Dehradun Author: Dr. K.S. Kang

Dehradun

Dehradun is a scenic town situated at the foothills of Himalayan range in Uttarakhand. Currently it is also capital of this state. This place, known for premier institutions like Indian Military Academy, Forest Research Institute, Rashtriya Indian Military College and an elite public school Doon School, is associated with my parents and my elder sister who was born here. First of all my father joined IMA in 1952 as a Physics Demonstrator in Physics Department and then after his marriage brought my mother to this place in1953. He used to boast with pride that he had witnessed 20 passing out parades of cadets or rather Gentlemen Cadets who have been recruited as officers in Indian Army. When my father joined here another premier institute of Military Training National Defence Academy was also housed there which was later on moved to Khadakvasla in Pune district of Maharashtra. During his stay at this place which was a decade he saw number of illustrious personalities who used to visit this place like Prime Minister Jawahar Lal Nehru, Dr. Rahendra Prasad President of India, Dr. S. Radhakrishnan Vice President of India at that time who later on went on to become President of India, Defence Minister, and a numberof Army, Air and Naval Chiefs. Perhaps my father spent best and the most prosperous part of his life at this place. My parents used to visit the hill station Mussorie, which was only 23 kms away from Dehradun and which was a favourite resort of Britishers. They not only used to visit Mussorie during winters to experience snowfall but theyalso visited he holy towns of Rishikesh and Hardwara situated on the banks of River Ganga. These places were not far from Dehradun. My father was given accommodation in the barracks that were constructed to house Portugese Prisoners of war captured during world War II by allied forces. I was fortunate to his place while my parents were still alive and that too in their company. Their life was quite pleasant and comfortable till a tragic incident took place in their life when a girl child given birth by my mother passed away soon after her birth. This incident sent my mother into the abyss of depression. So my father decided to divert her attention by admitting her in a local DAV college in Post Graduation Course in Mathematics and also decided to enroll himself as a teacher candidate for the same course. My mother used to go to college regularly by the local transport of the town in a city bus and then my parents used to solve assignments and problems later into the night. To cope up with the domestic problems my maternal grandmother Har Kaur also used to visit this place frequently and stay with them for months altogether. It was here that my elder sister Amar Jyot was born on 6^th June 1957 exactly five years before my birth. She became centre of concern and attraction for them as she was their only child. So my parents elevated their qualification by doing post graduation in Mathematics from DAV College which was affiliated to Agra University together. In the evening my parents used to take their child ( my elder sister)on evening walk daily to the local market of that colony known as Prem Nagar, whichwas situated about 3 kms away from the central place of the town known as Ghanta Ghar or Clock Tower. In his market a gentleman named Rali Ram owned a general shop. When they reached his shop he used to put some toy before her and she used to grab it and run back without caring to pay for it. Rali Ram also did not ask for immediate payments as he knew my father was a regular employee of IMA that assured regular monthly income. So he was assured that he is money will not remain unpaid. In my parents neighbourhood lived a Bengali gentleman Mr Malik and his family and my parents used to visit Mussorie, which was popular as Queen of Hills, with them. On their other side lived a refugee family who had migrated from Punjab in Pakistan. The lady of this house was popularly known as Jhaiji. Her son and my elder sister were almost of the same age and both of them played together in their respective prams and my mother used to tell that the first word that my elder sister learned to speak was Jhaiji. Another person who lived in the vicinity of my father’s house was a young army officer from Kerala Maj. K.S. Menon, who later on went on to became Brigadier before superannuation. This person was to shape my father’s future life quite to an extent. He had a young servant named Narayan who used to take Menon’s daughters Parvati and Lakshami for evening stroll and in the process used to bring them to my parent’s house as a result of which they came closer to each other. Menon was promoted to the rank of  Lt. Col. and posted as Principal Sainik School Chittorgarh in Rajasthan. He took my father to this place when he felt the need of some company in this historic place of the desert state of India. He had good intentions and well being of my father when he invited my father to join Sainik School Chittorgarh as Physics teacher as he felt that there was hardly any promotion prospects for him in IMA whereas at this place atleast he could rise up to a senior teacher. Secondly my father was transferred to National Defence Academy which was to move to Khadakvasla in Pune in Maharashtra which was quite a distant place from my fanter’s native place Punjab. So he also preferred to join at Chittorgarh rather than going to Pune and he left the service of Ministry of Defence to join a seni- Government service of Sainik Schools Society. Another person who came close to my family was Subedar Major Umrao Singh Gholiya who belonged to place near my father’s native place. He was Drill Instructor at IMA. While my father had come to join at Chittorgarh my mother stayed with his family at Dehradun.                    

