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Tag: Allahabad University

  • Pt. Nehru and Students of Allahabad University : Justice Katju

    Pt. Nehru and Students of Allahabad University : Justice Katju


    A lawyer friend of mine , who is now no more, was a few years older than me. He told me this story when I was a lawyer in Allahabad. In the late 1950s a Convocation was held in the Allahabad University. In this function some University students, including my friend, put a garland of shoes on the neck of the Chief Guest in the function, the U.P. Governor ( in protest over something ). Consequently they were expelled from the University.


    They decided to go to Delhi and request the Prime Minister Pt. Nehru to get their expulsion revoked ( Allahabad was not only Nehru’s constituency, it was also his home town ).


    They took the night train to Delhi, travelling W.T. ( without ticket). When the TTE ( Travelling Ticket Examiner ) came and asked for their tickets they shouted “Hum Prime Minister ke constituency ke hain. Bhaag jao ” ( We are from the Prime Minister’s constituency. Beat it ), and the poor TTE fled.


    On reaching Delhi they went straight to the Prime Minister’s residence at Teen Murti.
    When they wanted to enter the house they were stopped by the securitymen, who naturally asked whether they had an appointment. They said “Hum Prime Minister ke constituency ke hain. Hamein appointment wapointment ki zaroorat naheen hai” ( We are from the Prime Minister’s constituency, we dont need any appointment ).

    When the secuirity men would still not allow them entry they threatened to commit suicide at the gate of the P.M.s house, and created a ruckus.
    This news reached Pt. Nehru, who ordered that they be allowed entry. The students then trooped into the P.M.s house, and were usherted into a big hall, where there were a lot of dry fruits–kishmish, baadaam, akhrot, cashew nuts, etc on a table. They ate some, and pocketed the rest for future use.


    After a few minutes, Pt. Nehru came into the hall, wearing only a vest and shorts, and shouted “Jao padho, padho”
    The students replied “Kahaan padhein sahib ? Hamein expel kar diya gaya hai ” ( Where should we study, sir ? We have been expelled ).
    Pt. Nehru again shouted “Padho,padho “and left the hall.


    The students were bewildered and nonplussed, and they left the house wondering what the P.M. meant.
    They then caught the night train to return to Allahabad,( again travelling W.T. and eating the dry fruit they had pocketed at the P.M.s residence).


    In the morning, when the train reached Fatehpur, the station before Allahabad, one of them got off the train and bought a newspaper at the platform.
    There it was published that their expulsion had been revoked by the University Vice Chancellor.
    Probably Pt. Nehru, the magnanimous man that he was, had told a secretary to telephone the Vice Chancellor and request him to forgive the students and readmit them. After all boys will be boys (particularly Allahabad boys ! ).

  • If I forget thee O Allahabad, may my right hand perish

    If I forget thee O Allahabad, may my right hand perish


    By Justice Katju


    Even 2000 years of their diaspora Jews still say ” If I forget thee O Jerusalem, may my right hand perish ” ( Bible : Old Testament : Psalms : 137.5 ).
    So also, I say ” If I forget thee O Allahabad, may my right hand perish ”.


    Of my 77 years, I have spent 58 years in Allahabad ( Prayag ).. So I can rightly claim it is my city, which has made me what I am today.
    This is the city where Lord Ram came after his exile from Ayodhya, and met Rishi Bharadwaj in his ashram on the bank of the sangam ( the confluence of the rivers Ganga, Jamuna, and the legendary Saraswati ).

    https://www.nativeplanet.com/travel-guide/places-visited-by-lord-rama-prayag-002486.html#:~:text=Prayag%20is%20where%20Lord%20Rama,major%20places%20connected%20to%20Ramayana


    This is the city about which the poet Tulsidas wrote in his Ramcharitmanas :
    ” Ko kahi sakai Prayag prabhau
    Kalush punj kunjar mrigrau ”
    ( Who can tell the greatness of Prayag ?
    It destroys all sins, like a lion which kills an elephant )


    This is the city where Emperor Harshavardhan held his assembly in the first Kumbh Mela in 643 A.D. in which he honoured saints and scholars of all religions ( including the Buddhist Chinese pilgrim Hieun Tsang ) and then gave all his wealth to the poor, borrowing a cloth from his sister Rajyashree to cover his naked body.


    https://www.historydiscussion.net/biography/harshavardhans-empire-sources-accession-and-other-details/3084


    This is the city in which Kumbh Mela assemblies are held every 12 years, the largest congregation of people anywhere ( 200 million in 2019 ).


    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kumbh_Mela#:~:text=Each%20festival%20attracts%20millions%2C%20with,the%20festival’s%20most%20crowded%20day.


    This is the city where Hindus immerse the ashes of their dead in the sangam.
    This is the city which was a centre of the Indian freedom struggle
    This is the city which has produced great scholars, poets and jurists.


    In Allahabad I met several people who were intellectually superior to me ( they are all dead now ), and I sat at their feet like a humble student listening to their rational explanation of things, events and treatises, until I too built up a huge store of knowledge.


    Though born in Lucknow, I grew up in Allahabad. I was a student there in the Boys High School and the Allahabad University, then a lawyer in the Allahabad High Court, and finally a Judge in the High Court from 1991.


    My exile fom Allahabad began in 2004 when I was appointed Chief Justice of Madras High Court, and since then I have remained out of the city ( except for a few short visits ).


    The geat Urdu poet Munawwar Rana has written these verses about Allahabad in his long poem ‘Mohajirnama’ ( which was descriptive of the lament of mohajirs who had migrated from India to Pakistan at the time of Partition, but later regretted it ).

    ” Gale milti hui nadiyan, gale milte hue mausam

    Allahabad ka kaisa nazaara chhod aaye hain

    Kal ek amrood waale se kehna pad gaya mujhko

    Jahaan se aaye hain is phal ki bagiya chhod aaye hain

    Kuch der to woh takta raha mujhko, phir bola

    Woh sangam ka ilaaqa chhoota, ya chhod aaye hain ?

    Abhi hum sonch mein the ki usse kya kaha jaaye

    Hamaare aansuon ne raaz ugla chhod aaye hain ”


    The same is my plight, which cannot be described in words. I miss Civil Lines, Chowk, Katra, my school, the University, the High Court, the Coffee House, the sangam, etc, but all that has gone with the wind.