My Memories
MY MEMORIES
My memories goes back to 1958-59. Our Haveli is situated on the east of the village at the extreme right hand corner. There was a famous 'Chelian Da Chaubara' and big raised kachha platform ( ) opposite verandah in the Haveli with a big Seesham ( ) tree in the centre and Sreen ( )tree on the corner. Usually you could find four to five people sitting and chatting on the row of charpoys on the raised kachha platform throughout the day. Facing the Chaubara there was bunch of big mango trees and you could see the tiny hills at around fifteen to twenty kilometers. Those trees and hill view were adding charms to the get up of the surroundings of the Haveli.
2. There were more than twenty cattle (Buffaloes, oxen, cows and a horse) in the Haveli spread around in six kanal area. By the side of the 'Chaubara' there was a big cattle shed, the roof of which was generally used by the younger male generation of the family to sleep at night. The nights spent on this roof cannot be replaced by the modem bed rooms with all the entertainments gadgets. It was just a fun to be together on the cattle shed roof top in the evening. All the male guests used to be in the Chaubara (or place opposite) with no electricity/no fan but with six windows opened ajar and two big doors fully open.
3. At the backside of the Chaubara there was a tubewell run by diesel engine. This tube well being so close to the village was a meeting point for every one where the people used to come for bath and water their cattle. This tube well was further adding charm to the 'Chelian Di Haveli'.
Note:- Now there is no 'Chaubara, no mango grove in the Haveli and also there is no tube well existing.
4. Our House:- Our house used to resemble the letter 'F’. Centre portion consisting of two big rooms were built during 1933 where as outer leg of 'F' consisting of four rooms and verandah was built during 1956 along with the side store room & verandah. There is a small famous worship place where in some engraved stones are kept which were obtained while digging the foundation of the house during 1956. Only one stone was available before that which was kept in the kachha wall & whole family used to worship it.
5. The house is at a distance of approximately 75 yards from the Haveli. All the men folk used to stay in the Haveli during the day & ladies used to be in the house. Ladies were coming out of the house for some special purpose only.
6. There was a time when around thirty heads used to stay in this house. With around fourteen fifteen children at one time in the evening there used to be big hungama in the house. Those are the most memorable days.
7. Area around open space 'A' was generally used for the house people and area around open space 'B' was used for all the guests slightly away from the noises of children. It is worth mentioning that there were hardly a day when there was no guest in the house.
8. The activities in the house were unbelievable such as:
(a) There was no such system that only the mother will look after her children. Believe it or not if a lady is giving bath to the children she is doing that only irrespective of her own children. Equal care was given to all the children.
(b) On a particular day/time, if a lady is busy making chapaties or is busy in cleaning utensils/washing clothes, she is doing that only for everyone.
(c) Once an old lady of the family was walking down to another village with eight children which was pointed out by some passer by lady. Believe it or not the old lady went to the extent of tearing her apart for doing it. Believe it these children were of the whole family & not her own. This was the love and affection between the elders & the juniors to move together.
9. There was a property (House only) distribution, during late eighties among the family in which whole area around open space 'A' was demolished & reconstruction during early nineties in the present shape by S. Iqbal Singh , S. Harjinder Singh sons of S. Chanan Singh. Land distribution was carried out subsequently during 1993. Harjinder Singh has constructed his house in the haveli during 2001 & left his share of the old house to Iqbal Singh.
10. Holidays:- Only our family was staying away from the village because of father's service. The attachment for all of us (children) with the village family was so much that we were just waiting for the opportunity to go to the village.
11. Those days there used to be school holidays for two months during July, August. I remember we were getting the letter from S. Shankar Singh (our uncle) every year prior to holidays inviting us to village. The letter used to be in Urdu. We were requesting our father to read that letter for us and waiting anxiously for his comments to send us on holidays . Once decided our anxiety to reach village was increasing every day. There were two main reasons for getting attracted towards the village:-
(i) Eight of us (cousins) were of the same age group,
(ii) All the senior family members were giving very good encouragements for the good job done inspite of it being of a very small nature. We were treated as VIP's in the house.