Kanpur Author : Dr. K.S. Kang

Kanpur

This historical town, associated with Nana Saheb Peshwa, Tantya Tope and Maharani Laxmi Bai of Jhansi was centre of activities during First War of Independence in India in 1857 A.D. My father came to this town when he joined as Technical Assistant ( SAJ- Grade III)  in Technical Establishment Development Laboratory of Ministry of Defense. This organization developed and designed after through research various commodities, tools , implements, dress ranging from weapons to shoes, caps and belts. He joined this organization in March 1951 A.D and he used to tell us that at that time there were 27 Ph.D’s working in various departments of this elite organization. This place was also associated with my father’s cousin who was attached NCO to NCC division of local DAV college. My father tried to do Post Graduation in Maths from this college by contacting the faculty through his cousin. But his efforts were in vain though his cousin gave a couple of rum bottles from his army quota to some faculty of the college. About his life in Kanpur my father used to relate an incident when he retrieved his stolen watch. My father and two of his colleague used to live in shared rented accommodation . One day his colleague came from his home in the early morning train and he was in argument with Richshawwalah over the fare from station to this place. While arguing this richshawwallah came inside the room and as it was winter morning so my father was sleeping in quilt while his watch was by the side of his pillow. Richshawwallha suddenly stopped arguing and took the money from my father’s colleague and left the room hurriedly whisking away my father’s wrist watch also with him. When my father woke he discovered that watch has disappeared. Without wasting any time they took their bicycles and set out in the search of that Rickshawwallah. Soon they traced the culprit as the suspicion of theft was on him so they thoroughly searched him and his vehicle but they could not find the watch. So they reported the matter to the police which was quite active,  efficient and duty conscious force at that time. Officer on duty assured my father that they can take the watch from Police Station by of the Police Officer. Though my father was not very positive about Police officer’s confidence but to their utter disbelief Police Officer handed over the watch to my father when they visited Police Station in the evening. Officer told them that watch was retrieved from a hotel where the owner kept the goods stolen by the rickshaw drivers and others. My father was simply impressed by efficiency of Police that swiftly responded to the complaint of young, educated gentleman like my father and his friend.              

Amritsar Author: Dr. K.S. Kang

Amritsar

                                                    Auhor: Dr. K.S. Kang

Amritsar is holy and spiritual capital of Sikhs and is well known for its Golden Temple founded by Guru Ram Dass the fourth Sikh Guru. This city holds an important place in the history of freedom struggle against Britishers as the Jallianwala Bagh, where peaceful and armless people were butchered mercilessly by General Dyer’s soldiers, is also situated here. Besides it is also known for famous Durgianan Temple. Academically this place is known for premier educational institution of Punjab Khalsa College, that subsequently developed into Guru Nanak Dev University with time. Though my children and I have also visited this place several times but basically this place has been associated with my father S. Kehar Singh Kang who joined Physics Department as Demonstrator in Khalsa College in October 1950 A.D. At that time various intellectual and academic stalwarts were working here. Head, Physics Department was Dr. Jagat Singh and Principal of this illustrious institution was Dr. Jodh Singh. During his stay here my father was fortunate to come in touch with Sikh academic stalwarts like Dr. Sahib Singh, who was chairing Divinity Chair in the college, the great Punjabi novelist S. Sant Singh Sekhon and others. This town was also associated withone of my ancestors of 18^th century S. Tara Singh Kang alias Ghebba, the Second Misaldar of Dallewalia Misl, who along with Nishanwalia troops protected this holy city from Afgan intuders. Besides being a own of religious and tourist significance Amritsar is also main commercial and business town well connected with all important places of the nation by rail and road and to international places by air as this place has an international airport known as Raja Sansi Airport.  

