The city of Delhi was not always like this. There was not so much traffic, so many people, so many cars, so many rich people flaunting their riches and power. You never had people asking around, "Tujhe pata hai mera baap kaun hai?" Isn’t it rather sad that now there are these youngsters asking this question, don’t they really know who their father is?
Well, well, well, Delhi has gone through different dynasties and cultural changes over the centuries, but I am not going there. I just want to talk of the 20th century and take you to the years when our country had just attained freedom. We had not yet become the Republic of India. The city of New Delhi was rather new and shone bright with well laid out roads and roundabouts full of flowers. There were beautiful tree lined avenues, sprawling bungalows, residential quarters for the numerous babus who had come from far and wide to join government service. They would all cycle to office . Their trousers were nicely clipped at the bottom so that the flair would not get entangled in the spokes of the wheel as they cycled. There were very few cars, so there was no pollution, people were healthy as they exercised while going to office and back too. Exercise bikes had not been introduced then.
The climate of Delhi was always of extremes, it was very cold in winter and very hot in summer. Air conditioners were an extreme rarity and refrigerators too were found only in extremely rich people’s homes. Instead of air conditioners those who could afford it had khus chiks fixed on their windows and doors, which would be kept wet by a person whose duty it was to keep sprinkling water on the khus chiks. Can you imagine how divine the room would smell, with fresh Khus perfume coming along with the damp air that entered your room? No room freshener of today or air conditioner can even strive to give you that bliss. While I am at it, let me tell you that telephones too were a rarity. Only the very important people in the hierarchy of bureaucracy had telephones installed in their houses. The telephone instruments did not have dials. The user had to tap the phone bar and one would get connected to the Telephone Exchange from where an operator would ask the number or name of the person to which you wished to be connected. Once connected one could talk to the desired person on that number. Well life was simple and rather uncomplicated.
Now let me talk specifically about one particular day in the month of January 1948. Sarubai Meshram and her two daughters would often go to Birla House in the evening to attend the Prayer meeting or Prarthana Sabha addressed by Gandhiji at five p.m. They would always have seats reserved for them. On some days when they didn't go to the Sabha, they would sit around their radio in the drawing room and listen to the live broadcast over the radio. On this particular day they were going to attend the sabha and Kamal's childhood friend from Nagpur, Nirmala daughter of Mr. P. K. Salve and sister of NPK Salve was also going to the Sabha with them. The Meshram ladies switched on the radio at five minutes to five as they waited for Nirmala. Their seats had as usual been booked and now they were dressed up, ready to depart as soon as Nirmala arrived. For some reason Nirmala got delayed on her way to their residence at 4, Lodi Road. The radio was on and the ladies were tuned in to the broadcast, listening in while they were waiting. Suddenly they heard gun shots and a lot of people shouting, scrambling and the sounds of utter chaos through the radio. It was seventeen minutes past 5 pm, the date was 30th January 1948.The ladies were shocked, they couldn’t believe it, had they just heard gun shots that killed Gandhiji? They would have been there had Nirmala reached in time. This memory got etched in the mind of Kamal who has lived through and witnessed many historical events of that time in the history of India.
Many years later, the year was 1984. The weather of Delhi had changed, the population had increased manyfold. Cyclists were few, and there were many more cars and scooters on the roads. The import of cars had not yet been allowed so we saw only Ambassadors, Premier Padmini(Fiat) a very few newly introduced Maruti and an occasional Standard Herald on the roads. Scooters too were either Lambretta, Vespa and Bajaj. One had to book a car or scooter and one had to wait for the delivery of the vehicle. The wait could be for a year or even more. If you could arrange for foreign exchange through some relative or friend living abroad, then you would get a priority in the allotment of the scooter or car. Since there was long waiting for these vehicles so the roads were not over burdened with traffic, pollution was under control. Life was quite smooth and one did not have barricades on the roads. One could drive on all roads, no roads were closed for security reasons. It was only during VIP movement that some roads were closed for some time till the VIP drove past. In fact those were the days when general public was allowed to enter the Rashtrapati Bhawan gates also and walk along the path of the garden unto the stairs, to see the lighting when Rashtrapati Bhawan was lit up for celebrating Republic Day and Independence day. I remember having gone inside Rashtrapati Bhawan too, to pay respects when Dr. Zakir Hussain the third president of India died in office in 1967.
Kamal and NG Uke’s son Sunil Uke who had joined the Indian Customs and Central Excise service of the Government of India, was posted at the Custom and Excise Commissionarate at ITO. His wife Meena was working in All India Radio, Parliament Street. Sunil had a Bajaj scooter then, and from Netaji Nagar where they lived, they would go to their work place on this scooter past Ashoka Hotel, and Race Course road towards Parliament Street. Sunil would first drop Meena and then go to his office. One day as they were on their way to their work place, around 0930 hours,just as they drove past 1, Safdarjung Road, and were nearing the round about, they heard gunshots. Not paying much heed to it, they drove on and reached their respective offices. The date was 31st October 1984. The resident of 1, Safdarjung Road was the Prime Minister of India, the much loved Mrs. Indira Gandhi. It was much later in the day at 1420 hours, that her death was announced. Sunil and Meena immediately correlated that the shots that they had heard on their way in the morning were the shots that had killed Mrs. Indira Gandhi.
While the mother had heard shots that killed Gandhi ji in 1948 over radio, the son and daughter in law heard the shots that killed Indira Gandhi, in 1984 in person. Incidentally, the last two numbers of the years were reversed, 48 and 84.
Well, these are coincidences which are a bit uncanny and which remain etched in memory.
