Earliest Memories - Part 6 - Bicycle, Blackouts, Radio Repairs and Trenches

Bicycle, Blackouts, Radio Repairs and  Trenches

While ‘usual’ life went on in a modified manner, a new factor had crept into everyone’s life and started to assume big proportions. There was a local network developing between neighbours, linked by the civil defence organisers. A lot of trenches were being dug all around town for people to run to and take shelter during bombing raids. There were many dug along the road sides where there were no open drains, in empty plots of land. There was a big long one in front of the house of the little boy.  He saw a lot of diggers, sometimes with machines that were from the army. The road in front of their house seemed to be an important one and there were often convoys of army vehicles passing through. Usually, they came with a warning siren and everyone cleared the road and made way for them. After they passed, everything went back to being as normal as possible.

One evening, he saw his father return from work, not in his usual manner of walking or being dropped off by an official vehicle. He heard a bell tinkle and saw his father ride in on a bicycle up through the front gate, on a ramp that ran down the middle of the steps.

A bicycle was still a family vehicle in those days.  There used to be a men’s bicycle with a high horizontal bar running beneath the seat to the front handle – something the women’s bicycle did not have. There used to be a tiny seat mounted, clipped to this bar on which the oldest kid sat and held on to the centre of the handle bar. The father sat on the driving seat. Right behind him was a ‘carrier’ or flat metal area with a built in clip that could hold a load in place. This could be converted into the second seat by placing a folded cloth over it and the wife usually sat there, side-saddle, holding the youngest kid in her lap. She used to wrap one arm around the kid while holding on tightly to the handle behind the man’s seat to steady and clamp herself. Any fall or accident would be messy and dangerous for all! One often wonders how the Indian population soared despite such constant dangers to life and limb!! There used to be a basket in front of the handle bar in which shopping supplies or luggage could be placed. Some would install a side basket beside the ‘backseat’. So, a bicycle could carry a young nuclear family with two children easily.

The little boy was thrilled at seeing the shiny new bicycle. It had cost a small fortune in those days, but it gave the father additional mobility and freedom to come from and go to work at all hours. It was also great to go shopping with the family and for fun trips to the sights around the city. One popular place was the area near the Golden Temple, the lake around it and shops in the streets around that area.

He remembered:  They often went to the Golden Temple. On the way back they would have ‘Alu Tikki’ (spiced , crisp roasted potato mash cake), ‘Choley’ (boiled, spicy chickpeas), ‘Paani Poori’ (little deep fried round crispy bread stuffed with potato and spicy water). They also had sweet ‘lassi’ (buttermilk) or ‘Kulfi’ (traditional ice cream). They were often full, tired and sleepy from all the walking and eating.  When he was grown up the little boy often wondered how his parents managed to get them home – each parent usually carried one. The little boy was usually bundled up to his mother or carried up on his father’s shoulder or arms. His sister either rode in the front or walked beside. Sometimes the father carried both of them, one on each arm. He seemed a like a big giant to them. The mother usually carried the shopping or walked slowly when not well. Often he remembered being on an outing and being lifted as he got tired. He never remembered how or when they got home. The next thing he remembered was waking up in his house in his bed!!

There was once a power surge and it burned out radio sets in many houses before a total outage for a couple of days. There was a bit of mass panic. People wondered if it was a precursor to an attack from across the border. It turned out to be something domestic and was soon fixed. Power, however was regularly cut in the evenings just as it got dark. People then were quite prepared and always had traditional methods of lighting and cooking fuels – they burned, wood, dried cow dung and coal. Most houses had a compartment near the back door in which coal was dumped upon purchase from vendors passing by in the streets. Coal usually came in brown ‘gunny’ sacks. Candles and kerosene stoves and lights were more common in the wealthier households. Even in places with electricity, it was common for the power to go off for many hours routinely and during peak season. Everyone accepted it as a normal thing. But now the reasons for the power cuts were more sought after and rumours often spread like wildfire and flourished. It was suspected that many enemy agents were going around sabotaging important utilities and facilities.

There was a nightly check by groups of the civil defence to police windows, doors and any visible fires or light from the outside. All windows and doors were to be tightly sealed with either thick black paper or cardboard or thick cloth. The insides of houses and rooms got pretty stuffy, smoky and there were a few instances of house-fires. Harpreet came around every day and night to check on the house of his beloved. He so obviously cared about her. Everyone knew and sometimes poked fun at him, but did let him help them. He helped dig a trench for the family in the backyard in a spot that he could see from his own house, where he lived on the second floor. During air raids, while everyone else was in the trenches, he was out on roof tops, looking for saboteurs and enemy agents, risking his life from them and any bombs if they fell!

