under:-‘Ai Gham – e - Dil Kya Karoon, Ai Wahshate Dil kya Karoon’. This created a very deep impression on the minds of the youth, attending this function.
There is another incident which needs to be mentioned. Once I came to know that ‘Seemaab’ Sahab was scheduled to arrive at Delhi to attend a ‘Mushaira’. I, too, reached there and met my ‘Ustaad’ at Lakshmi Hotel in Chandni Chowk. He received me affectionately and I accormpanied him to ‘Mushaira’ site in Bazar Sita Ram, where I recited one of my Ghazals. Seemaab Sahab’ was received by the organisers with great respect. That was my first & last personal meeting with my ‘Ustaad’.
I , however, maintained very good contacts with him by post. I used to send him my verses offen and received back the same after correction within ten or twelve days time regularly. But throughout my life I regretted one thing. I did not preserves the corrected poems in original form. I used to copy the same in my diary after correction and allowed the original to be lost. Had I preserved the same to date, these would have been invaluable pieces of guidance for the up coming Urdu poets of the present generation. The world of Urdu Poetry is completely devoid of such a perfect ‘Ustaad’, as on today.
During my studies at Meerut College, I developed interest in other branches of knowledge, particularly, English literature. Our college library had a rich collection of books. I studied books by eminent English writers and poets like, Skakespeare, Wordsworth, Teny-son, and other poets. Novels by Charles Dickens, were a great attraction. English literature was also my subject alongwith Urdu. Similarly, Politics was also my favorite subject and I got interested in the study of Political Books. ‘Das Capital’ by Karl Marx was also studied by me which contained very complicated economic theories. I also became a member of Layall Library located in Town Hall, where all the Urdu Magazines were available, besides, a vast collection of Urdu literary books. I used to spend two hours a day in the library and got books issued in my name for Home study.
There was a study circle established by communist students and members of communist party on Westend Road on way to Meerut College, where some students with communist leanings used to assemble and had lively discussions on current political affairs. Some of my fellow students got me attracted to this circle. Lot of communist literature was received there, which, I, too,studied off & on. But, somehow, the communist party of India & the Indian National Congress parted company on a matter of principle. The congress declared Non - cooperation
with the British and refused to help them in their war efforts, whereas, the communist party declared it as a people’s war, because Russia, a communist country was at war with the British and Amercians. The congress thought that even if the British won the war, they were not promising any kind of independence to our country. Then why people should fight alongwith them. This created a gulf between the congress & the communist party. I, therefore, fell apart from that circle. Mr. Shanti Tyagi, who later on joined the congress and became an M.P. on Congress ticket was the Head of the local communist party then. He is, however, no more with us now.
One more incident of that time related to me comes to my memory. Final exams of Intermediate Board were going on. But I was so much engrossed with my Urdu Poetry that I completely forgot to attend the 2nd paper of Urdu language and I missed it. I, therefore, concluded that I would badly fail in the exams, but never told to any body as that would have been a great shock to me and the entire family.
But surprisingly, I passed out and later came to know that I got forty five marks out of fifty in the Ist Urdu Paper itself. It was a matter of joy as well as remorse for me, as I thought, had I got equal marks in the 2nd paper, I would have got ninety or more
marks in Urdu, which would have been a creditable performance.
While I was studying in Meerut College one of my distant relatives got in touch with me. He was a business man and was proposing to start a small new project at Meerut.
He was impressed with my intelligence and integrity and offered me a minor share in his project. He used to visit me in the Hostel off and on and discussed his project so often, I did not have a good proposal of employment after passing out from college. First of all, I thought of establishing a printing press of my own and starting an Udru News paper and magazine, but I had neither the experience nor the required capital for the purpose. Moreover, there was nobody at hand to guide me. Hence , I could not venture to proceed in that direction.
I, therefore, joined hands with my relative and started a new small engineering unit in a rental premises. I was a minor partner and looked after the engineering side of the business. For quite some time, every thing was fine. We had the best of relationship and the concern yielded a good profit. But, as is usual with partnership, it could not last for more than a few years and I had to part company. I developed a keen interest
in theory & practice of mechanical engineering and during my spare time, I studied a lot of technical books on the subject.
My uncle Shri. Amar Singh Jain who lived at Baraut, under whose guardianship I had studied upto matriculation, told me that there was no Ice Factory at Baraut, where we could establish an ice making plant which would definitely be a profitable business. The idea clicked and I shifted to Baraut with bag and baggage. Winter season was on and we decided to start the ice factory in the coming summer season. Hurriedly, we purchased the land for the purpose and started construction of the building. Simultaneously, I started planning to buy the suitable machinery & equipment. Every alternate day, I used to visit Delhi and placed orders for the required machines which started arriving at site. To make the long story short, we started the ice factory well in time to catch the selling season. For two consecutive years, the unit gave us profit. But later on, some other ice factories came up in the nearby towns and we had to face tough competition. Ultimately, the unit had to be sold and I became jobless again. My old partner and relative who, had, in the meantime, earned handsome profit and had added an engineering workshop in the same old premises picked me up in my adverse circumstance and we again went on well for quite some time.
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