Meri tasweer ley ker kya karogay tum By Waseem Altaf The above ‘qawwali’ from the film ‘Kala samandar’, released in 1962 was very popular during the 60’s; the lyrics were penned by Anand Bakhsi who was to become one of the greatest lyricists of Hindi cinema in the following years. Bakhshi Ji was born in 1930 at his ancestral house located at mohallah Qutubdin,Chittian Hattian Rawalpindi. His grandfather Sughar Mall Vaid Bakhshi was the deputy superintendent jail, Rawalpindi while his father Mohan Lal Vaid Bakhshi was a bank manager. His mother, to whom he was so attached, Sumitra Bali died at the age of 25 when he was just ten. He was a student at Cambridge College Rawalpindi, which he left after class 9 in 1943. On Partition, like so many others, the Bakhshi family, which was well established, had to leave their property and everything on October 2, 1947 when staying on was at the risk of their own lives. At 16, when Anand Bakshi had to migrate to India with his family, others brought with them personal effects of ‘value’ while Bakhshi Ji carried only photographs from Rawalpindi. When his father scolded him as to why he did not carry any valuables with him, as the rest of the family did, Bakshi Ji told his father he will earn money in his lifetime, but the pictures were irreplaceable! The struggle to resettle themselves in India for the Bakhshi family was long and arduous, particularly for the young Anand Bakhshi. In 1954, he got married to Kamla Mohan in Lucknow. His in-laws, Subedar Amar Singh Mohan, and Smt. Budhwanti, living in Aadarsh Nagar, Lucknow, were too poor to send him even Rs 30, for which Bakshi Ji had written them 3 post card requests. His wife Kamla and daughter Suman, who were living in Lucknow with Kamla’s parents, arrived to live with him in Bombay only in May 1960, after he got a little money and his own accommodation in Worli, (Pradeep Building) Bombay. He came to Bombay in 1950 for the first time but could not find any work in the film industry. So he left and rejoined the army. He came again in 1956 with little success. As he was about to leave to rejoin army he was miraculously stopped by a complete stranger, Chitramal Swarup, a ticket collector with Western Railway, at Marine Lines station, Bombay. Chitramal volunteered to give him shelter in his own house at Borivili West, Bombay, and eventually kept him for 5 years till he stabilized by 1961. Rakesh Anand Bakhshi son of Anand Bakhshi is a close friend on Facebook. In February 2012, I offered him to get him the pictures of Anand Bakhshi Ji’s ancestral house if he indicated some landmarks. Rakesh then contacted his aunt (father’s sister) who informed that the house was located near a mandir and dharamshala, there was a tube well nearby, a mosque and opposite to Bakhshi Ji’s house was the house of Khan Saab. Bakhshi Kis house was known as ‘darogha ji ka ghar’. The following day I picked up my camera and left for old Rawalpindi city. I soon realized that it was not an easy task to locate the exact house, as many old timers were no more plus many landmarks had undergone changes- it was like reconstructing mohallah Qutubdin as it appeared in 1947. I soon found out the mandir/dharamshala and the tube well but locating the house was not an easy task. I was looking for someone who knew of people living in that locality 65 years ago. Incidentally, I soon found Sabira Begum who originally belonged to Bans Bareilly but had settled there. She had vivid memory of Bakhshi family and even told that many of the girls from that family had hazel eyes. To cross verify, I asked her who lived opposite to Bakhshi family’s house and she instantly informed it was Khan Saab, precisely what Anand Bakhshi’s sister had told. Sabira Begum later described the location to her son who then led me to the house. Although I could see a face-lift of the house, the basic structure was the same. I then took several shots of the house from outside as well as inside. The following day I posted all the pictures on Anand Bakhshi Ji’s page managed by his son Rakesh .Every fan of Anand Bakhshi was excited as they saw the pictures while Rakesh and the entire Bakhshi family expressed their profound gratitude. Anand Bakhshi had carried old pictures with him but all the memories associated with those pictures were left behind. I recaptured his past through pictures as it appeared 65 years later and sent them his way. Although he was no more to witness and relive fond memories of olden days, I had sent some pictures, which he always valued in life. And tens of thousands of such images are scattered all over the sub-continent left behind by sons of the soil who had to abandon their homes for unknown destinations- for no good reason.
Posted on: Tue, 06 Jan 2015 15:16:14 +0000
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