He remembered:  The radio in the little boy’s house was affected by the power surge and it stopped working.

Later one evening, the father cushioned and strapped the big radio on to the back seat of the bicycle. He slowly pushed it as the little boy, his sister and mother followed him. The mother carried some food packed in a bag. They were going to meet the friendly, bespectacled ‘friend’ of the father who was the radio technician who would fix the radio for them. It was a surprisingly short trip! They went out the front gate and turned down the street and walked a few yards and there was a little house where the father’s friend lived. They never realised that he lived so close.

 It was a small, narrow house with just two rooms. There seemed to be no windows to this house. They could only see one room. The room appeared small and a large bed occupied most of the space. It had a curtain drawn along one side, close to the wall. It seemed strange until the curtain was drawn back. The second room really was a long closet space recessed into the thick wall. There were no windows on any of the rooms. It has shelves and many large radio sets and some strange looking machines. Many seemed glowing with strange orange and green and red lights. There were strange hums, noises and even some voices emanating from some of the radios. There were huge head mounted earphones next to some. There were some tools, instrument, meters and soldering irons, some boxes and some odd looking electronic components lying around on a work bench. There was even a bench and sliding chair tucked into the space.

“This is where I work!” said father’s friend pointing to the radios,

“And this is where I sleep,” pointing to the bed.

“And where do you cook and eat?” asked the little boy.

“There, behind the bed was a small table and a dark little area. I cannot cook here. I get food delivered,” said he.

The little boy’s mother handed the package of food. The man graciously thanked her.  He poured out coffee from a flask for the father and offered the mother too some. She politely declined.

“Please eat your dinner now. We all just had ours,” said the father, as he set down their radio on one of the shelves.

“Probably, it has blown the fuse or a valve. I will check it out soon,” said the man as he retired to the back of the room. He unpacked it into a plate. He then came and handed some sweet candy to the children and sat down to eat. He ate quickly as he sat next to a wireless set. He suddenly pulled a headphone on as he heard some chatter from the radio. He had an odd device in his hand that he spoke into. He ate and spoke and even tapped on something. It looked like he did not get very much rest or time to attend to other things.

The children sat on the bed itself, as there was not any furniture. Their mother sat on a big, comfortable ‘easy chair’ – which is a typical Indian, long chair with a sling seat.

The man had his food. He then signed off on the radio he was on. He gathered the plates and dishes to wash and went out an unseen, dark corner at the back , the mother and father protested and asked him to give the dishes they had brought the food in. They would wash it back at their own home.  As he sat down and opened up their radio. He saw the children looking intently at him. He smiled.

“Why is none of your radios playing any songs or music or news? Are they all gone bad?” asked the little boy.

The grownups laughed!

“No, these radios are different. They do not play music or news. They are special. I do have one that can play some songs. Would you like to listen to it?” the radio technician asked.

“Yes!! Can you play my favourite song?” asked the boy’s sister.

“Let’s see!” smiled the man. He went to one radio in the top shelf and turned it on. It took a while to warm up and then he tuned it. Soon they could hear their usual musical program.

The man chatted with the father and worked on their radio. The mother sat and rested. The children listened to the radio and watched the man working.

“The power may go out soon, do you have candles?” asked the little boy.

“Yes, I do have candles, but I usually do not lose power to the radios,” he said, smiling mysteriously!

The mother and father nodded knowingly. In a little while, the man thought he had fixed something in their radio. He plugged it in to a power point and flipped a switch. It started to light up and warm up. The magic eye started to work. He turned the volume knob and sure enough, it started to play music!!

They were all thrilled. The man unplugged the radio. He then put back the cover and wrapped up the power cord.  He helped the father pack it back on the bicycle. They all went back home, walking the short distance. As they stepped out, it was all dark, there was a power outage and they could barely make out the trenches. The parents were very careful with the children and the bicycle with the radio.

“How come that Uncle’s house had power, but it is out all over?” asked the little boy’s sister. In typical fashion, any man or male friend of the father is addressed as ‘Uncle’ in India.

“That is because, that Uncle is special and his house is special,” said his father making light of a mystery.

The little boy almost fell into the trench hole as they neared their house. They finally made it back safely after that and their radio was back in its place waiting for the electricity to come back on and play songs!

To Be Continued..


Copyright  (c) Kannan Narayanamurthy 2014
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