Adayana ( Haryana) Author: Dr. K. S. Kang

Adyana

It is a small place situated in district Panipat in Karnal Division of Haryana state. This place is associated with my father who came here as Senior mathematics Teacher at National High School for six months after graduating from D.M. College Moga. As he had come out of his place and the surrounding areas for the first time in search of job so it gave new experience.  The first experience that he got was that even clean shaven people wearing dhoti were also farmers tilling the land. Till then he had seen only Jat sikh people with unshorn hair tilling the land. Principal of this school was Mr. Amaranth who had to say the following about my father.

“Ch. Kehar Singh B.A. worked in this school as Senior Maths Teacher for a period of about six months. During this period he worked as a conscientious teacher and I always found a good opinion about his work, conduct and ability. He took a keen interest in school games and became popular among students and the staff. He is a Youngman with pleasing manners and active habits and bears an excellent moral character “  This citation shows that my father worked here from March 1949 to 6-9-1950. This small place is situated west to the historically famous town where three battles giving shape and direction to Indian History have been fought . The first battle was fought between Mughal Emperor Babar and Ibrahim Lodi in 1526 A.D. The second battle was between Akbar, represented by Bairam Khan, and Delhi’s Hindu ruler Hemu in 1556 A.D and the third battle was fought between Afghans and Mughals under the leadership of Ahmed Shah Abdali on the one hand and Marrathas under the leadership of Sada Shiv Rao Bhau in 1761 A.D.   

Moga: Author: Dr. K.S. Kang

Moga

The first place that my parents saw other than their birth place village was Moga, as this town is associated  both with my father as well as my mother. My father took admission in Doctor Mathuradas College of the town as a Student in Faculty of Arts or F.A. after his matriculation. Since my father figured in merit list of matriculation exam so he was granted scholarship other wise after the passing away of his father, his brother was in no position financially to support his higher education. So as to cut down the expenses my father’s elder brother got accommodation for him free of cost in the house of his friend Dr. Kartar Singh, who was a quack in indigenous medicine and owned a shop cum residence area in the main street of the town, that was popularly known as Doctor’s Street and the shop was owned by Shiwala Soodan Trust. So as to live frugally my father cooked his own meals and wore simple rough clothes and got most of his supply of cereals and pulses from his native village. My father came to Moga around 1945 after his matriculation from his native place Dharamkot and my mother also came to this place almost at the same time from her native place Parao Mehna. The place where my father took his accommodation was in the main market of the town that was popularly known as doctor Street. My mother even got her school education from 8^th standard upwards from his place as her village had only school up to 5^th or 8^th standard. At that time she lived in a hostel as even Government girls school of that place had hostel facilities for girls and this school was also situated in the Doctor’s Street but my parents did not know each other till their wedding. Both my parents still remained in contact with this place as it was nearly equidistant from the native places of the both. They had to come to this place frequently for shopping , so they opened even an account in Punjab National Bank, Pratap Road branch. After the demise of my mother’s parents as my father’s parents had passed away even before the wedding of my parents, my father decided to purchase a house. So he bought a three room accommodation situated in Sardar Nagar Akalsar Road. This house remained property of my family till the dawn of 21^st century when my father decided to sell it off and settle at Chittorgarh in Rajasthan.

          Moga is situated in the middle of Ludhiana and Ferozepur. It is almost equidistant from these two places, It is grain capital not only of Punjab but of entire country also. Currently it is well connected to important places of the country like Delhi, Amritsar, Dehradun, Firozepur, Ludhiana, Jaipur and the like. As it is a commercial town so it is a chief attraction of the people of the surrounding villages. Besides the rail link the famous Kasur-Ludhiana section of Grand Trunk road passes through this town. Another attraction of the town is Nestle Factory situated on Ferozepur road which produces Coffee, chocolates, noddles and desi ghee. Coffee’s aroma can be felt in the air of the town many a times.  Another attraction of the town is Gita –Bhawan that is known for its wonderful architecture, peaceful ambience and the greenery in the town, Several idols and chariots have been artistically shaped by architects from Rajasthan. There is also a martyr’s park in the town in which some volunteers associated with RSS were killed by terrorists. Besides D.M. College other institution that has sprung up in the town lately is Guru Nanak College which has good ground and sports infrastructure where people can be seen walking and jogging in the morning. I with my friend used to visit this college whenever I stayed at Moga during summer vacations. Besides as a student my father also used to visit Public Library managed by municipality of the town to get his daily diet of information.  This town has given a number of illustrious personality to the country and society like world famous eye surgeon Dr. Mathura Das who holds world record for performing eye surgeries. Current famous woman cricketer Hamandeep Kaur also belongs to this town. This place has been associated with atleast three generations of my family as my children and wife have also visited this place frequently in their life. A popular proverb about the town is “Moga, Chai Joga”, as its tea, particularly of the stall at the railway station is legenedary.        

