Col Brij Mohan Rai Mehta
In early 1959, my father, who was in the Army, was posted from Mhow to Bhuj, and then moved with a Grenadiers Battalion to Satwari in Jammu in 1960. It was there that I did my schooling from 6th to 8th class at Government School Satwari. I was usually awarded for being the best-dressed student in the class and was often presented with a pencil as a token of appreciation.
I attended tuition at our teacher Mr. Vishwanath Sudan’s residence. I used to walk from our quarter in Satwari to Nai Basti, crossing a canal over an old railway line. The girder across the canal was just wide enough for one foot and quite risky for my age back then, as the canal below was about 30 feet deep. When I visited in the 1980s, it had been replaced by a double-lane road bridge leading to the Airport, Miran Sahib, and RS Pura.
Results of the 8th class board exam were announced on the radio and in local newspapers. I used to play hockey and football with other children of my age. Three sons of a neighboring Air Force sergeant – Pranab, Prateek, and Polash (I think) – were regulars with us in both play and schoolwork. On our way back from school, we carried a patti and slates. The patti was cleaned at the “Sua,” a minor tributary of the canal, using gachni (or Multani mitti), which, once dried, provided a writing surface. We wrote with black ink using a kalam (or kana) made from wild grass or sarkanda.
Since our quarter was located in the battalion lines area, we were able to witness various sports events, which motivated me to pursue sports. During the Indo-China war of 1962, I recall long convoys of tanks and heavy vehicles moving past our school. The unit was located next to the Air Force Station, and we frequently watched IAF helicopters and AOP (Air Observation Post) fixed-wing Auster and Otter planes. During the war, I remember seeing newly delivered Russian light transport aircraft, which were later rechristened as Avro after being manufactured in India. Some of them are still in service for communication duties with the IAF.
There were no security checks back then, and one could easily walk along the road to the airport, which ran beside the Air Force Station’s boundary fence. A civil Dakota flight from Delhi operated regularly, and we could see passengers disembarking. People were allowed up to the car parking area. Flights to and from Srinagar were visible clearly, up to the Pir Panjal ranges.
The entire city would gather at the airport to catch a glimpse of Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru, who traveled in an open car, and also of Maharaja Hari Singh ji. There would be no space from Satwari Airport to Jammu city during their visits. My friends and I used to go to an area adjacent to the runway to pluck ber (berries) and often visited the revered shrine of Pir Baba across the airport. The shrine is still visible near the take-off point of the Jammu runway.
It was in Jammu that I first attended Eid festivities. I was allowed to accompany Havaldar Clerk Siddiqui from my father’s battalion for Namaz, followed by lunch at a dhaba.
There was a network of “Sua” canals and tributaries near our family quarter. In summer, we used to keep our matkas and jerry cans in the shallow waters of the Sua to keep the water cold. Watermelons and mangoes were also submerged for cooling, as refrigerators were not common then.
It was in Satwari that I developed an interest in listening to the radio. The Jammu station broadcast a program called Fauji Bhaiyon ke Liye around lunchtime. Radio Kashmir Srinagar was famous for Wadi ki Awaz, hosted by Nikki at 10 PM, and of course, we never missed the weekly Binaca Geetmala. Transistors were rare, so we relied on radios that worked with electric valves, requiring a wire cage antenna to receive signals.
I witnessed the Dussehra mela and Ravan Dahan held in the open ground opposite the Air Force Station. This large space had lavatories for the jawans at one end and a single block for officers of the battalion. I met some of the unit officers there, which inspired me to do well in life and eventually become an Army officer.
As I recall, Lt. Col. D.P. Lahiri was the Commanding Officer, and I interacted with his son, who was around my age. Officers like Major B.S. Hada and Col. Hakam Singh – an outstanding hockey player – also left an impression. (I met Col. Hakam Singh again in 1975 when he was commanding a unit near Jammu.) The battalion had a formidable hockey team that won many trophies. Notable NCOs included Jagpal Singh, Lal Singh, Siddiqui, and Anti Ram Jahkar Ji – some of whom I met again after joining the Army. They all held great respect for my father.
I remember walking to Kaluchak along the canal with other jawans to watch sports events, where I met Havaldar Leela Ram of another Grenadiers Battalion, who had returned after winning gold at the Commonwealth Games in wrestling. I also met Sub Shanker Laxman, the Indian hockey team’s custodian, at a hockey championship.
We watched Ram Leelas held across the boundary fence of the family lines, and one of our classmates even played the role of Sita. Another classmate’s father had a tobacco shop opposite our school. I also joined and witnessed the Durga Puja festival organized by the Bengali community at the Cantonment Board Auditorium in Satwari.
On weekends, my father would take us to RS Pura to visit villages where some Mohyals (our community) were settled. After the unit moved to Damana, I remember visiting the mango orchards there. It was easy to visit and offer prayers at Raghunath Temple. I also remember visiting Bawe Wali Mata a few times.
My brother used to take me to movies at Jewel and Shankar Cinema Halls, as well as the open-air theatre of the Tiger Division. Since there was no ban on Pakistani films, those were also screened. A single one-way bridge over the River Tawi regulated traffic with police supervision. However, the main, unrestricted entry to the city was from the Satwari side.
Major parades – possibly Republic Day – were initially held at Parade Ground and later shifted to Bakshi Stadium in Jammu. I was fascinated by the sight of motorcycle and jeep pilots escorting military and civilian dignitaries from the airport to the city, blowing sirens to clear the roads.
After I cleared my Middle Class Examination, I was moved to Delhi for further studies, as my father was nearing retirement.
Much has changed since then. When I returned to the Jammu region in the mid-1980s after my childhood years, and again over the past twenty years, I saw how the city had transformed. The old charm of Jammu is now lost to concrete structures, rapid expansion, development projects, rising population, and a changed security environment.
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