The Allahabad I Knew

Inquirer, can you please write to me at azharzr@usa.net

My grandfather was a professor there during the same days -- Naeemur Rehman -- of the Arabic Department.

We can share notes.

Regards

Can anyone give me the coordinates of the Allahabad Univ on Google Earth?

I got to read this piece only now. It is quite likely that the author and others may have moved on to other concerns, yet I cannot help offering a few comments on the two main `laments`- Decline of Allahabad and decline of the Allahabad University.
As for the decline of the city, it will be sufficient to point out that Allahabad, like any other city, is no island. Its decline is directly attributable to the steady aggaravation in qulity of life in Uttar Pradesh. Allahabad has fared no worse than Lucknow, Kanpur Agra or Aligarh or even Dehradun which now (happily?) forms part of the newly established State of Uttaranchal. Green revolution petered out by 1980s, emergence of Power-loom technologies put paid to larger Textile Mills and the `commanding heights` of the Public sector are part of history. With the economic growth being in the negative, quality of life in these places has taken a hit. With land being the only `appreciating commodity` it is no surprise that it attaracts `entrepreuership` of the lumpens. Besides, while I do not have the 2001 census figures at hand, it si clear that between 1991 1nd 2001 urban population (for the country as a whole) grew by more than 35 million. Leaving aside births, it is clear that at least 20 million migrated from the rural areas. In a situation of economic depression and bankruptcy of the state treasuries this has ensured ghettoization of urban areas. Lastly, like almost other important cities of UP and Bihar the local elites have spared no efforts to remove temselves from the municipal limits of these cities for whichever other places catching their fancy and suiting their circimstancs.
As for Allahabad University, the explanation is much simpler. Even in its hey-days (1940s onwards) the institution fell victim to in-breeding, so much so that, there are Departments where in the last six decades or so no one from any other University was allowed to join the faculty. In breeing, too, was of a special variety in that there was quite a bit of `caste context` to it. Research and acdemics generally had a back-seat in a situation where the success of the University was measured by the number of alumni making it to the civil services. It is in fact, rather surprising that the institution did not wither away much earlier.
(By the way, the remark of Firaq Saheb on the birth of the young (now big) B appears to have deliberately been misconstrued by the Allahabad wags. It is clear from the relevant volume of Hrivansh Rai`s autobiography (volume-II ?) and some other contemporaneous accounts that Firaq Saheb was only expressing the self evident truth that remarriage and fatherhood for Harivansh Rai (who paassed through a decade and more of desperate penury) became possible only because Prof A.N Jha had taken the poet under his wings and appointed him as Lecturer- Bachchan sr was clearly in awe of Prof Jha).
I m sorry if the above comments would be rather at odd with the nostalgic tenor of the write-up which definitely makes very absorbing reading.

Re: # 51
Dear Azhar Saheb,
This is regrding your request about your grandfather. I understand he was Head Deptt of Arabic and Persian and you can get detailed information about him from the following sources;
1. Prof S. Aijaz Husain`s autobiography ``Meri Duniya`` which is primarily about his collegues and students in Allahabad University from 1922-58. The book is available in most University Library.
2. The distinguished Urdu Scholar Shamsur Reman an old Allahabad alumnus who can be accessed at srfaruqi@sancahrnet.in
3. Dr Mehmoodur Rehman former Vice-Chancellor Aligarh Muslim University who, apart from being a student of the late Professor also served for a short-while as a techer in the University, he has written a snippet about his teacher and can be contacted at 91-22-23266869. Naved Masood (naved.masood@gmail.com)

This is a wonderful article and it is a pity that a city lined with the footprints of poets and writers should deteriorate. But sadly this is the story of all cities in India. Advertisement bill boards with Multi national brands forms the background, festivals and events sponsored by PEPSI and COKE are the main attractions and as someone commented, the absence of a Mc Donald is something to cry about !