Zira Author : Dr. K.S. Kang

Zira

The neighbourhood of Zira, had been for many years a wasteland, when in 1508 Ahmad Shah came from Gugera and founded Zira Khas. He was driven out by Sher Shah Suri, during whose rule nearly all the villages of this ilaqa were located. Mohar Singh was, in turn driven out by Diwan Mohkam Chand, Ranjit Singh’s General, and the ilaqa was added to the Lahore Demense. It was afterwards divided into two portions, of which the eastern portion, which preserved the name, Zira, was made over to Sarbuland Khan, a servant of the Lahore Government, and the western portion, to which the name, ilaqa Ambarhar, was given was made an appanage of Kanwar Sher Singh, son of the Punjab sovereign. At a later date, Sher Singh obtained the possession of the whole ilaqa and abolished the subdivision of Ambarhar.

It is unclear when, exactly, the municipality was founded – one source indicates The Municipality Committee, Zira, was constituted in 1876 while another says 1867.

Zira was one of the two tehsils of Punjab, (the other one being Ferozepur), that was part of a controversy during the partition of India. Sir Cyril Radcliffe created the boundary between India and Pakistan just days before the partition. A draft of the Award was supposedly sent to Evan Jenkins, the provincial governor of Punjab by George Abell, Lord Mountbatten of Burma's private secretary, with a preliminary description of the Punjab boundary. This draft showed the Ferozepur and Zira tehsils being allotted to Pakistan. During partition Zira city had a Muslim majority by 51% Sikhs making up 35% and Hindus 14%. When violence erupted in most Ferozepur Zira area was very quiet because most of the residents treated each other like brothers. Many Sikh residents were really close to their Muslim friends and did not want them to leave, but due to so much problems in the Ferozepur area they had no choice to leave.

The final version of the boundary however awarded the areas to India. This led Mohammed Ali Jinnah, the founder of Pakistan, to proclaim that the Award of the Boundary Commission was unjust, incomprehensible and perverse. He, however, agreed to abide by itThe dispute was settled in 1960 as part of an agreement between the governments of India and Pakistan.

In 1947, at the time of partition, almost all the Muslim community who were living in "Zira" migrated to Pakistan. They settled in "Khanewal" district of Western Punjab. They engaged in farming, business and government services. Most of them named themselves as "Zirvi" (which is a sign of love to their "dharti maa"). These people always praised the good behaviour of Sikhs and Hindus at the time of partition. They remember sweet memories of Zira with tears. It reflects that how a calm and prosperous town was that prior to partition where the people lived with harmony.^[8]

Zira Bomb Case, 1930 – The high-handedness of the British invaders in suppressing the rising tide of freedom movement in India with the worst type of governmental barbarity produced its reaction in the growth and spread of revolutionary activity to avenge the wrongs done to the people. One such incident in the Ferozepur District was the Zira Bomb Case of October 1930. The Zira Bar Association was formed in the same year.