12. School Home work & mangoes security:- Those days water melons & Muskmelons was the very attractive crop during summer holidays. In addition to that there were mangoes also. All the children used to either sit in the fields to protect the water melons/ Muskmelons crops or in the mangoes grooves to protect the mangoes. Since all of us were either in the same class or one class up or down, we used to do the school home work for each other e.g. I was good in math, so I was responsible for completing math work for everyone & other chap was assigned to copy the essays/answers from the book. Seniors used to feel very happy in seeing the youngster studying hard in addition to doing the
mango/water melon security job. All the school work was done either in the temporary hut in the fields or under some tree. Those were the unforgettable memories.
13. Mango crop used to create lots of problems for us youngsters. Elders used to wake up us early morning to go to mango groove & collect the mangoes dropped during night . It was very irritating to get up early morning & we were praying that God should not grow the mango crop next year.
14. Games:- Everyone wanted to have a good physique . Mustard oil massage, push up, pull up & sit ups were very common. Surjeet was the fastest runner & Iqbal was the best body builder. Those days Kabaddi was the most common game played between the different village teams . During the day Unch Neech ( ) in the mango grooves and in the evening Kabaddi near the mango grooves were most common games played by the village youngsters. Khuddo Khundi was another common game in which khuddo used to be a ball made by the ladies out of cloth & stich work where as Khundi used to be a branch of tree in the form of hockey used as hockey.
15. Chhinj ( ) (wrestling Bouts):- Wrestling bouts were the other activity to be watched by everyone which used to be an annual affair. Beating up the drums in the evening hours which could be heard in the far off villages used to be the source of the advertisement for holding the wrestling bouts in that village, beating the drums. Village Lit and village Dhamiam were famous for calling renowned wrestlers for wrestling bouts. There used to be plenty of guests for the village (Holding wrestling bouts) on the day of the function & a day subsequent to that. There used to be prior preparation for the same by the whole village community.
16. Naklan ( ) (Imitations):- This function used to be during nights in which partcipants were giving the jokes and doing the imitations. Source of advertisement was the same as for wrestling. As put across earlier, all the male young generation use to sleep on the roof of cattle shed, the whole lot jumped from roof at the back side in the field and went to see the Naklan at a village approximately four kilometers away against the wishes of elders sleeping at the ground floor. To the bad luck of everyone, it started raining, then there was no movement on the cattle shed roof, the mischief came to the notice of elders & the youngsters had a tough time. Can you believe it today, covering the whole distance on foot in the night of darkness just to see the Naklan in a bad weather.
17. Guests
(a) During the mango season there used to be lots of guests with the family. Guests were offered with the buckets full of mangoes/water in it on the bed sides. Whole family members used to sit together, chitchat & enjoy the mangoes along with guests.
(b) Desi Sharab was in big demand. Few of my college friends visited my village & always remembered the visit. One of my friend (Class fellow) is an industrialist at Phagwara, he requested me and my friend Opinder (Now in America) to inform him about the final year Engineering College result since we both were at Ludhiana. After the result was out, we started for Phagwara, enjoyed beer with our host at Poonam Bar in celebrations of degree completion. It was in the evening & both of them proposed me to visit our village for a night stay. He was having Royal Enfield Motor cycle & we were having brand new scooter. We started off from Phagwara in a big Josh, on the way we crossed a truck carrying Baraat, Opinder's turban flew off & I could catch it being a pillion rider of my friend on bullet. The whistling & hooting done by the Baraat party is memorable. Believe it we did not stop but carried on. From Dasuya we purchased whiskey bottles, reached village famous Chaubara & started having our drinks. After half an hour, the uncles who were coming back from the fields with a bottle of Desi Sharaab with them, saw the light in Chaubara & came there straight They saw us & both parties were at high level(drunk). My friends exchanged the whiskey bottle with desi sharaab, enjoyed drinks, had dinner there only & started back early morning without informing the elders since no one knew our where about at Ludhiana (Parents being there).
