EP 14 – Iran As I Knew It : Two years of Zahedan

By Colonel V K Bali, Retd

Having got into the daily routine, days flew by…..everything was so predictable.

Our life revolved around our small group of Mission staff families and the kids. We were a gang of eight kids…that’s Gurdeep, Rani, Sanjay, Koko and three of us. Koko was daughter of a senior official and was the ring leader. We played and fought with each other. Gullu Baloch always kept an eye on our activities and never far from our sight.

Outside the Mission, life was mainly interaction with the local Indian community, that was a weekly visit to the local temple located inside the residence compound of Mr Raja who was the owner of a fleet of oil tankers. The kirtan at the local Gurdwara was always attended on Sundays…later on there used to be a tea session with local Indian diaspora…some kids notably Shanta, Ashok, Manjeet and Narinder Singh (Nallu) became our good friends….Langar at Gurpurab used to be well celebrated

We hardly interacted with locals except for some routine work related conversations and exchanged greetings sometimes. One thing that really interested me was a large family staying on the outskirts of Zahedan where we used to pass along almost daily for evening walk with our dad,it was a farming family

The farmer had eight wives, children and grandchildren numbering nearly a hundred members..the farmer was very old and his sons did all the work.. There were about seventy school going children in that household. To keep a track of school children, they had to tick on a huge board against their name positioned outside the house…to indicate whether they had gone to school and were back home. An evening head count was taken to ensure no one was missing…the house hold used to run like an efficient commune involved in farming and goat rearing activities.

Visitors to the Mission came off and on. Broadly they were, visiting officials coming to the Mission, local prominent citizens and travellers passing through Zahedan. Zahedan was located on the only available land route from Europe to Middle East and onwards to Indian Sub continent through recently formed Pakistan….they came in different ways and modes of traveling. Those days air travel was not affordable for common people being too expensive…the planes were slow and had short ranges and having long multiple halts to Europe…a plane from Delhi to London typically halted at Karachi, Basra, Cairo, some French Airport for refuelling and then on to London

A ship from England to Bombay via Malta, Cairo and Aden must have taken two to three weeks. Hence land route was the popular and economical option…there were buses from London to Calcutta, cars and motorcyclists….and hitch hiking back packers going from Europe unto Australia. Ships plied regularly from Calcutta to Sydney.. The London to Sydney passengers used to take this route after bus dropped them off at Calcutta.

Those days many Indians were migrating from India to Britain and Europe as there was a huge demand for Indian labour there after the second world War due to high loss of young men in war. Once a Punjabi family of about 8 members landed up at our mission building to get some information.

They were traveling in a station wagon from India and were carrying their kitchen and rations from India including Pure Cow Ghee in a large container….being very particular about cooking in pure ghee from India…on the roof of the wagon they also carried two charpoys for sleeping. At the end of the day in the late afternoon, they would find a place for the night halt and start their night set up and cooking. They would make a tarpaulin shelter using wagon roof and rugs on the ground

The couple slept on the charpoys with a child each. Cots were pulled down from the wagon roof and other children slept on the floor rugs

It was normal for us to have these travellers come over for a meal and fill us up on the latest news from India although Indian newspapers were despatched by diplomatic bags to us but these used to be two to three weeks old
Amongst the prominent visitors I remember were the Shah of Iran, President of India Dr Radhakrishnan to our home at Zahedan and the famous mathematician Ms Usha who could solve any mathematical problem in seconds and proved very popular with the Indian diaspora. She stayed with us for two days

The visit of Dr Radhakrishnan was very special.

He had come to Iran on invitation of the Shah Raza Pahelvi and had expressed his desire to visit Zahedan to meet Indian diaspora..

So special arrangement for him to fly down from Tehran to Zahedan for a day were made…he was to fly back to Tehran the same evening

On landing at Zahedan he was given the Presidential protocol by local authorities and was guided to our mission by a ceremonial convoy. It was a very exciting moment for us.

The Indian diaspora had been gathered in the spacious mission lawns and the President walked in to address them..He appeared to be very modest man and spoke too softly..His ADC must have told him to speak louder since there was no PA system those days there…there was constant cheering by the Indian diaspora followed by tea and sweets organized by the mission ladies and staff..there was no catering service worth the name

After the public meeting, the diaspora dispersed and the President interacted with our staff..it was a small gathering of about twenty odd and children..

The President then requested home cooked Indian vegetarian food for lunch…Since my dad was the senior most present, it was decided that he would have lunch at our place….

So my mom and few ladies cooked up an impromptu lunch with what so ever vegetables were available…..
While the lunch was being cooked, Dr Radhakrishnan got talking to my elder sister who was of a holiday visit to Zahedan from India…she was enrolled in fine arts and could sing classical Indian music

Dr Radhakrishnan expressed his desire to listen to a bhajan in classical music and my sister sang for him….he listened to it very attentively and rewarded her with something I don’t remember

The president left shortly after lunch back for Tehran…there was a loud sound of motorcycle outriders leading the convoy back to the airport

The personality of Dr Radhakrishnan evoked deep respect from everyone he met

Perhaps it must have been the only visit to Zahedan by an Indian President just to meet a small number of Indian diaspora in a foreign land departing from his official itinerary

Life is lived in moments and not years…the moments like meeting Shah of Iran and Indian President in a non descript place like Zahedan were very special indeed

One of the Indian Backpacker hitch hiking from India to Europe stayed with us for two days..my dad told me that he was son of a prominent Indian politician from Kerala, Mr Alva…I think he must be related to erstwhile prominent Congress leader Ms Margaret Alva…I met her in Mizoram in 1992 when she had accompanied late Sh Narsimharao to Mizoram on an official visit and I was their liaison officer but didn’t find suitable opportunity to ask her about our Zahedan visitor

My second year was coming to an end now and the Indo China War had flared up…American arms were being supplied by American Air Force jets flying high towards India…there were tense moments now and then
I was told that I would be going to India by train through Pakistan…I was to be part of a group of Indians from Zahedan who were to visit India..

The interesting trip from Zahedan by train to India via Quetta, Sukkar,Lahore and Amritsar will be covered in my next and final episode on Iran