Remembering the good old days of work and childhood

Author: 
Darshan Singh
Darshan Singh

Darshan Singh retired as Superintendent from Department of Customs and Central Excise on superannuation in 2012.

Darshan is a graduate in Arts stream from University Of Rajasthan.

A sports enthusiast and keen golfer, Darshan is a permanent member of the Rambagh Golf Club where he holds a handicap of 18.

At present, Darshan lives a retired life in Jaipur with his spouse, Japinder.

बचपन के दिन

पांचवीं तक स्लेट की बत्ती को जीभ से चाटकर कैल्शियम की कमी पूरी करना हमारी स्थाई आदत थी लेकिन इसमें पापबोध भी था कि कहीं विद्यामाता नाराज न हो जायें ।

पढ़ाई का तनाव हमने पेन्सिल का पिछला हिस्सा चबाकर मिटाया था ।

"पुस्तक के बीच विद्या, पौधे की पत्ती और मोरपंख रखने से हम होशियार हो जाएंगे ऐसा हमारा दृढ विश्वास था"।

कपड़े के थैले में किताब कॉपियां जमाने का विन्यास हमारा रचनात्मक कौशल था ।

हर साल जब नई कक्षा के बस्ते बंधते तब कॉपी किताबों पर पेपर चढ़ाना हमारे जीवन का वार्षिक उत्सव था ।

माता पिता को हमारी पढ़ाई की कोई फ़िक्र नहीं थी, न हमारी पढ़ाई उनकी जेब पर बोझा थी ।

सालों साल बीत जाते पर माता पिता के कदम हमारे स्कूल में न पड़ते थे ।

एक दोस्त को साईकिल के डंडे पर और दूसरे को पीछे कैरियर पर बिठा हमने कितने रास्ते नापें हैं, यह अब याद नहीं बस कुछ धुंधली सी स्मृतियां हैं ।

स्कूल में पिटते हुए और मुर्गा बनते हमारा ईगो हमें कभी परेशान नहीं करता था, दरअसल हम जानते ही नही थे कि ईगो होता क्या है ?

पिटाई हमारे दैनिक जीवन की सहज सामान्य प्रक्रिया थी "पीटने वाला और पिटने वाला दोनो खुश थे", पिटने वाला इसलिए कि कम पिटे, पीटने वाला इसलिए खुश कि हाथ साफ़ हुवा।

हम अपने माता पिता को कभी नहीं बता पाए कि हम उन्हें कितना प्यार करते हैं,क्योंकि हमें "आई लव यू" कहना नहीं आता था ।

आज हम गिरते - सम्भलते, संघर्ष करते दुनियां का हिस्सा बन चुके हैं, कुछ मंजिल पा गये हैं तो कुछ न जाने कहां खो गए हैं ।

हम दुनिया में कहीं भी हों लेकिन यह सच है, हमे हकीकतों ने पाला है, हम सच की दुनियां में थे ।

कपड़ों को सिलवटों से बचाए रखना और रिश्तों को औपचारिकता से बनाए रखना हमें कभी नहीं आया इस मामले में हम सदा मूर्ख ही रहे ।

अपना अपना प्रारब्ध झेलते हुए हम आज भी ख्वाब बुन रहे हैं, शायद ख्वाब बुनना ही हमें जिन्दा रखे है, वरना जो जीवन हम जीकर आये हैं उसके सामने यह वर्तमान कुछ भी नहीं ।

हम अच्छे थे या बुरे थे पर हम एक साथ थे, काश वो समय फिर लौट आए ।


My childhood memories

During my childhood, I played many home-grown games like sitaulia or pithoo, gulli danda, cricket with home-sewn, cloth cricket ball, ice spice, picking berries in the wild and many other such activities. All such games were enjoyed by me and my friends.

I played hockey and football as my father was in the Indian Railways. The Railway multipurpose playground was less than 50 meters away from our home in the Ganpati Nagar Railway Colony, near Jaipur Railway Station. We used to watch senior players playing every day in the evening. And sometimes they included me too, as and when they were short of players. From then onwards, sports instincts came to me naturally.

My elder brother was an outstanding player of basketball who played for Railways. He was appointed in Sports quota in the Indian Railways.

So sports was very much around in our family.


My Department memories

I joined the Department of Customs and Central Excise in 1974. Over the years, I organised various sports and cultural meets for the department in my capacity as Sports Officer and Cultural Secretary.

I also organised a Jagjit Singh Night at Birla Auditorium, Jaipur during one of the Departmental Cultural Meets.

Sangitkar Naushad Sahib was too, one of the invitees in a cultural meet organised at Jawahar Kala Kendra, Jaipur.

I participated in All India Civil Services Lawn-Tennis Championship from Rajasthan and won the Gold Medal four times.

I recollect an instance of my colleague, Subhash Mathur's simplicity, which is actually never simple to achieve in life.

I recall that on a Sunday he came to office driving a yellow Swega moped, to the utter surprise of all the sepoys and others. It was good to see him in such a casual mood. Everybody knew that all lal batti vehicles were at his disposal and available to him on call to the Control Room. So that was his greatness and the incident, as such, is saved in my memory.

When I asked Shri Subhash Mathur about this recently, he said, "Yes Darshan, I did use a green Luna, a bike with no gears, to come to office sometimes. I used to take my Luna everyday to the covered pool at Rambagh Palace for a swim with my two sons, Gaurav and Tushar, from our house at B-87, Ganesh Marg, Bapu Nagar. The Luna used to be so convenient and a lot of fun. Simple, too. Thanks, Darshan, for your great memory!"


Darshan with his wife, Japinder.

Darshan with his wife, Japinder.

Comments

आपने बचपन के दिनों की जो बाते बताई, अपना बचपन याद आ गया। बिल्कुल ऐसा ही था हमारा गुजरा हुआ जमाना। Thanx Darshan Bhai for sharing such beautiful memories.

Your nostalgia is the same as mine. For bicycles, see http://www.indiaofthepast.org/content/bicycle-my-dreams
Our older brothers have memories of life in even earlier years. See http://www.indiaofthepast.org/content/growing-small-town-rajasthan.
And even earlier http://www.indiaofthepast.org/content/school-days-lahore-and-okara

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