Of communal bonhomie and simpler times in Phulpur

Phulpur, near Prayagraj, UP, shot into prominence when the country’s first Prime Minister, Pandit Nehru, won three Parliamentary elections from there. Later, his sister Vijaya Lakshmi Pandit also became an MP from Phulpur. It is the only constituency that gave India two Prime Ministers, Pt Nehru and VP Singh.

Having spent some time at Phulpur during the eighties, I found it to be a tranquil place where life moved slowly and everybody knew everyone, may it be the local SDM, college principal, the best doctor in town or even the car mechanic.

Hashmat was Phulpur’s well-known tobacco-chewing mechanic who ran his ramshackle garage at the entrance to the town. There was also Principal Siddiqui who would ride a horse to the college. His logic for preferring a horse over car: “This animal saved me when some hooligans fired at me. It galloped across the fields. Had I been in a car, they would have surely killed me.”

Phulpur was also known for bonhomie between all faiths and communities. Once, there was a curfew in Allahabad. Almost every Muslim neighbour assured us that we needn’t worry, being the only Hindu family in the area. Our landlord, Doctor Aziz, would enquire frequently if we needed anything. Hashmat, too, would ask whenever I visited his garage to have my car repaired.

During Ramzan, our landlady would send us a plethora of special dishes she cooked, and we would seldom cook dinner at home during most of the month.

Our stay in Phulpur as tenants in a Muslim household was quite rewarding, as we learned about their culture and etiquettes. When Doctor Aziz would ask my five-year-old daughter ‘Kaisi ho, Niru?’, she would promptly reply, ‘Aapki dua se sab khariyat hai’ (Everything is fine with your blessings).

In today’s divisive times, my family and I  fondly remember our stay in Phulpur.

Vinod Khanna, Mohali