Source : Google photo of Gothic style cathedral in my home town
Synopsis
:
The connection we feel to our birth place is universal but this connection
depends on the link we maintained with the people we knew there. When this link
is broken due to reasons beyond our control, the connection weakens and in some
cases disappears. Still a feeling for our roots persists even after a long
time.
We all belong somewhere and have our roots in our ville
natale that we can never forget. It is in our home town we grew up, played with
our childhood friends, went to school with them and later started to diverge
when we went to college. The college, its classmates, its teachers and the
librarian, its ambiance, its diverse students who came from all parts of the country,
its celebrations, its charm and finally the day we graduated and left it
forever are reminders of how we grew up to prepare ourselves for the wider
world that was still unknown to us including its promise and its challenges.
Thus little by little we develop our roots in our home town
that we come to love and a feeling that we belong here in a way no one belongs
who is just a visitor. We come to know its delights, its charms, its numerous
historical places and the food. We come to know all the streets and its
markets, its hidden places that sell what others do not. We knew exactly where
to go when we needed something no matter how trivial or special.
We come to love our home town because it is where we spent
our best years growing up and getting ready with education that would someday
open up the wider world to us that we could only imagine or read in the books.
Most people I knew stayed and got jobs after their education, married, raised
their families and got old. Some died and others count their days after
retirement. Some moved away and settled somewhere else just like I did but the
roots to our home town cannot be ignored. It is still there whether we live
there or not.
There were some trees near our place that bloomed during
the onset of the rainy season and spread an intoxicating scent that I still
cannot forget. The hot and dry soil spread its aroma when the first rains came
and that too I can’t forget.
The beautiful dolphins playing in the river, the gorgeous
peacocks spreading their wings and dancing when the sky got dark with clouds,
the cackling sound of hyenas at night, the howl of wolves all bring back the
nostalgia I still feel. I mourn when I see no more dolphins that were killed by
the poachers. The hyenas and wolves have retreated back to forested areas
because the city has grown and pushed them out but the peacocks still remain.
So little by little the hometown undergoes changes that
must come as the government pushes development. The roads are widened, new
bridges and highways link it to other cities. New airport where gleaming jets
land and take you to all parts of the country, new colleges and universities
where the next generation of students in smart uniforms get their education,
new streets lights, new markets bulging with alluring things to buy, new
communication system that connects you to the whole world instantly are too
many things that have happened to my once sleepy home town that have changed it
forever.
Gone are the days when we could walk in the near empty
streets in the evening and feel the cool summer breeze. Now no one can safely
cross the streets due to heavy traffic. No one can breathe the pure air because
the air is polluted and no one can enjoy the quiet evenings because of the
noise pollution. There were hardly any cars or scooters on the road when we
were young but now people find it hard to find a parking place.
The change is inevitable as the whole country is on a fast
track to develop its infrastructure at breakneck speed. The new technology, the
new way of on line government services, the new high speed trains, the new
outlook of the whole country as it wakes up like a giant who was asleep for a
long time has not left my home town untouched.
It has changed the people who live there. It has changed
the way people have become disconnected to each other claiming that they have
no time or other such trivial excuses so they have become more isolated.
It has impacted the next generation in a way no one had
foreseen. Now the kids do not play together in parks like we used to but just
watch nonstop cartoons on their flat screen TV or play video games on their
PlayStations. They will never know the joy we felt playing in the park
and making all sorts of mischief. We even caught very nasty hornets and tied a
string in its belly to make it fly like a kite. How we caught them will remain
a secret with us.
Now almost everyone has a cell phone so they spend more
time looking at the tiny screen for new messages or hoping for one. Yet they
have no time to say hello to their neighbors the way we used to. They do not
now know the joy of playing carrom or Ludo with friends because they have no
time. We
had ivory or ebony strikers and had a soap stone that we scratched to get silky
powder to play carrom with.
So I found this video that shows my home town the way it is
now. Its growth and facility is impressive so anyone who returns after a long
time will find it much changed. The people grow old, they die and the next
generation moves away selling their houses so they cut their roots effectively.
When you cut your roots this way, your feeling for your home town also dies
because you do not find anyone you knew and grew up with. Everyone becomes a
stranger to you.
The college I went to has changed so drastically that I
cannot recognize it now. There are new buildings, new big trees, new
everything. My professors have died or retired and left. My classmates
scattered to all parts in India and some went abroad after graduation leaving
no trace. The alumni association is weak but they still want you to contribute
money to them so that they can continue their association activities.
Now you should watch this video of my home town to see and
know how beautiful it still is. May be it was a good thing to shut down the
city due to covid virus for a while that has cut down the emissions and
purified the air but the pollution will definitely come back when the
restrictions are lifted.
This video shows my home town and birth place in all its
glory using the drone view. It shows the hospital Kamala Nehru hospital where I
was born and where our daughter was also born. It shows the bridge that I used
to cross every day to go to college. It is a beautiful city, a green city with
trees, parks, museum, planetarium, many historical places like the tomb of
Prince Khusro . Prayagraj produced 4 prime ministers to rule the
country for many years. The university was called the Oxford of the East
with the words quot rami tot arbores
on the main gate. Now there are many more universities where the students learn
about the modern day technologies and new subjects.
But it is changing. It is no longer called Allahabad, a
name given by the Emperor Akbar in 15th century who built the fort and laid the
foundation of the city he called The city of Gods. Now it has been renamed as
Prayagraj which was its ancient name. In India ancient means several thousands
of years.
