Maybe Allahabad remains pristine, in our memories, forever the place it was, populated with the people you mentioned Rahul. In this sea of Delhi, Mumbai, Chennai and the southern states, finding someone who cherishes Allahabad is just...well..overwhelming.

Thanks rahulmal, maybe I will write something on that. Bolta_aaina...I just saw Mughal-e-Azam after many years and in the melodramatic but rather poignant words of Anarkali, ’’kaanton ko murjhaaney ka dar nahin hota.’’ :-)

Later.

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Chatting with you guys, I’m overcome with nostalgia I went to the AU site and found the foll. alumni -

UR L

Pandit Madan Mohan Malviya
Pandit Govind Ballabh Pant
Acharya Narendra Deb
Dr. Shankar Dayal Sharma - Former President of India
Shri Ranganath Mishra - Former Chief Justice of India
Shri K.N. Singh - Former Chief Justice of India
Shri Gopal Swarup Pathak - Former Vice President of India
Shri Gulzari Lal Nanda - Former Prime Minister of India
Shri Chadrashekhar - Former Prime Minister of India
Shri Harivansh Rai Bachchan - Hindi Poet
Prof. Daulat Singh Kothari - Physicist
Prof. Kundan Singh Singwi - Physicist
Prof. Harish Chandra - Mathematician
Prof. Govind Swarup - Physicist
Shri H.N. Bahuguna - Former Deputy Prime Minister of India
Dr. Murali Manohar Joshi - Union Minister, Human Resource & Development

As impressive as it gets Other great names who were associated with the eternal city - Firak, Akbar Allahabadi, Purushottam Das Tandan, Mahadevi Verma, LB Shastri, Amitabh Bacchhan, A N Jha, V.P. Singh ....
A prominent TV actor Varun Vadole studied in Bishop Johnson school and Michelles Anis - daughter of principal of BHS is a successful model.

Jawahara,
Thanks for writing that wonderful article on Alld. I googled ’’Allahabad great people’’, and it appears on top. Please write something about an expat’s love for their hometowns and what they feel when they visit it in your column.

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Allahabad of today does not bear anything of its past. I had visited it about a decade back, only to decide that i shall never visit it again. It was difficult to believe that some of the giants once stalked its alleys and roads.

And Jawahara, please dont my comments in the regular forums. Being a philosphical animal myself , I know better than anyone else that intellect grows by grinding and not by applauding. If I am your true friend, then I will give you only thorns because it is the thorns which stimulate the sensations and not the roses.

And Rahul, Allahabad of yesteryears has died. The last nail in its coffin was put by none other than most famous Allahabadis i.e. Jawahar lal Nehru & Co. He was a politician and these people were free-thinkers. Most of them were influenced by marxism. Nehru ensured that these people live and die as Babus. Indira Gandhi visited Jodhpur during her hey-days. When she was told that a few allahabadis are working in Jodhpur University, she even refused to meet them. She did meet the student leaders but not these fellows.

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Yes, Rahulmal, going back to Allahabad is sad and strange now. All the things we held dear have disappeared, replaced by all the things that Allahabad was not when I was growing up. But still, I feel the tug. It’s not a love for the Allahabad of today but that of the past. And, in some way, talking about it, writing of it, makes it come alive, even if it’s just for an instant. And, I guess, I really don’t care if people call me a bhaiya or a baheni :-)...comes with the territory. But the situation in Allahabad is so utterly hopeless that it makes me want to cry.

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Jawahara,

The free-fall in standards of governance in U.P. & Bihar has made any association with these states a dicey proposition. One can be a target of scorn and even insults if one traces his ancestry to the boondocks of these states. Epithets like Bhaiyya have become commonplace and Hindi movies must share some part of the blame for showing these states in poor light.

Another issue one is faced with while associating with small towns is that people can’t readily recognize the place. Dare say Alld, Badaun, bareilly etc. and you’ll find people staring blankly at you. A connection to Mumbai, Delhi etc. promises instant recognition and probably that’s why I’ve never met any Bengali who was not from Kolkatta or Punju who was not from Delhi. Much to my consternation, people frequently confuse bet Alld & Ahmedabad. Sad, but that’s the way it is.

I’m not very hopeful of the situation improving in near future - a random icon like Pankaj Mishra or Mohd. kaif would emerge from time to time, but gone are the days when gr8s of all fields emerged from that city, or made it their home.

Sanjay,
My mail Id is listed on my profile. Let’s keep in touch.

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And if you guys dont mind, we can take our Allahabadi Solidarity to personal level. You people can contact me at i_m_sans@yahoo.com.We can keep chowk as our philosphical kurushetra.

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My actual name is Sanjay. We are Kayasthas. My title is Saxena. My father was a contemporary of Bachhanji, his junior in English department of AU. Dharamveer Bharti was my father’s closest friend. My Father left Allahabad and moved on to Jodhpur University along with one Jha Sahib( I cant remember his full name) who had become VC of Jodhpur University.

My Mom is quite aware of the then AU Circle. She has grown quite old now but her memories of Allahabad remain as fresh as ever.

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Hi:

Yes, I am from Allahabad. Shubha was actually a classmate of my sister in school. And Mrs. Gupta taught me English Litt at Allahabad University. Which is, as bolta_aaina said the reference to the giant tree. The banyan tree (is it still there on campus somewhere?) is the symbol of AU. The motto is something in Latin that translates to ’’as are the roots so are the branches’’ or something like that.

This is weird. In all my years of living in the US and the years on the web this is the first time I’ve run into any Allahabadis. It’s nice. I live in a world populated by Bombayites and Delhites and Keralites, so this is quite a welcome and pleasant change.

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Inquirer mentioned this on a thread:

jawahara, rahulmal: various
Are both of you from Allahabad? I am too.
Shubha Mudgal is the daughter of Skanda and Jaya Gupta both English Professors at Allahabad University. I grew up and played with Skand whom I used to call Munne Bhaisahab and his father Prof P. C. Gupta was a class fellow of my father. Skand was my three years senior. I graduated from Form AU in Physics thouh.
I am looking forward to meeting Shubha Mudgal this saturday at her concert. Sounds 1950ish to me I didn’t find any contact details on his ariter profile. If you are keen on getting in touch, maybe you can drop him a note there Inquirer or catch up with him on one of the threads.

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Oh sorry I could not see the first post By Giant Tree I meant those whose parents were associated with particularly Allahabad University of the 1950s.... as students or as teachers.......

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Can’t you see the first interact

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I only find a few emoticans gigling here..... are they all allahabadis?

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AFAIK, Jawahara, Inquirer Sir and myself are from Allahabad. I know these people since they contribute to this website. Inquirer sir’s real name is Sushil Bhatnagar. Not sure what ’giant tree’ you referred to in your post on Jawahara’s thread.

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