The Jaipur Junction
Jaipur History
October 7th, 1973 I opened my eyes for the very first time in this beautiful city Jaipur. My own perception for the city is just 39 years old. I have experienced this city growing from my childhood to a middle aged personality. And since then many developments have showered the city, the city of dreams, and the city of culture, history & heritage.
Although at the time of my early childhood I was not aware that Maharaja Sawai Jai Singh Ji II of Amber founded our beloved city on November 18th, 1727. As I grew with time, I learned more about my hometown. I was proud to be a happy citizen of a peaceful and small city. Oops! Talking about today, the so-called city has spread over 11,000 square kilometres in area as per the statistics available with the Government of the State. And above all I am astonished to see the huge crowd of people on road today. The urban population of the dream city has crossed over 30 lacs as of today.
I remember my childhood, the golden days that I have spent in old Jaipur. As far as my memory rolls back, I could clearly draw the picture of the area where I spent more than 15 years of my life, till I completed my matriculation.
Attending school and coming back home was too easy as everything was approachable, just few steps away from my door. I could hardly realize whether I would have ever used a conveyance to attend my school. I used to enjoy measuring streets walking way down to my home. And traffic was negligible; I could even count the vehicles that were routine passers on the road. Even I was having a strong identification of every one’s Bajaj, Vijay Super and Lambreta scooters. Can you do it today?
St. Angela Sophia School is among one of the oldest school of Jaipur. I used to reside beside the main road where the school was situated. Just after the school got off; there used to be very heavy rush of Tangas (cart) and bicycles on the road. I have not visited the area from so long especially at the particular time, but today’s scenario has revised and autos, buses, two wheelers and four wheelers have replaced all Tangas and bicycles. And it is the story of every old institution of Jaipur; I quoted the example because I had experienced it in the past.
Picnic Spots In Jaipur
My favorite picnic spots were too little to count. Ram Niwas Garden, Zoo, Govind Dev Ji Temple, Ganesh Ji Temple (Moti Dungari) were all just a few kilometers away from my home. Most of the time our family hangout places were destined to Ankur, Gem, and Premprakash cinema. Come on; ask the same question to a teenager today and without a sign of astonishment or surprise he would suggest you names like INOX, Crystal Palm, GT, EP etc. Not only the places; he would also suggest you the route plan, distance etc on his tablet.
Even my favorite 100 gms jalebi has been lost somewhere. School students enjoy snacks in their school canteens or their gangs simply head to places like Mc.D to discuss their strategies to plan their future.
If I talk about the infrastructure development of Jaipur; it is nowhere behind from any metro city. Yes, earlier it used to be fun doing stunts while riding bicycle from Ram Bagh Circle to Gopalpura By Pass. Now you can’t even think of it. I enjoyed a lot riding my bicycle on single lane road from Birla Mandir to RCDF. Now there is no Ram Bagh Circle and no single JLN road is there. The circle has been wiped out and the single lane JLN road has been converted into a 6-lane road up to Malviya Nagar and Clarks Amer Hotel.
By
Ashwini Bagga
Writer, Guitarist
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