3.Ambala, Shimla, Delhi

 

When we moved to Ambala, we had literally nothing. Our entire household kitchen items were packed in two cartons and put in the brake-van along with my scooter when we moved. The bedding and clothes were carried in hold all and a canvas bag. One of my friends has hired a portion in a house close to the workshop. It was 44 Mal Road in Ambala cantonment. A huge Koti, as they call it , it was more than a hundred years old! Those days, it used be at least two years  of waiting to get a government quarters. There were no civilian houses also for hiring nearby. Ambala Town was far away and it is next to impossible for an officer posted in a field unit to stay in town and work in cantonment.

We stayed in that house only for three months as it did not have even flush toilet. The next two years we managed to stay like nomads. I used to hunt for officers staying in quarters who were going on two months leave. They would leave a bedroom, hall and kitchen. We paid them the house rent, the electricity water and furniture charges which otherwise will be charged by. That we did not have much of a luggage was a blessing in disguise.

As the saying goes, “ Jis ka koi nahi, Uske liye Khuda hota hai”. There was an officer posted to Leh and he had retained the government quarters on academic grounds till the end of the academic session. But after he left for Leh, his family left for their native place. They needed someone to take care of their house and articles left in the house. This was a god-sent opportunity. I promised to take care of the same and he left a bedroom, kitchen, hall. Every first of the month I would send his wife the hiring and allied charges. Later I was lucky to get the allotted temporary accommodation to one Army Dental Corps officer posted in Ambala.  He was staying in the MH officers’ Mess and most of his free time he used to be playing cards at Sirhind Club close by. He did not want to move but however took over the house and happy to hire it out to any needy officer!   I grabbed the opportunity and we stayed in that converted barrack type accommodation for more than a year and half (when ultimately I got government accommodation after two years and four months of waiting! Well after six months I was posted out to Delhi!) . 

Two months after I reported to Ambala. I was sent on Temporary duty to HQ Western Command to officiate as DADEME in the EME Branch. Those days HQ Western Command was in Shimla.  To begin with it was for 89 days. I  got a single officer’s accommodation adjoining the Officers’Mess where families are permitted but food has to be from the Mess!  There was no entitled ration those days and what I could earn a little extra as DA on T/D, would be eaten away by the mess bill for self and Ranjana. Still I could not leave her in Ambala with the baby.

Except for the blankets I purchased in Bulgaria for us and the baby, the blankets issued in IMA and two Army blankets , we had nothing else to keep us warm. It was also one of the severest winters of the decades. I purchased two primitive coil room heaters one to serve also a heater for bread, chapatti! The other to dry the cotton diapers of the baby. While I had the woolen pullovers, overcoat etc, Ranjana and the baby had none. We bought her two heavy woolen cardigans and pullover and woolen dress for the baby Vicky from the road side Nepali women vendors. Ranjana also picked up the rudiments of knitting.

In Shimla, the Officer’s Mess and accommodation was at the end of the mal Road. No vehicles were permitted to ply except that of the Army Commander and Ambulances on the Mal Road.  All officers have to walk to the office. The office timing was 0930 to 1600 hrs with a thirty minute break for lunch.  Lunch used to be ferried from homes/ officers’ Mess. The imposing HQ Southern Command had huge offices with fir place in all rooms which kept us as well as our lunch boxes warm!

Only on Mondays we donned the uniform and all other days we had lounge suits or combination. On these days, most of the officers’ spouses would take a walk along Mall Road at about four in the evening to meet their husbands walking back home. There was a hall of Shimla Dramatic society in the mall road where they can order a cup of tea and snacks.  That apart, they would do shopping for vegetables and provisions!

After a few weeks, Ranjana also joined the ladies and made many friends and learnt from them the intricacies of knitting wool. Perhaps she made so many woolen sweaters later in life that we never had to buy any readymade item!

 More than anything else, Ranjana had the needed relief from household chores like cooking, washing or room upkeep and devote her full time for the upkeep of the demanding baby. 

    Vicky brings the Mall Road to a stop!

Vicky is more than  a year old and his hair had gone long and unruly. Ranjana decided to have his hair cut. But his tonsure at Swamimalai was yet to be done.  We were not sure when I would get leave to visit Swamimalai. Ranjana cut a length of his hair and kept it preserved for discarding it at Cauvery at Swamimalai whenever we visited and to pay the   tonsure fee to the temple and some tips the barber there. So it was then permissible to get Vicky’s hair trimmed without invoking the wrath of God!

I told Ranjana to come to the Shimla Drama society on a Saturday evening as usual. The barber shop was just opposite and I have already fixed the time with the barber in the morning. We took Vicky there. The barber put a wooden plank on the barber’s chair and placed Vicky on it, tied   the apron around and sprayed water with his gadget on his head. Vicky was thrilled by the fine spray!  But the monument the barber picked up his scissors and comb, all hell broke loose. I on one side and Ranjana on the other tried to hold him and to prevent him from jumping out and hurting himself. His loud protests and crying attracted all people nearby. Soon my office friends and their wives and children who were in the Society Hall came rushing and a small crowd gathered outside. A lot of cajoling, bribes with toffee, chlorates, and toys would not convince him. A small child of an officer volunteered to sit in the next barber’s chair and undergo haircut as a demo! Various suggestions were given by well meaning friends and their families. Ultimately a concocted story was told that the langurs would take away any baby whose hair was not cut . That convinced him!

