Dewan House…..Down the Memory Lane

- Tailpiece—By Ravish Bahadur (Tare Sahib)
I was inspired by the letter from Anita to recount what I had heard about Rampur , Dewan House and as, I thought, saw them during my times there. Today if anybody looks back on those days or even people of my generation it will look more of a fiction than reality. Imagine so many people living together with only three dry latrines, one for the ladies inside the house and two outside, one being very small and note with no doors. Nobody ever did mind and all lived in harmony. And the bathrooms, one for gents outside with a cloakroom and the ladies one had no roof. Can you imagine this today? In seventies Viren Sahib (Shri Virendra Bahadur son of Shri Shamsher Bahadur) had sent two flush latrines for fixing. Only thing in abundance was happiness may be because we all lived in `present` and not worried about what we did not have. Modern times had not hit us inspite of education.
Another important blessing of those times was bonding between relatives and even among the people of Rampur of those days. It was not that we were causal. We did our best given the meager resources at that times. Even all sports were fought with all seriousness even the though the courtyard was not big. Even Table Tennis was play on a `takhat` or wooden table. Raja Sahib ( my younger brother Shri Brij Raj Bahadur) was the best player, which even my class fellow Mr. I. U. Khan now a leading criminal laywer in Delhi and himself also a good TT player once told me in Delhi.

I remember Raja Sahib used to keep a record of his wins over Sat Pal son of our tenant Dr. Behl and take his signatures with date. I remember when Suresh Sahib ( Shri Suresh Bahadur Satyawakta son of Shr Shiam Bahadur `BP`) himself a good player of Badminton was transferred to we used to play at the indoor court in Sheesh Mahal, Rampur Qila (Fort) where regular tournaments were played.
I would give some more examples of bonding;
Once Bhukku Sahib ( my elder brother Shri Vijai Bahadur) told me that while he and bhabi were waiting at the NY airport for the shuttle to change the terminal a Limousine Taxi stopped in front of them and the driver offered in Hindustani to drop them at the terminal free. He said that he was from Pakistan and insisted on them. They accepted the offer. He asked them which part of India they were from. When he told him he is from Rampur UP. The taxi driver was stunned and said that his mother migrated to Pakistan in 1947 when she was six years old and has always been telling him that whenever he gets any passenger from Rampur he should bring him to meet her. He give his mobile no. and said that he will come to receive him when he comes next. Once I met Yash Pal son of Dr. Behl our tenant in nineties after three decades. He was with me for half an hour but talked about DH and Rampur for twenty five minutes. When I was looking for a tenant for my daughter Radhika`s flat in Gurgaon near Delhi one gentleman Nadeem came to me desperately looking for a flat but the matter was immediately settled when he said he was from Rampur and he is there for the last four last four years. I cannot help mentioning here about Shri Laxminarain son of famous Shri Cauuamal the famous sweets seller of Rampur. Whenever he came to Delhi for some work Achchey Mian was his constant companion taking him wherever he had work although his brother-in-law was MS of Bara Hindu Rao Hospital, a big man. Such was the bonding.
I hope more and more people post their experiences to supplement the efforts of Yogesh who has set up this website and taken upon himself this time consuming job in addition to his business. I will do my bit in future also.

However if anybody is not getting time or hesitant to write can contact me in Delhi after a week or so at my mobile no. 09818429449.