100 Years of Government Inter College , Deoria

MUMBAI – MAHARASHTRA – INDIA November 29, 2018 01.45 P.M.

KING EDWARD GOVERNMENT INTER COLLEGE , DEORIA

Now

GOVERNMENT INTER COLLEGE , DEORIA

1912 – 2012

Government Inter College , Deoria

In hot and scorching month of April 2013, I visited my native place Deoria . I was passing through Kotwali road. Whenever I go to Deoria and walk through Kotwali road, I always watch my college KING EDWARD GOVERNMENT INTER COLLEGE, now known as GOVERNMENT INTER COLLEGE , DEORIA. A board on the main building of the college reminded me that my alma mater is 100 years old . In fact it is 106 years old now. It was established in 1912.

Apart from being alma mater of mine, it is alma mater of my father , my two brothers and my sons also .

When I saw the board announcing Centenary Year celebration of the college , a floodgate of memories got opened and various asinine incidents of my schooling days suddenly flashed on the faded firmament of my memory. Some obfuscated incidents started shinning and gushed into my memory lane . From July 1962 to March 1967 , it was my home away from my home . For 5 long years it was my world away from the outer world . Sitting on the staircase or roaming aimlessly in the long corridors or sprinting in the vast lawns of the college , I used to dream some beautiful dreams of my future. I have many sweet and sour memories of this opulent and grand building.

Eastern entrance of the college

Apart from me and my memories, this college also reminds me about my father Shri Lakshmi Kant Chaturvedi. During freedom struggle, while he was in High School , he climbed the top of the building , removed Union Jack and hoisted National Flag on the mast and proudly unfurled it. British Superintendent of police wanted a shoot at sight order from the then magistrate Raghubar Dayal. But he refused and said that this is not treason. This is childish prank, act of a small enthusiastic boy. So it should be overlooked. He ordered that Indian national flag should be removed and Union Jack should be hoisted again.

My Father Late Shri Lakshmi Kant Chaturvedi
[ 16 May 1908 – 27 February 1974 ]

British SP was furious and complained about the magistrate Raghubar Dayal. Raghubar Dayal, who later on became Justice Raghubar Dayal, paid the price and his subsequent promotion was cancelled.

This incident , which happened around 1922 , became folklore of Chaturvedi clan. It was narrated to me by the elders of the family. When I took admission in 6th standard and entered into the main building and saw the flag mast, I was filled with pride for my father. After 4 years , in 2022 , this incident will complete 100 years. May be future generations of my family will not remember it. But for me it is still fresh in my memory.

My father never ever boasted about his heroic act . He never claimed or demanded TAMRA PATRA , which so many freedom fighters took and flaunted it with pride. My father never claimed the monthly pension , which was given to every freedom fighter during Indira Gandhi’s regime. For him it was his national duty. He did it as his contribution to the freedom struggle and forgot it. Though like Raghubar Dayal, he also paid the price for this incident. He got selected for judicial services. But CID reported that he has nationalistic leanings and quoted this flag incident. Thus he was not selected. Later on he became immensely successful advocate in Deoria.

Life moves on. My father died in 1974. Now I am also an old man . But my college building , though older than both of us , still stands magnificently.

I think it will remain like that when I am also gone. And my future generation may walk past the same Kotwali road . But they will be oblivious of the glorious incident of my father, which once upon a time , was the talking point of my clan in the long wintry nights and hot and dull summer afternoons in my family home , the KRISHNA KUNJ.