When Vajpayee and his father were classmates in college
In 1945, when a 21-year-old Atal Bihari Vajpayee enrolled in a Kanpur college in Uttar Pradesh to study law, he had a classmate who was already retired after serving 30 years as a teacher. That was none other than his father. Pandit Krishna Biharilal Vajpayee was above 50 when he became Vajpayee's classmate at DAV College Kanpur. Read Vajpayee's narration of his college life.
Vajpayee penned down his college life in an article
After Vajpayee became the Prime Minister, his alma mater (DAV College) published a write-up by him in the college magazine in 2002-03, which reveals more about the time when both Atal ji and his father studied together in DAV college.
A well wisher paid for Vajpayee's post-graduation course
"It was 1945-46. I had completed BA from Victoria College, Gwalior (MP), and was worried about the future. My father had retired from government service. My sisters were of marriageable age. From where will I manage resources for post-graduation?" Vajpayee wrote. But when there was no hope, Gwalior Maharaja Shrimant Jivaji Rao Scindia, who knew Vajpayee well, offered him Rs. 75 monthly scholarship.
Vajpayee's father didn't want to let go of education
After getting the scholarship, most of the students head to DAV College in Kanpur. Vajpayee was also told to go there. "Suddenly, my father decided that he too will pursue higher education. He had retired after 30 years of teaching. When he saw that I'm going to Kanpur for MA to study law, he decided that he will also go to Kanpur," Vajpayee wrote.
Principal lauded Vajpayee's father's effort to join college
"My father was above 50. When he reached the principal's (Kalka Prasad Bhatnagar) office, Mr. Bhatnagar thought that the elderly gentleman had come to seek a professor's post or to get someone enrolled," Vajpayee wrote. "But when Mr. Bhatnagar came to know that he had come to enroll himself, he virtually jumped from his chair and started saying, 'You've done a wonder,'" he wrote.
Crowd of students would turn up to see us: Vajpayee
"Soon, the news spread throughout the college. In the hostel, where my father and I lived together, crowd of students would turn up to see us," the former Prime Minister wrote. Vajpayee spent two years at the college.
Teachers had a fun time teasing the father-son duo
"Whenever my father was late for the class, the professors amidst laughter, used to ask, 'Tell where your father has disappeared.' And when I was late, my father used to be questioned as to 'why your son is missing,'" Vajpayee wrote. "It was thus decided that my father will remain in one section, while I will move to another," he added.
Independence Day, a day of immense pride but also agony
Vajpayee wrote, "I still remember the celebration of Independence Day. It was a strange coincidence of agony and ecstasy. We were ecstatic because 1,000 years of foreign rule has ended, and agonized due to the division of the motherland." "On that day, former Vice-Chancellor of Agra University Dewaanchand had come. He handed a small reward from his pocket for my oratory skills," he added.
The two years at DAV College cannot be forgotten: Vajpayee
"I lament that I had to leave the college midway. Gaining Independence and partition of the country had created new circumstances," Vajpayee wrote. He said a number of youngsters left their homes and had embarked on the path of nation-building. "Studies were left, buddies got separated, and new questions cropped up. Yet, the two years spent at DAV College cannot be forgotten," he said.