Re: # 51 Azhar - nice surpize to see you here! I too came to this site by accident trying to look up Beli road. Your grandfaterh lived at 17 Beli `road not 27. According to another site the address is now occupied by a Pharmaceutical company -- Sach Pharmaceuticals or some such name. I do hope someone here will reply to your queries.

I would also like readers to comment if anyone remembers the booksellers and publishers Kitabistan of Allahabad. Thanks.

Aali

After a long time I read a piece which speaks of memories. Liked it. Wish the writer had some patience to go over the piece one again before publishing it. Still I liked it.

I have happened to land on this site by chace looking for ``Foundation Club``. I have no link with Allahabad except that my grandfather lived and worked there. He was a professor at the Allahabad Univ. and I can relate to a lot written here because I am writing his biography.

My be the older ones among you know him. He was Prof. Muhammad Naeemur Rehman ( M N Rehman) and used to reside at 27 Beli Rd. I have heard that his house has now been divided into a full colony.

Please write back to me. I need help and materials for his biography.

Azhar Zia-ur-Rehman
Abu Dhabi

Dear Jawahara,
The article on Allahabad was poignant, and took me to a fantasy land that I never experienced. A quiet town in India, with bookstores lining the sidewalks, and polite store keepers talking about Borges and Laxness. I grew up in Ranchi, and it never had Allahabad`s legacy to lose. The book culture never took hold in the first place. But it has all the other trappings of empty glamour and notoriety.

I came across your article because I am trying to reach the owners of Wheeler Books in Allahabad. They have been my portal to the wonderful world of books. And I would like to see if that world can be widened.

I would greatly appreciate it if you could contact me at katari@gmail.com

Once traveling from Bombay I met a gentleman who envied me for hailing from Allahabad. He had sometimes in the early sixties studied in the Ewing Christian College before moving on to earn his bread and butter. He remembered the city as one where the sidewalks were broader than the roads, and where the environment was an intoxicant to the thinking and the literary inclined. Well, gone are those days and the once big bungalows and bigger lawns surrounding them have fallen prey to builders and profiteers. The roads, once the pride of UP, are now jammed, and snarled with traffic and encroachments. Once the pride of the city, Civil Lines has become a concrete jungle where buildings are vying with one another to block out the sky and the vehicular traffic add to the growing pollution of the city. The side walks, once as broad as the road itself, finds itself encroached by chaatwallahs and other ‘officially’ endorsed encroachments. Gone are the days when you could take a stroll in civil lines to refresh yourself with a fresh supply of oxygen. Chances now are you will end up with filling the coffers of the pharmacist. The water supply undertaking which only few years back boasted of a twenty-four hours uninterrupted water supply is now groaning and crumbling in supplying a city with water just a few hours a day.

This city which gave the world its first airmail service finds its postal service touching the lowest ebb in postal history. The university, once hailed as the ‘Oxford of the East’, which gave the country and the sub-continent outstanding political, legal and literary leaders, is “groveling” in the dust. The city is decaying. It is in the last throes of its cultural and political death. Bereft and shorn of its due importance, abandoned by the very personalities it nurtured, it is waiting to be consigned to dust, unwept and unsung.

