founded in July, 1941 under the name of St. Mary's Boy's School. In 1945, it was transferred to the present site, and renamed St. Xavier's School in January, 1945.

There were some other reputed public schools in Rajasthan. For instance, Sadul Public School established in 1893 (earlier it was known as Noble School) by the Maharaja of Bikaner. Mayo Public School Ajmer was founded in 1895 by Earl of Mayo, Viceroy of India. Mayo's curriculum was similar to Eton College. BSP and BHS (Birla School) Pilani, Rajasthan founded in 1944 had a huge campus covering 100 acres, presently ranked amount ten prestigious institutions in India. Maharani Gayatri Devi (MGD) Girls school was the first public girls school in India. MGD was established in 1943. Ms. L.G. Lutter, a Scottish, was the school principal. She was awarded a Padma Shri by the Government of India.

Dr. Anand - an unholy person born in 1932 in the holy town of Nankana Sahib, central Punjab. A lawyer father, a doctor mother. Peripatetic childhood - almost gypsy style. Many schools. Many friends, ranging from a cobbler's son (poorly shod as the proverb goes) to a judge's son. MB from Glancy (now Government) Medical College Amritsar, 1958. Comet 4 to Heathrow, 1960.
Widower. Two children and their families keep an eye on him. He lives alone in a small house with a small garden. Very fat pigeons, occasional sparrows, finches green and gold drop in to the garden, pick a seed or two and fly away.

Posted: October 2017

IT WAS IN 1958, I think. I had been out-posted from my proper job as a "casualty medical officer" at Rajindra Hospital, Patiala. The out-posting was to  the dispensary at Sauja village, about ten miles away (actually 18 km.) I was required to be there for the working hours of the dispensary. Then, return home to my quarters in the hospital in the evening.

Every morning I would  catch the train to Sauja, and then back to Patiala in the evening.

One day, an emergency delayed me - I missed the train back to Patiala. There would be a very long wait for the next, and last, train.

I started walking along the railway track. It passed over a rivulet which was  almost dry. However, the bridge was rather high and I did not relish the thought of falling down if I failed to step on the next railway sleeper. Nor did I relish the thought of being knocked down by a goods train, if it happened to come along.

Satinder Mullick received his doctorate from Johns Hopkins University in 1965 in Operations Research and Industrial Engineering, with a minor in Economics. He was Director of Economic Planning and Research for Corning Inc., where he worked on different consulting assignments for improving growth and profitability for 30 years. Later, he helped turn around Artistic Greetings (40% owned by American Greetings) and doubled the stock price in four years. He received Lybrand Silver Medal in 1971 from Institute of Management Accountants.

In life, you make friends and accumulate memories. Some go their different ways, but again meet later and become close. That is what I experienced since July 1953 after finishing my higher secondary (first year of Intermediate Science (I.Sc.) in Delhi.

Up to higher secondary, I enjoyed the home cooking of my mother. Then I moved to Banaras for 2^nd year of I.Sc. in Central Hindu College in Kamaccha, Banaras,  which used to be Annie Besant College. It was a branch of Banaras Hindu University. I was assigned to live in King Edward (KE) Hostel. The College Principal was Mr. Lalwani, brother-in-law of Acharya Kripalani, a famous freedom fighter and former President of All India Congress Committee. Kikiben, sister of Acharya Kripalani, was our Principal's wife. She was a freedom fighter in Karachi, and following footsteps of her brother,  was jailed. The Principal came to know me as he liked to play table tennis with me.

Jatinder Sethi was born in Lyallpur, now Faisalabad, in pre-Independence India. He finished his M.A. (English) from Delhi University in 1956, and went off to London to study Advertising in 1958. He passed his Membership Exam of The Institute of Practitioners in Advertising (M.I.P.A) in1965, and joined Rallis India in Bombay. Later, for over 20 years, he worked for the advertising agency Ogilvy &amp\; Mather. Now retired, he helps his son in his ad agency in Delhi.

Some old grannies, with lot of time on their hands, keep themselves busy by knitting, for their great grand (even yet unborn) children mojas (socks) and dastanas (gloves) using different colour leftover wool balls.