(c) Kachi / Pakki Mithe Di Chai: Those days everyone in the village was having tea not with sugar but with Gur/Shakkar ( ) . Tea prepared with Gur/Shakkar used to be called 'Kachhe Mithe di Chai where as tea prepared with sugar used to be called 'Pakka Mithe di Chai'. Sugar used to be scarcely available. Tea was not prepared as one cup per head, it used to be consumed in glasses. There used to be the special message for the ladies to prepare ‘Kachche Mithe di Chai or Pakke Mithe di Chai' depending upon the type of guest. Whole day the Chullaha used to be on with boiling water ready for preparing any type of tea.
18. Family Marriages:- It was the whole responsibility of S Shankar Singh our uncle till he expired during 1973 to search out a boy or girl, fix up the marriage & solemnize it. Rest whole family members were extending the helping hand physically or financially. I remember two marriages which have left special marks on my mind.
(a) Marriage of S. Amrik Singh was fixed at V. Rajowal near Hoshiarpur. I was only eight years old . I remembered, we hired three taxies and a bus. Taxies used to be very rare those days. Loud speaker was fitted on the top of the taxy, it was put on while departing/reaching the village. The whole Baraat stayed three days at V, Rajowal. It was a big celebration and we enjoyed thoroughly.
(b) Marriage of Mrs Malkit Kaur was fixed at V. Jalota during 1972 with S. Ajaib Singh s/o S. Thakur Singh. S. Thakur Singh was very famous man of the area, Baraat was near about double than expected. Moreover it rained previous night. On one side family was very busy clearing the mud by putting the fresh soil and on the other side family was busy in arranging additional furniture and crockery for the Baraat, There were very few tent houses those days and they were having very limited furniture /crockery. At such a short notice requirement could be met by hiring crockery from three different tent houses (could get the left over from them) and furniture requirement met by borrowing the table chairs from school. It was really a show of strength for both the families.
19. Sanjha Chullaha:- Probably ours was the only Parivar in Jat community where ten brothers with their families were staying together. Number of eating heads for each meal used to be around thirty five to forty. Our friends were very keen to see the kitchen management. It used to be flawless with loud laughter's and unbearable children noises for the elders. I wish we could go back to the same old system where we could share our 'Rukhi Missi happily with a glass of 'Lassi'.
20. Match Boxes:- During sixties Match Boxes wer used very economically. Pathies (Gober dried up) were given fire and half put under soil (Mitti) & these pathies will keep burning day & night continuously. Fire was maintained by firing another pathi before the earlier one is finished. Alternatively our house used to be the source providing fire to the whole village since our chulla fire will never extinguish either because of the family size or because of incoming guests.
21. Our Tubewell:- During 1968 first tube well in the village was made operational by the "Chubhare Walian Da Parivar". I was on holidays at village during those days. We all were chit chatting in the evening on our beds before sleep and were feeling envy of the first tubewell. Our uncle S. Shankar Singh heard the conversation, he came there and asked us if you are so keen then pick up all the required equipment from their tubewell and start digging operation from tomorrow onwards. We all felt so happy and assured him we will do everything. There is a lot of work involved in digging operations. All five of us (Surjeet, Iqbal, Dilbag, self & Jasbir were young and energetic. Kashmir
cousin ( ) of Iqbal, Dilbag was of our age, joined us in the digging operation and we stayed together. Summers were at its peak. We were carrying 'shakar' in a 'Parat everyday to the tube well site and drinking water mixed with shakar' frequently to keep our self cool. Luck was not in our favour. We have to dig at around twenty places in near about twenty days that year and finally the water pipe of two and half inch was not full. Next year again we started digging operation and the tubewell became operational at a place where it is now at Purana Pid.
22. Barter System: During our childhood, money in cash was not available as of now. All sale purchase of minor nature used to be in the barter system including purchase of vegetables or grocery items from the village shop. Give wheat / maize / rice and take vegetables /grocery items etc.
23. Purchase of Tractor:- We purchased our first tractor (T-25) Russian during 1972 from Faridabad and driven it down to the village. It was the first tractor in the village. We were very proud of it and we learnt driving on this tractor.