12.10.2014, 5 a.m. My aunt, Mrs. Saroj Mukherji, now 83 years old, who lives in Calcutta, is the only surviving child of my grandfather, Dr. K.N.Katju ( who had 6 children, my father, born in 1910 being the eldest, and Saroj Bua, as I call her, being the youngest, born in 1931). Saroj Bua is here in Delhi these days and is staying with me. She told me the following story : In 1942 or so, ( which is before I was born in 1946 ), during the Kumbh Mela at Allahabad ( Prayag) the family of the proprietors of The Hindu newspaper ( the Kasturi family) came from Madras to Allahabad to bathe in the Sangam. They did not want to stay in a hotel, and so my grandfather, who was known to them, asked them to stay in our house at Edmonstone Road ( now Tashkent Marg). There were two ladies in the family, one of whom could speak English, but neither of them could speak Hindi. They were very orthodox, and insisted that they have a separate kitchen, where they would cook their own food, probably because they had learnt that Kashmiri Pandits are non vegetarians. So a separate kitchen was arranged for them, where they cooked their own food. They ate their food on plantain leaves. They had brought their own rice with them, and refused to use the basmati rice in our house. They wore silk saris, with gold belts. Once they invited my family members to eat with them. While they cooked their own food in their separate kitchen, they would join the ladies in my family in cutting the vegetables They stayed in our house for a few days, and every morning they went to bathe in the Sangam, my grandfather having arranged for their travel by car to the Sangam, which is about 5 or 6 kms. from our house. I have sent an email to Mr. Ram, former Editor in Chief of The Hindu, and Mr. Ravi, the present Editor in Chief, asking them to find out who were these ladies of their family, who had come to Allahabad in 1942. It would be an interesting matter for research. My grandmother, Mrs. K.N. Katju, ( who died in 1944), once stayed for a month in Chennai, in a rented house arranged by the Kastoori family, and bought jewelry from a shop called Suraj Bhan. I wonder whether the shop still exists.
Posted on: Sat, 11 Oct 2014 23:56:31 +0000
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