It now has a modern jet airport, new bridge on the river
Yamuna, new highways, overpasses and a new metro under construction. Massive
modern housings are coming up in the outskirts.
But as a friend told me many years ago in Washington.. you
can always leave but never go back ..so that has happened with me
as well. Still I can reminisce and wander in my mind the streets and parks of
Allahabad that I knew so well.
I miss the winter, summer and fall there and the fruits
each season brought. I miss the festivals and circus shows. I miss fishing in
the river and the park where I played with my playmates when we were children.
Many are dead now.
But my home town is still there, growing and showing off
modern amenities, high speed trains, internet, fiber optic phone lines, FM
stations, jets landing and taking you away to all parts of India. Only the
people have changed.
Allahabad is really a very historic city where people
fought the British tooth and nail to get freedom and paid for it with their lives. Their
bodies were hung from the trees by the British and our heroes died in the gun
battles in many parts of the city. The main park bigger than the central park
of New York is renamed after the hero Chandra Shekhar Ajad who died there
fighting the British.
But the world believed the lies of Gandhi and in his so
called nonviolent movement that won our independence. It was a propaganda of
the Congress party of massive proportion beating even Joseph Goebbels of Nazi
party. Gandhi was a pedophile and caused the partition of India and the death
of a million people but the propagandist call him Mahatma. My home town fought
in 1857 uprising against the British and has remained a political wellspring of
dissent in India. It was Subhas Chandra Bose and his Indian National Army ( INA
) that chased the British out of India.
The streets look empty now due to Covid restrictions but
slowly life is returning to normal. It is a beautiful city and with the most
tree lined streets. From the air it looks like a garden with a massive park in
the middle.
Source : Google photo of Sangam at Allahabad now known as Prayagraj
The two rivers Ganga and Yamuna meet in Allahabad but the
blue water of Yamuna and the white water of Ganga do not mix but make an
irregular line where they meet called Sangam where Hindus take a dip to get
nirvana.
There used to be plenty of dolphins always playing in the
river near the fort but they have all been killed by the poachers. I had seen
the dolphins when I was a kid. But you can still see the peacocks in the parks.
My mother’s house has been sold so I do not go back to
Allahabad anymore. There is no one there whom I knew. The city has changed
dramatically because progress has come but it has also changed people in a
negative way.
A friend in Europe wrote :
"Thanks for forwarding this video and your notes. it is
a beautiful place. You had the good fortune of being born in a good time,
place and circumstances to properly start a good life!
I also feel I was born under a lucky star starting in
humble circumstances in a small provincial city, Halifax, which, non the less,
was the capital city and the largest and wealthiest city of its sparsely
populated region with an important Atlantic port which made it a vital link in
times of conflict and war. I was born at the Grace Maternity Hospital
I did not realize your daughter was born in your home town
and hospital in India as well. I am thinking of birth and passage at this
moment as my son was born at this hour 38 years ago at the Grace Maternity
Hospital in Calgary, Alberta, Canada.
I was surprised how few people little traffic were shown in
the video of the city. My only experience of India was when I went to a wedding
of a girl, who was the daughter of Taiwanese Canadian friends of Chinese
ancestry in Chennai, a very crowded city teeming with people. She married a
Chennai born man in a Hindu ceremony carried out in the southern Brahmin
tradition.
It was a really colorful and exotic event for the twelve of
us who came from North America and Europe to help them celebrate, dressing in
local costumes to participate. Our out of country group then did a
ten day tour with the sister of the bride to the west and south through the
Southern Ghat mountains and the Kerala coast to the southern tip of
India, giving a hint of the incredible cultural diversity, history and
prehistory of your subcontinent homeland."
Another friend wrote :
"Prayagraj is a beautiful city with many features I did not
expect such as the planetarium, Christian institutions, colleges. I have never
been to India, but the impression of your city is different than the impression
I have of India."
Allahabad now known as Prayagraj is where the world's largest congregation of pilgrims occurs every 12th year when millions of Hindus gather to celebrate the Maha Kumbha Mela . They come from all parts of India and the world to participate in the dip at the Sangam meaning at the confluence of the two mighty rivers Ganga and Yamuna. They believe that a dip there on a holy day frees their soul and they will get Nirvana. They set up a tent city complete with street lights, toilet facilities, police stations, CCTV cameras everywhere for security, food stores, movie screening places, lost and found office etc. There are field hospitals, information centers, communication centers and other such facilities so that the pilgrims do not face any difficulty.
They set up
numerous stores to sell anything one can desire and put up 15 or 20 pontoon
bridges on the Ganga river for people to cross. It is a massive undertaking to
set up a tent city for so many people but they do it in a well-organized way
every 12th year. They even set up train stations so that the pilgrims can reach
the site no matter where they come from. They set up landing strips where small
planes can land and take you for a joy ride for a fee.
Then like
magic, the whole tent city disappears when the fair is over after 2 months. I
always admired the management of the fair grounds that does such a splendid job
of setting it all up and then dismantling it later.
I will always
remember my home town the way it used to be but that city is disappearing under
massive development although some parts like the old city still remains. I will
always remember the pranks we played on each other, the mischief we made
together like the time a kid sucked the milk out of a goat in our lane while we
tried to keep the goat still with tender grass. Her owner cursed the kids when
the goat returned with no milk. Such were the joys of childhood that one cannot
forget. It is hard to sever the roots even after such a long time.
Note : My blogs are also available in French, Spanish, German and Japanese languages at the following links as well as my biography. My blogs can be shared by anyone anytime in any social media.
https://achtrjee.wixsite.com/mysite/blog
La biografía de anil en español.
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