Zira town is associated with my grandfather Sardar Khazan Singh who was a Lambardar and as a Lambardar it was his official duty to collect revenue from his part of his place Dharamkot and to deposit it in Government Treasury situated in Zira Tehsil of Firozepur district. In those days all the lambardars of the villages used to set out for Zira early in the morning with bags of coin from Dharmkot on foot as the distance of this place from Dharamkot was nearly 30 kms. And after depositing the money in the treasury and getting their due if 1 % of the total amount deposited my grandfather and his fellow Lambardars used to enjoy and refurbish their energy by taking a tumbler of milk or tea with bread or bun from a tea stall in front of Tehsil office which was considered as a delicacy and cherished greatly as bread and baker items were introduced mainly by britishers in India. This event repeated many times nearly 100 years ago so I visited this town this summers in the month of May to mark the Centenary of this event connected with my family symbolically and took a cup of tea in the front of Old Tehsil office,  

Places & My Family Author : Dr. K.S. Kang

Places & My Family

                      Author : Dr. K.S. Kang

I strongly believe that places play prominent role in the life of a person. As genes travel for seven generations similarly a person cannot remain unassociated with the places where his ancestors have put their foot on. In this series I have decided to describe the places that have been associated with my parents, ancestors and forefathers. A brief geographical location and history of the place will also be given along with the association that particular place had with some member of my family.

Dharamkot

I begin this series with my ancestral place Dharamkot, which was earlier a municipality of Firozepur District and currently a Sub-Tehsil of Moga District of Punjab. My family had been associated with this place for nearly three centuries when Chief of Dallewalia Misl, Sardar Tara Singh Kang conquered this place in 1760 A.D and handed over to one of his four sons who is believed to be one of my ancestor. It has been named by some person on the name of  his mother Dharmo. Earlier this place was confined in the four walls of its fort whose remains still can be seen. Mostly the agriculture of this place is in the hands of Jat Sikhs belonging to Gill, Kang and Sandhu clans. It has been divided into various colonies known by the name like Agwar Gillan, Agwar Sandhu and the like. The business of this town is mostly in the hands of Agarwal Banias, who are popularly known as Nohrias, as their ancestors have migrated from Nohar in Rajasthan. Another group that has been associated spiritually and religiously with this place is Baba Nidhan Singh, a Nihang who came here and established a famous Gurudwara here. It is in a semi-circular or oval shape in which the main entrance of the place is South facing.

My father’s great grandfather S. Buta Singh was a revenue official of this place designated as Kankash, whose duty was to ascertain the yield of a land so as to calculate its revenue. My father used to tell me that the rulers of the day were so much satisfied with this work that they honoured him with golden letters and wanted to give land in nearby Pandori village as a reward. But he was an honest and conscientious man who refused to take it as he saw that his son, my father’s grandfather was an idle and worthless youth so it will only spoil him more. My grandfather S. Khazan Singh remained associated with it as Lambardar, whose duty was to collect the revenue and deposit it in Tehsil Headquarters at Zira. He later on also became a member of Muincipality of this place. Though he had to resign due o his son who was educated up to Eighth standard and had applied for the job of Toll collector or Nakedar. And in those days it was a rule that son of Muincipal Committee Member could not get a job that was under the municipality. So he resigned for the sake of his eldest son S. Labh Singh who became Nakedar of the town. Sardar Khazan Singh was not educated but by the time his sons S. Labh Singh and Kehar Singh came in this world three entrepreneurs of the town- Lala Arjun Dass, Lala Prabh Dayal Nauharia and Lala Bhagat Ram -opened a school in 1906 A.D that proved to be a blessing to the young people of the town including S. Labh Singh who could get education up to eighth standard and as a result of his education he could get the job of toll collector under municipality of the town at the monthly salary of Rs. !3. Similalrly his younger brother S. Kehar Singh also got his education upto matric in this school and due to his outstanding performance he secured scholarship from the Government of the day and as by that time the awareness had increased so he went for his higher education to the nearby town where he got admission easily in a private college D.M. College.

Though currently my family does not own even an inch of land in this town but still our family is associated with this place as my father has spent a few years of his childhood and youth here and as family of my uncle still resides here. Secondly due to the presence of the shrine of holy sufi Saint Abdulleh Shah at this place and our family visits this shrine almost every year without fail. Over the years this place has gained prominence, particularly after the construction of a bridge over River Sutlez at Shahkot connecting it with Jalandhar and other main towns of the state. Now it is situated on State Highway connecting Moga and Jalandhar and has assumed a great significance as a commercial town for surrounding village with its quite large grain market situated near the bus stand of the town. Politically also this town rose to prominence when member of legislative assembly from this place Jathedar Tota Singh became a cabinet minister in the last government of the state.