My Memories of Imphal From 1941 : Chapter 8 :: Download
Dr Mohendra Irengbam *
Author in Bombay in 1952 wearing green Ray ban Aviator sunglasses made famous by American pilots during the Japanlan.
It costs Rs 150 at that time (now over a thousand). It was available only in Bombay. Now, it is available in Imphal.
Part 8
First Love & Hari Uthan
Electricity comes to Imphal
This chapter relates to the time in Imphal when I had just finished schooling and before I went to college in Bombay in 1952. This was the time when I had my first love, and it was also the year in which I took part in a traditional Meitei Hindu festival of Hari Uthan. I can’t think of a similar festival in the rest of India. Its predawn event captivated me with an invisible appeal.
First, here is a little bit about Bombay, which was a place of great excitement at that time, not only for Meiteis, but for every youth in India. It was because of the exotic and glamourous Hindi films that showed much escapist fantasy, most of which never happened in real life, and which we all thought, captured the extraordinary moments of everyday Indian life both in Bombay and villages elsewhere.
This was 70 years ago. During those days, High school students took out in a procession on the road, the icon of goddess Saraswati in a palanquin after the puja, on the day of Basant Panchami on 26 January every year.
I can still feel the old thrill of going to college in Bombay. It was my boyhood dream that came true. What I found in Bombay was broadly captured by this classic song from the film C.I.D (1956), starring Dev Anand. I saw it while I was doing B Sc in Nainital.
Ae dil hai mushkuil jeena yahan,
zara hat ke, zara bach ke,
ye hai Bombay meri Jaan ...
In English. Oh, my heart! Living here is a hard struggle; be careful and be streetwise; it’s Bombay, my love.
Unlike Calcutta, Bombay is a very exotic city, very cosmopolitan and westernised. The lifestyle in Bombay was completely different from Calcutta. The main language of Bombay was Gujarati then (now Marathi). But they conversed mostly in English, while for the uneducated it was a pidgin Hindi known as Bombay Hindi.
Download the entire Chapter 8 of this book here
* Dr Mohendra Irengbam wrote this article for e-pao.net
The writer can be contacted at irengbammsingh(AT)gmail(DOT)com
This article was webcasted on January 29 2023 .
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