Chilly evenings in Kanpur….
This chilly evening in Delhi
remind me of those days…… as a young lad I used to sit and sip hot “Elaichi
Chay” on the wooden benches in the muddy
road sides of Lal Bangla in Kanpur. The
evenings were wonderful. Really… only evenings were wonderful. As a boy of
seventeen years I never enjoyed being in uniform doing parade in the morning
saluting everyone around and mocking all what is done by others.
So, the evenings were special. Cycling
from Billet to Harjinder Nagar, ordering for a tea, looking for familiar faces
around and enjoying the air of freedom from uniform and salutes. By the time
tea is arrived someone familiar will be there to say “cheers”. Next is a walk
from one end to the other end of Lal Bangla market greeting many more familiar
faces admiring beauties all around and passing through the same streets and
narrow ways in the market we visit every day. No one get bored in Lal Bangla. The
whole street becomes lively every evening with customers coming from the Air
force station. The restaurant owners and shop keepers received “airmen”,
a term used for Air force personnel, and their family members with respect as
if they were known to them for long.
Tea in “Pappachan,s” was famous
among malayalees. People sit with Pappachan till the final bell is rang in the
Ayyappa temple on end of puja and then they go to the temple and get tasty prasadam,
chat with friends and admire beauty all around. Evenings were even more wonderful
when you are invited for a dinner by someone staying with family. A homely
dinner used to make our bachelor life wonderful.
