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.