Brij Mehta Diaries

I was born on 12^th August 1949 to Amrit Rai Chhibber & Shiela Devi at Nasirabad near Ajmer in Rajasthan as the third sibling in large family of five brothers & four sisters.

My Grand Father Dilbagh Rai Chhibber was a Patwari before partition in Kharian in Pakistan and was son of Mehta Gulab Rai Chhibber while Smt Durga Devi was the Grand Mother.(Photo Below)

Before partition he was enlisted as a clerk in the Army with 1/16 Punjab (FF) and served with them in Burma & Jawa during World War II, after partition he was shifted to Grenadiers Regiment of the Indian Army and posted at Grenadiers RC located then at Nasirabad near Ajmer in Rajasthan . I have faint  memories of early stage of initial years. My uncle who retired as Armourer Havildar with a  GUARDS Battalion (He often  mentioned that he declared the unit as “unfit for war” during one of his Weapons annual inspection(unverified however it does find mention in some books) .

My Chacha ji (Uncle) Jaswant Rai Chhibber & Chachi ji Smt Shanti Chhibber

Nasirabad was infested with Snakes and my uncle mentioned that they used to carry heavy sticks at night while moving and press it to ground to generate vibrations to enable snakes to get away from one’s path.

I am told father moved to Bhuj (Gujarat) from 1955-59 and joined a Grenadiers battalion which was a Camels Battalion then .I do have some memories of Bhuj namely visit to a Fort/Temple on a hill side and sight of moving trains ,rocky hillock or sitting under a neem tree and a water line near our quarter. It’s here that family used to travel by Ferry from Kandla to Navlakhi.Other memories include my mother cooking food in the verandah on a Chullah or visiting Unit Temple which was of Marble stones. There were rocky small hills just behind the quarter. While cooking at night there was a talk of a flying snake ,don’t recall if it was at Nasirabad or Bhuj. Once I got injured while playing with other children in the army obstacle course while enjoying a rope as swings and my back of the head struck on the cement wall and was taken to Military Hospital facility the next morning by my father. It was in Bhuj the first time heard the word ‘Death’, as a jawan of the unit died. It was in Bhuj that I used to see Ghostly images near Family quarters with images as tall as trees,I wonder if it was a hallucination or something else in real .I also do remember watching a news reel of Tenzing -Hillary conquestof Mount Everest,the highest mountain peak in the world.

After migrating to India after partition from Karyala in Pakistan ,Our maternal grand parents had settled at Bhangar Khera in tehsil Fazilka of Punjab.The relatives were at Bhanger Khera, Abohar and Kesri  Singh Pura which was on the International Border in the adjoining Sri Ganga Nagar District of Rajasthan and I do have some faint memories of visiting villages meeting relatives and of the fields /Fruit Orchads on the outskirt of the village.

Our Maternal Grand Parents Mehta Nar Narayan Bhimwal & Smt Lajwanti Devi

From Bhuj my father was posted to Infantry School, Mhow and allotted a large house (colonial bungalow type) which was very close to his office. I had my initial primary education at Mission School, Mhow up to class 5^th.During Dussehra festival Ravan Dahan was held in the open ground near Infantry School which is present day Golf View. The Ganesh Chaturthi Mahotsav festival was celebrated with much fan fare and religious fervor in Indore and we did watch the “Jhankis” .There are memories of our aunts visiting us at Mhow as well as sighting of a deadly snake being killed by a a neighborhood lady Mrs T.C. John,(whom I met later in Pune in 1971)visit of class mates of our elder brother and sight of newly purchased TATA Truck by relative of a neighborhood and father cycling up & down to office in Infantry including him coming back after a cataract surgery on his bicycle are still fresh in my memory. There was also a spotting of scare of a wild fox ‘’Viju’’(Red Badger) which is nonvegetarian and also known as Grave Digger.(I  returned to Mhow from 1977-79 and later in 1995 with DCC (Defence Correspondence Course)19 95 .