Dear Sir

It hurts badly reading your article.........hurts not because of your writing.....hurts because unfortunately the truth is such.........i have spent more than 30 years of my life in the city.....was born as a proud and true allahabadi to the core......the values still engraved in each cell of my blood. My parents made me learn (at a very young age) why I should be proud of my city.......as i take a walk down the glorious past of the city......it only brings tears to my eyes. A city with a heritage that can make anybody envey its people. The city has taught me that what it means to be rich.....not with money.....but with knowledge....i feel proud because I am a part of the city which was once called ``City of Elite People`` and a part of the University which was once called ``Oxford of East``. However, it hurts to know that these are now only a thing of past.......I read one of the interact mentioning what ``Firaq`` had to say when Amitabh was born.......a very few people would (now) know that it was due to some great people from the university like the Deb`s, Niralaji, Firaq Saheb, Pant Ji..that Mr. H. Bachchan was able to rise to what he became afterwards. There was not a single evening (during his courtship days and post marriage) when he did not visit the warden`s house (Mr. Deb`s) at Holland Hall and spent his evenings there. Not many people will know that there was a stretch of time when these people have helped Mr. Bachchan run his household by contributing from there own salary. Not many people would know that It was due to Mr. A N Jha that Bachchanji acquired his ``Neelam`` stone and became famous in few weeks time (He had no money to buy it when perhaps needed the same the most). The past is glorious as it can be. It was the people who made the city the way it was.......it hurts to see the city bleed with people who are just the opposite of what these ``few good men`` were. My heart beats for the city.......no city in the world can match the rich heritage of Allahabd. At Alld there was a true confluence of the ``Place and People``. I would love to roam around the city streets with no pollution and with fewer people. But Alas! it is now a wishfull thinking only......It really HURTS!

Reading the article was walking down memory lane. I belong to Allahabad and can empathize with writer about the changes disfiguring the Allahabad we knew.
I have not visited the city, it is now 10 years, and after reading this piece am motivated to reconstruct my roots.

Also, apart from the lete Hanumanji mandir (thanks rahulmal) which is outside the fort, there is also a temple within the fort...or rather under it. The Patalpuri, underground temple houses many different deities, including the Akshayvat or undying banyan tree. Local legend has it that Akbar was a hindu in his previous life and jumped from the tree (since it is supposed to grant one`s dying wish) and wished that he be born a king in his next life :-).

The fort is now an army outpost though Patalpuri is sometimes open for devotees. There is also an Ashoka pillar within the fort though that is not open for viewing by the public. I went there on a school trip in the 6th grade.

Jang,

Good question!! I googled this and found:

``Emperor Akbar founded this city in 1575 and called it by name of `Illahabas’, which has now become modern Allahabad``.

Even today, the places of religious importance for Hindus are near Sangam while the main city has a high percentage of Muslims. Allahabad main city has mostly Muslim names like Rasoolabad, Allahpur, Minhazpur etc. And yes, the city centre is called Chowk :-)

Allahabad also has Akbar`s fort, built by the emperor for securing his supply lines. There is a famous story about the construction of the fort. The land chosen for the original plan had a Hanuman temple. To go ahead, emperor`s people demolished the temple and tried to move the deity. But the deity did not move. After applying a lot of force, the statue fell on its back and lay there. When Akbar heard about this, he ordered the architects to change the original plan and let the status be there. Since then `lete Hanumanji` has become a major temple in this area.

Jang, Allahabad gots its current name under Akbar, who named it after his religion, Din-e-ilahi. So, it was probably in the 16th century or so. There are some who insist that the name should be spelled as Ilahabad or Elahabad. Actually the hindi spelling starts with a chhoti e. There is also one railway station in Allahabad that is still called Prayag.

Yes, classical music used to be big there. The Sangeet Samiti, in particular did a lot for classical music in Allahabad and in UP. Till I lived there, there was always some concert or the other going on there. I rememeber Sarojini Hostel though I don`t remember the looks of the girls. Of course, Shubha Mudgal is from Allahabad for those of you who keep up with current classical music.

Thanks for info on Netrahat.

When did Allahabad get its current name? I believe the original name was Prayag.

Allahabad is also a big centre of indian classical music. There is a Sarojini hostel at the U which used to be full of talented (and pretty!) girls.

Biharis actually form a single largest group in IAS cadre. They are very bright, especially the ones from Ranches (Ranchi). There is a very goo public school called Netrahat, fondly called a ``Khaddar Public School`` since the students study in khaddar kurta-pajamas (none of those Ties). Their alumni is no less prominent that Doon, though they speak the thick bihari accent.