It is hard to believe that our very dear friend ShiamLal Jain left for his onwards heavenly journey too soon to be in the lap of The Almighty last week.
I briefly pen down my memories of our dear ShiamLal, fondly called Lalli or Shiamu during our College days of Thapar Institute of Engineering and Technology , Patiala where we did our Engineering Course together from 1965-69.
It was in June’1965, our batch was enrolled with admission and we were allotted boarding and lodging at Hostel C.I met Shiamu over a meal in the mess and developed immediate liking with him for his simplicity and very cordial attitude. We instantly decided to be sharing a room together with two other roommates.
Shiamu had been a great person to live with, had a very cordial and caring attitude with pleasing manners.He was good at his studies together with deep interest of entertainment. He ventured out for movies, restaurants and other social outings together with our close group of friends. Meanwhile, we developed a great bondage as roommates. He became a part of our close group of friends and was liked by all.
Shiamu had good belief on spiritualism, had put up a corner in the room for prayers. He used to occasionally enjoy accompanying us to Sri Dukh Niwaran Sahib, a famous historical Gurdwara in Patiala, for prayers as well having langar.
Our Famous Biking Trip from Patiala to Shimla : Towards end of 1965, an adventurous biking trip from Patiala to Shimla and return was planned by group of college mates, few backing out. Shiamu immediately got interested together with Harmeet Singh ,Surinder Jain and myself. We were given a grand send off by the Warden of our Hostel with great announcement and fan fare,placards on our bikes etc.
We started off with a great state of positive minds and stamina. On the way ,we were invited by villagers who treated us with their meals including freshly made Gurh and delicious snacks. There are some memorable pictures of this trip which are attached along with. Our couples of nights stay at Chandigarh in the hostel at Regional Engg. College was very relaxing and entertaining.
After taking rest for the first night at the hostel, we embarked upon cycling steep climb to Kalka, and beyond the famous Pinjore Gardens. After huffing and buffing upto the Gardens, we all had our lunch- and then suddenly all of us were lying flat on the Garden Lawns. There was an eerie silence amoungst us all around… till one of us ventured to ask… hey aage Jana Hai Kya ?
“Nahin, Nahin”was the joint joint refrain !!!!
Our swollen backsides and aching Legs..helped us to take immediate unanimous decision to abandon the idea of cycling further upto Shimla. Now the only thing left was to make an honorable return to our Hostel back at Patiala.It was easy to cycle back to Chandigarh on a down slope.After spending leisurely evening at famous Sector 17 of Chandigarh and sleeping at night at REC Hostel – we took a late afternoon bus to Patiala, with cycles thrown on the top of the bus.
We then got off at Patiala Bus Stop – and cycled wearily back to our Hostel – and declared our expedition to be a grand success. We had all four of us taken a Kasam not to disclose and divulge the actual happening to of the mission to any one. And we four had passed with a flying colours.Every one believed our story and this became the folklore during our four years at College.
Mercifully there were no Mobile phones at that time to track every inch of our movements. Also our Box Camera had just one roll with 12 pictures, which convincingly proclaimed having got over, by the time we reached Pinjore Gardens.
ShiamLal - The Room singer Shiamu could sing really well few of Hindi emotional love songs. Even after long 50 years,two of his following favorite songs from the 1965-66 released movies Ram Aur Shyam and Do Badan , with his melodious voice ring my ears :
***BhariDuniya Mein AkhirDilKoSamjhaneKahanJayien …***Aaj Ki Raat Mere DilKee Salami Lele …… It was a great delight meeting Dear Shiamu in Feb’2019 after a long gap of over three decades at our college mate Manmohan Khurana’s Home in New Delhi.
Alas !!!!
That was the last time I met our dearest Shiamu!!!!
Those were the days my Friend Shiamu... you will remain in our hearts for Ever !!!! By:
Harminder Singh Kalra ,New Delhi
(Kukie)
26 May,2020
