Malviya Nagar: Where It All Began
‘Ladka toh refugee hai.’
I couldn’t believe my ears. After all I, a Delhi-born boy to Delhi-born parents, was being referred to as a refugee formally, for the first time in my adult life; that too, by none other than my would-be in-laws. This was in 2003, a full fifty-six years after my grandparents had landed in Delhi, from Multan district in Pakistan, after Partition. No marks for guessing that it was meant not as a statement of fact but as a reminder of aukaat for a service-class Punjabi who had won the heart of their most beloved Baniya ‘Jain’ daughter, who came from a business family. It’s another matter that this rather persistent refugee went on to attend the most premier educational institutes, landed a plum job and eventually won the family’s heart and their daughter’s hand.
The original refugees in question, namely my paternal grandparents, were allotted a 200-guz plot in Malviya Nagar, a refugee colony, when they landed in Delhi with their siblings and children in tow. It was on this plot that six independent floors, of 100 guz each, were built. Out of these, house number 90/20, popularly known as ‘Nabbe Bees’, was to later become my home address for the longest time.
As a child, I remember pestering my grandmother to tell me stories of their lives back in Multan. I loved to see the twinkle in her eye as she reminisced about the past and spoke at length about their fields or khet, as she referred to them. The one story that she would always tell me was about how, if the entire khet had to be covered on foot, one would need to leave early in the morning, and even then one would only be back the next day. In turn, I would egg her on with, ‘Haan haan, aap toh fasal bote hue jaate the aur kat-te hue aate the (Of course, you would sow the seeds on your way up and harvest the produce on your way back).’ Growing up, the story stayed with me as a great reminder of the fact that even when that 200-guz house replaced the large expanse of their fields, it did little to dampen their spirits. In fact, they never recounted the horror of Partition—just fond memories of the past life.Doglapan PDF Download Free in this Post from Telegram Link and Google Drive Link , Ashneer Grover all English PDF Books Download Free, Doglapan PDF in English, Doglapan Book Summary, Doglapan book Review
