E-Paper
A house can just be a wall, too!
18, Canning Road was lost, but has been found. May be because it never got lost from the memories of 81-year-old Brig AR Jain (retired). It was in mid-50s that Brig Jain lived in this house. The Army provided it to him during his four-year posting here. That was the time when he had just started his family. And this was the reason that he has fond attachment with this house. Such an attachment that when he came last July to Lucknow for fifteen days to stay with his daughter Neena Vasudev and son-in-law Lt Gen Ashok Vasudev, the first thing that was on his mind was to look for this house.
18, Canning Road was lost, but has been found. May be because it never got lost from the memories of 81-year-old Brig AR Jain (retired).
It was in mid-50s that Brig Jain lived in this house. The Army provided it to him during his four-year posting here. That was the time when he had just started his family. And this was the reason that he has fond attachment with this house. Such an attachment that when he came last July to Lucknow for fifteen days to stay with his daughter Neena Vasudev and son-in-law Lt Gen Ashok Vasudev, the first thing that was on his mind was to look for this house.
But he found that entire Cantonment and the city were not what they used to be. All the searches came to a naught. But, Brig Jain's attachment to the house did not make him give it up.
And now the daughter informs: “Just a day before he was to go back to Delhi, we found the house. Which is nothing more than a wall now. But even looking at that wall, brought a great satisfaction to him.”
HT Fauji had reported the failed search attempts on July 9, and now it reports the successful attempt.
Neena Vasudev tells that after the 'Where's 18, Canning Road?' is HT Fauji had appeared: “The phones never stopped ringing. Many phoned up to ask if we could find the 18, Canning Road, or did we locate the place.”
“The GE East, Lt Col Sahni went about looking for the maps, but they did not show the 18, Canning Road. The new name was Hazrat Mahal road, but on ground the house No 18 was too small and we realised that this was not that house. The search began again. Later they found the blue prints of the Lucknow Cantonment showing where the 18, Canning Road was. It now was found that 18, Canning Road is now 9 Hazrat Mahal Road.”
“When it was found with a precision that 9, Hazrat Mahal Road in the present was 18, Canning Road in the past, the jubilant GE came with the old blue print and maps and Brig Jain trooped off to see his old house. On the first look at the house Brig Jain exclaimed: 'No this is not my house'.
There was nothing but a brick wall with plants taking roots in them and few outhouses. It took GE half an hour to explain to Brig Jain that indeed was his house.
A day before Brig Jain flew out of Lucknow he had found his house. He thanked Hindustan Times.
Later the entire family went to see the house-yes to Brig Jain even that dilapidated wall amidst the rubble and wild foliage looked a house. Later all his grandchildren went to see the house…and Brig Jain could not stop telling stories to them about his house and he went on and on and on about the stories about the house,” narrates Neena Vasudev.
Brig Jain had served in army for 33 years and it's been 29 years after retirement.