Similarly, I am trying to knit a tale of my family, especially my mother and sister Toshi (Santosh) from the left over tit-bits of talks with my brothers and sister in later life. It may seem disjointed but it will, like the grannies' mojas, come out colourful. I hope so.

It is a story of the turbulent times of India's Partition and after - late 1940s and early 1950s.  But it is NOT the usual gory tale of partition like hundreds of others.

It was the time when young Indian girls, including Hindu girls, had to wear long salwar, shirt and Chunni on her head, with long hair gut with, preferably, paranda. Yet, girls were allowed to study in co-educational colleges like Government College, Lyallpur. The concept of boy-friends was taboo, even in liberal families like mine, where girls went to Government College for FA and BA - but no boyfriends

I was born in Ludhiana on 19 April, 1943, though my recorded date of birth is 11 July, 1942. After India's Partition, I was raised and educated in Lahore. I studied at Forman Christian College, Lahore and University of the Punjab. In 1964, I was selected to join the Pakistan Air Force's (PAF) College of Aeronautical Engineering. I served in the PAF for 27 years, retiring voluntarily in 1991 as a Group Captain. My services were recognized with a National Award. I was told at the time of my retirement that if I did not retire, I was sure to get promoted to Air Commodore, with the strong possibility of another promotion to the rank of Air Vice Marshal. I cannot say what made me give up my career at its prime. The only reason that comes to my mind is that I was looking for "Fresh air". In my post retirement life I got what I was looking for, and have since lived a satisfied life.

Let me share some history of my mother’s family belonging to Ludhiana.

Noor Mohammad was my Nana (Maternal Grandfather). He had two brothers. The elder brother, Ghulam Muhammad (Lala), popularly known in the family as Lala, a name generally used for a father or elder brother in the Muslim families of India, and the younger brother was Wali Muhammad. Their elders migrated from Kashmir and settled in Ludhiana sometime in the beginning of 19th century. They used the surname of Sufi for reasons that I am not aware of. I am not sure if it is a sub-caste, a clan from Kashmir or their association with Sufism.

Born in 1941, Vinod was brought up and educated in Amritsar. He attended Government Medical College, and subsequently trained as a surgeon at PGI, Chandigarh. He left for USA in 1969, and retired in 2003 as Director of Critical Care Services at a teaching hospital in Michigan. Married with two grown sons, he continues to visit India at least once a year.

That was my mother! Named Sumitra by her parents, her name was changed to Jagat Kumari after her marriage. The custom was not uncommon in India. It is supposed to indicate that the married woman starts a new life after marriage. I still get confused when credit card companies want me to give my mother's maiden name. I waver between her real 'maiden' name and the one she used officially after her marriage.

I have been reluctant to write about her. For years I have thought that in life, she was not appreciated. My conviction has only strengthened as I have grown older. And I have felt guilty about falling in the trap of adolescent perceptions and callousness in thinking of her as inconsequential.

She was the youngest of the four sisters. She also had three brothers who were older than her. She had one brother, Hari mama (uncle), younger than her and the one she seemed to love more than others. Their bond was due to their being younger than all the older siblings.

Introduction

Subodh Mathur writes:

I completed my high school from St. Xavier's School, Jaipur in 1966. In those days, the school offered two different final examinations. One was the Indian School Certificates (I.S.C), which was a descendant of the older Senior Cambridge examination conducted by Cambridge University, England. The other was All-India Higher Secondary (A.I.H.S.), which was a national examination conducted by an Indian government agency.

Regardless of whether you took the I.S.C or A.I.H.S. examination, life in Standard XI - the final year - was focused heavily on doing well in the final examination.

Standard X was different. You were senior enough in the school, which gave you some freedom. And, the academic pressure was not so high. Every year, one of the activities of Standard X students was to stage a full-length play, under the supervision of a teacher.

As was the norm in those days, our school was for boys only. No girls. So, how could they choose a play that had a woman in it? There was simply no way that a Standard X boy would do a woman's role. Not in Jaipur in 1965. Anyhow, our teacher did solve this problem - read about it below.

The school used to publish a year book called The Blue and Gold. It included the photos and brief bios of all the students in the graduating class. I am using those photos - they show us as we were then.