 Our visit to Jakhu Hill Temple. The Jakhu hill Temple is the highest point in Shimla and provides a Panoramic view of the town. It is a favourite tourist spot and the hanuman Temple on top is also very famous and popular. It is about a kilometer plus from our HQ at the end of mall Road. It is a steep climb. On a Sunday, we decided to go there around noon.  Vicky was fully covered in woolens with gloves pinned to the sweater sleeve to prevent it slipping out. I carried Vicky on my shoulders around my neck. Everything was fine and we had a nice trip and by three in the afternoon we were climbing down. Vicky was again perched on my top. It started snowing lightly and we hurried our descent. After we reached the Mall Road, Ranjana noticed that Vicky’s right palm  was bare and the glove was missing. Putting him down, we noticed that the glove was still pinned to the sleeve but his palm had been exposed and become blue and swollen. He had removed the glove with his teeth perched on my shoulders! Ranjana was shattered seeing his swollen dark palm. She started crying that he would develop frostbite and might lose his palm. Fortunately, there was a clinic in the mall road and we quickly entered and told the doctor. He examined his palm and immediately asked the attendant to get some Shalgam (turnip). He boiled them in the water and gave a fomentation of his palm with that water.  He told Ranjana to carry home some Shalgam and repeat the fomentation. He said that we brought the baby in time and even an hour’s delay would have resulted in a serious condition. He convinced Ranjana that there was no need for any medication or injection, the color would return and the swelling would go away by the next morning.

   It was a great lesson for both of us for future.   

   Shimla witnessed the worst winter of the decade and there was a heavy snow fall even in the middle of April! My duty with HQ Western Command came t an end and we returned to Ambala in May. I had bought some vinyl LP records in Bulgaria in local currency. Abba, Boney M were among them. Also a few Bulgarian music. I wanted to buy a turn table. Ambala is scorching in summer and very cold in winter. Though milk and vegetables were cheap, we needed to buy a refrigerator and a desert cooler on priority, unlike these days, there were no “buy now pay later” or credit cards. So it was only your reputation with the seller to give the items on part/ installment payments. Fortunately, Ranjana got friendly with a lady who was wife of a electronic shops owner. He agreed to sell us a turn table with amplifier and speakers and a Alwyn Refrigerator on an installment payment of Rs300/ month! I got a desert cooler made though a local shop to see us through the summer months.

My father expired when we were in Ambala and though I rushed by flight from Delhi I could reach only by next evening. Ranjana reached there with her father from Pune. Somehow they managed to reach Palamarneri! Rajang’s father returned to Pune after two days. He stayed in my Periamma’s house. As I was busy with the ceremonies, I could not check on his comfort. Ranjana did not complain. Viky became a pet for most of my relatives at Palamarneri. Ranjana also became quite friendly and popular with my relatives and others in Palamarneri  in spite of language barrier.

Just before my tenure at Ambala came to a close, I was allotted a government quarters. My posting to another AD Regiment Workshop at Delhi was received. I had to keep Ranjana in the guest room of the Officer’s mess and hunted for a house to hire. The waiting list at Delhi was even worse than Ambala. We kept our luggage with Capt. Kathuria. Fortunately I could hire a new house at Janakpuri D block for Rs400 a month on rent reimbursement. Almost 50% of take home pay! It used to take months to get the reimbursement from CDA o Pune. I had to move heaven and earth to convert it to a MES hired accommodation!

Anju got married.   While we were Delhi Ranjana lost her elder brother and then her father in quick succession. We had to undertake trips to Pune and I did the ceremonies on the banks of Indrayani river at Aalandi.   Vicky was admitted to school nearby in Janakpuri and then to Army Public School  Dhaulakuan.  Ranjana’s mother started to stay with us.. Finances were at all time low! 

I picked up the substantive rank of Major on completing 13 years of service and shifted to HQTG , Computer Complex! The rank did not give my any substantial financial benefit. The OPEC increased the Crude oil prices tenfold and petrol costed ten times. Inflation was rampant and it was virtually impossible to make both ends meet! I was in red almost every month.   

TV came to India! Telecast of Ramayan and other serials were new attractions. Rebuffed by a neighbor’s child when he went watch TV Vicky felt hurt and started crying on reaching home. Ranjana was upset. I promised Ranjana that I would to buy a TV immediately though I didn’t know how to finance it. After running around in Janakpuri, I got hold of a shop which was prepared to sell it on ten installments! It was a Donora, a popular model in those days.    Both Ranjana and Vicky were very happy!  Vicky proudly announced to the neighbour that he has got a TV and would not come to their house to watch Ramayan anymore!

   My office work was very demanding. We were allotted use of the main frame computer mostly during the night shifts. Though the distance was not much from Janakpuri, it was really taxing going by scooter. However, I enjoyed developing systems and writing programs to implement them. This gave me a good grounding.  Though there were many places on interest around Delhi, I managed to take them by scooter on Sundays and Holidays. Ranjana would make packed food for our outings to Boat Club, Republic day Parade, Lodhi garden etc. We went to Agra to visit the Taj! 

    Ranjana picked knitting and embroidery. The finer aspects of knitting like attaching sleeves, making aV –Neck etc , she learnt from a Punjabi lady. Embroidery was self taught from books. The first embroidery work was  for Vicky’s nursery! This is still in our bedroom!

 Ranjana used to buy Women and Home, Stitch craft and other magazines from road side second-hand book sellers and mastered the arts of knitting, embroidery and painting. Our entire household was decorated with her artwork as we could not afford to buy them. Never the less all her art works are worth their weight in gold! Later she diversified into appliqué work on clay pottery, stained glass painting particularly on birds and flowers.