Whenever Republic Day comes around one is reminded of the first one in 1950 when the enthusiasm of the public was to be seen to be believed. The day January 26 was chosen to mark the call for Swaraj given on that date in 1930. The parade did not start from Rajpath and proceed to Old Delhi but was held at the erstwhile Irwin Stadium, New Delhi, with a 21 gun salute, and in later years at Kingsway, the Red Fort and Ramlila Grounds.
It was only in 1955 that the parade started taking the route it now takes, with the dancing girls of G.B. Road raising the biggest hurrah. One thing worth noting is that the participants always rested outside the fort, around the shrine of Bhure Mian. He was a jalali (fiery) saint who preferred solitude and castigated Aurangzeb who sent dog-meat curry to test his “all-knowing” power. The parade was not such a grandiose event, with few contingents of the Armed Forces taking part in it. Also there were no State tableaux.
Prof. Khaliq Anjum, who was a young man then, spoke of the bonhomie in evidence on the occasion and so also Haji Zahooruddin, who had been a schoolboy when Queen Victoria died in 1901. Hajiji, who owned a hotel in the Jama Masjid area distributed sweets bought from the shop of Haji Kallan which were supposed to be most delicious. In Chandni Chowk the sweets distributed were from Ghantewala Halwai, whose shop had started business in Shah Alam’s reign at the fag-end of the 18th Century. This shop sadly downed shutters a few months ago for reasons beyond its control. Chandni Chowk was colourfully decorated on the first R-Day, right from Lal Mandir to Fatehpuri Masjid and full of thronging crowds carrying marigold garlands and miniature tricolours. There were huge flags and bunting, flowers and banners. The phoolmandi shopkeepers showered rose petals all over. People greeted one another as they realized that eventually full freedom had been achieved, for Independence Day was just the beginning of a free India. At Gurudwara Sis Ganj a big langar was held and so also at Gurudwara’s Bangla Sahib and Rakabganj where thousands stood in long queues to eat poori-sabzi and halwa. Connaught Place looked very picturesque because of the decorations as it was the most fashionable market in the capital. Among those who danced in its corridors was Ram Lal the chiropodist who used to treat bunions and troublesome toenails of the British soldiers stationed in the Red Fort and who came to him on Saturdays and Sundays to get their aching feet attended to after taking off the heavy boots that had caused them much misery. Ram Lal used to talk about that day even in old age with great details as he was young and full of spirits then. One soldier gave him a 100 rupee note and when he ran after him with the change, he waved his gun at him, thinking he wanted more. Hundred rupees was equivalent of a 1000 rupee note now.
At night all the public and most private buildings were illuminated. The Viceroy’s House, which had become Rashtrapati Bhavan, looked like a bride in all her finery. Parliament House, North and South Blocks, the Central Secretariat, India Gate and the All India Radio building were among the prominent places lit up, so also was the Red Fort.
There was dancing and merriment at the hotels and restaurants of New Delhi, prominent being Standard, Davicos and Gaylord. The dance at the Anglo-Indian Club was something worth talking about. “Roses are red my dear, Violets are blue/Sugar is sweet my love and so are you” was perhaps the most liked song, followed by Sweet Clementine and the refrain, “She’ll be coming down the mountain when she comes”. However the Rastrapati Bhavan dinner was the most talked about. There Pandit Nehru and his daughter Indira Gandhi were present, along with the chief guest, Dr. Sukarno of Indonesia leaders like Rajendra Prasad, Sardar Patel, Maulana Azad,, Sardar Baldev Singh and Rajkumari Amrit Kaur, princess of Kapurthala who had done much to relieve the distress of refugees coming from West Punjab and Sindh and the ones migrating to Pakistan, camped at the Purana Qila. Going down memory lane in 1960s Pandit Ramchander of Kashmere Gate, who was over 90 then, recalled that he had never seen such glamour in Delhi even during Queen Victoria’s Golden Jubilee and the Durbar of 1911. The mushairas and kavi sammelans followed a day of exciting kite-flying in the streets of the Walled City and even the pigeon-fanciers on the rooftops herded their prized birds with the cry of “Ab purey azad ho gaye” (we are fully free now).
