Initially,
it was not Bandikui but Rajgarh which was proposed to be made a junction
railway station between Agra & Jaipur and Delhi & Jaipur. When the team
came for engineering survey the idea was given up due to number of hills to be
crossed, therefore, Rajgarh was called unviable in 1885.
A fresh
location was reached through engineering survey. Hills were blasted leveled in
Mandavar. After that only, Bandikui became junction. The first person who
studied in Mayo College, gifted his land for Bandikui, he was Raja of Alwar in
whose memory Alwar gate has been erected in Ajmer.
One Mr. F.S.
Young was S.P., U.P. subsequently became I.G. Jaipur, he was an active football
player. European team was so popular those days that people used to come from
far & wide to see the football match.
Playing
tennis became a legacy. Everybody who was somebody wanted to learn tennis to be
close to ‘sahibs’. In 1930 P.J.D. Janison was a prominent District Officer in
Bandikui. It was in 1937 that Mool Narayan B. became the first Indian to get
‘overseas’ pay. An Indian recruited as Ticket collector would get Rs 30/- while
no European/Anglo Indian was allowed to receive less than Rs.55/- ( Rs.25/- was
Personal Pay) Later Parsis were also given this. Maximum pay of Ticket
Collector was Rs.50/-. All three, i.e. Europeans, Anglo Indians and Parsis were
at par regarding salary. No Indian was generally promoted to European grade.
First
Indian, Rai Sahib
Ganga Sahai of Rajgarh was the Station Master to have received European
grade. Eventually, he retired at the pay of Rs. 400/- from Ratlam.
R.D. Gupta
from Rajgarh was the first Guard to have got the European grade. First
Indian to have been elevated to the coveted post of Traffic Inspector
was L.N. Sharma (father-in-law of Dr Shankar Dayal Sharma, ex President of
India) Vimla Sharma was educated in Railway school, Bandikui. L.N. Sharma was
an M.A. in English literature way back in 1922.
There was
perfect demarcation between the colonies of Indians and Europeans. European
household generally would have following:
Khansama
(Indian servant),
Bearer,
Masalchi,
Bhisty
And pet dog.
Dog would be
familiar with Call boy (who delivers ‘position’ of train movements early in the
morning) A type IV quarter of European railway man would consist of two bed
rooms and two side rooms in addition to bathrooms fitted with portable commode.
Each bathroom had night soil drum. Each bathroom had a scavenger.
Grocers prospered due to Anglo Indians. They
seldom used to store/hoard. Every morning, khansama was given list of items to
be bought. Khansama more often than not would bring commodities worth 4 aana
and charge/billed 8 aana. (A packet of beedi,matchbox and 1 aana cash was the
‘gift’ from grocer to khansama for doing this). Be it grocer or khansama both
became rich in no time, amusing is in no time they became poor also. A glaring
example was of one Bohre Lal who rose to be a millionaire but his son Radhe
Shyam had to earn his livelihood working as a Mazdoor (manual labor). Majority of Anglo Indians were perpetually in
debt. They would get even their ‘fix’ of alcohol from railway run cooperative
stores on credit. Clothes, eatables, almost everything was on credit. Unable to
pay debt, they were slapped with attachment orders by the courts. At the time
of their superannuation, often their retirement gratuity was utilized to set
off against their debt. The popular saying those days was:
झांसी गले की फांसी, दतिया गले का हार
ललितपुर न छोड़िये जब
तक मिले उधार
A British
medico while nominating his wife as the beneficiary in the event of his death,
wrote in his Provident Fund declaration “...in the event of my death amount may
be paid to my wife ONLY when she re-marries...”
The
church Prior to 1893
‘service’ was conducted by the Bishop coming from Agra to Bandikui. In 1893
first church was established in Bandikui. Protestants wanting to become
Catholic or vice versa were also baptized. First baptism took place on Nov 25,
1893 of Timothy Francis s/o William Angella Sinyum, Engineer, RMR by Father
S.G. Nakotta. The church bears an
interesting inscription
“In memory
of Isabelle A.N. Godwyn who died in Alexandria on 2-3-1912. Kind words are the
music of the world; this tablet was erected by her friends”
Freemason: On Delhi-Jaipur route the only
Masonic lodge was in Bandikui. Masonic lodge’s foundation stone reads:
“This stone
was laid by Dr William T.
4-3-1898
Lord
Charity”
People will
assemble from nearby places. The next Masonic lodge was in Ajmer only. They
(Freemasons) were sworn to strict secrecy. After that only they could join the
‘brotherhood’. They would wear a distinct ring called Divider ring. They were
sworn that they would not disclose to any one, not even to their wife about the
concepts of Masonic faith. Mr Mool Narain B. was the first Indian in Bandikui
who became member of the Masonic lodge.
World War
II during war entire
male population in reproductive age group was wiped out in Britain. In 1945, a
retired Major from British Army ‘imported’ Indians and the first batch of 800
people (Punjabis) went to England. They worked in factories which were closed
till then on the face of war strife. Another 1200 persons’ shipload went, again
from Punjab. Needless to mention that these 2000 Indians, subsequently,
imported their relations also. It is widely believed that 30% of British
population today is of Indian origin.
Grave yard with unique epitaphs is a
British legacy in their townships all over India. In Bandikui IOW (Inspector of
Works) was required to keep ready coffin boxes in three sizes 6’, 5’ and 3’. On
the event of death, ‘knell’ was sounded. All will assemble there. They would
wait for 24 hours, one, waiting for near and dear ones to join, two, preparing
the mortal remains for the final journey. This preparation included ‘make up’
perfume, tie, suit, cufflink, new shoes, walking stick and yes few bottles of
whisky. IOW was responsible for smooth burial. Grave yard had a beautiful
garden attached to it, tended by 4 gardeners and 2 wells. Here again, Indians
were not allowed to carry their deads via the city/bazaar. In one such case,
when Mr Tondon’s son died the funeral procession was being taken from the midst
of city. The procession was almost arrested while being carried via court. It
was only on the intervention of DTS (District Transportation Supdt.) that they
were freed to proceed.
Shias were stricter than Sunnis. At every
major Railway station there were two separate water huts for Hindus and
Muslims. The Muslim one was called ‘sabeel ahale islam’ where Bhisty would fill
water from masak (large bag made of goat skin)
My
discussion was drawing to a close. Though Mr Kalyan Sahai Gaur had such a fascinating
treasure of memories. He informed me with pride that serving Railways runs in
his family, his family has a tradition of more than 100 years in Railways. In
1892 his father shri Bhairon Lal had joined Railways as a Brakesman at a
monthly salary of Rs.10/- He retired from the post of Guard, Jaipur division in
1930.
When I
expressed desire to leave, he said “not without lunch”. He insisted with such
warmth, affection and respect that I could not refuse. His parting poetry about
the sumptuous meal:
‘अपनी ही किस्मत का खाता है जहां में हर बशर
वो खाये तेरे घर या
जा के खाये अपने घर
इसलिये मशक़ूर हो, तू
अपने उस मेहमान का
जिसने खाया अपना
खाना, तेरे दस्तरखान पर’
( Based on
my discussion with a dedicated Railway man, now late, shri Kalyan Sahai Gaur,
in early 90s)
