Flooded basement deaths takes Old Rajinder Nagar residents to the nightmarish partition days

Old Rajinder Nagar has changed rapidly. It has become a hub for coaching institutes for competitive exams. The people running these institutes have flouted regulations in connivance with corrupt government officials. They have built buildings and basements wherever they could.

As the sun rises over Gurudwara Nanak Saar, perched on the hill overlooking Old Rajinder Nagar in Central Delhi, the area is filled with the sweet sound of devotional hymns.

This was then. Today, old Rajinder Nagar has gone silent, quite literally. A mix of sadness and angst is evident on every face one comes across, including the passersby.

Three young lives - Tania Soni, Shweta Yadav, and Naveen Delvin - were tragically lost when they drowned in a flooded basement while studying at the Rau’s Study Circle library. Children losing their lives while studying in a library must be an unprecedented tragic irony.

A heartbroken Delhi:

Delhi is heartbroken by what happened in Old Rajinder Nagar. The city is grieving silently, similar to how it wept after the Uphaar fire tragedy on June 13, 1997. Even today, Delhi shudders when looking at the dilapidated state of the Uphaar building.

It's true that Delhi doesn't usually stay bothered by incidents for long. Life goes on at its own pace. Sensitivity has waned. Terrible tragedies are forgotten after a few days. The recent deaths of several newborn babies in a terrible incident in East Delhi also disappeared from media headlines within a few days. However, the untimely deaths of three young people brimming with potential have left the capital in mourning. There is a general feeling of sadness. It's a state of utter helplessness. We don't know who to complain to. No one listens.

The first refugee colony:

Old Rajinder Nagar is far from an ordinary place. It is India's first refugee colony. After the 1947 partition, lakhs of refugees arrived in Delhi, leaving everything behind. They slept on the streets. A year later, the government provided 100-square yard plots to refugee families in Old Rajinder Nagar for Rs. 4,000 each. The government didn't demand the full price in one lot, and instead gave the option of installments, enabling the families to rebuild their shattered lives in a new city.

About 30 years ago, H.D. Shourie, the then rehabilitation commissioner responsible for resettling refugees, told this writer that the area was named after India's first President, Dr. Rajinder Prasad. Before that, the area was part of Shadipur Khampur and Todapur villages. New Rajinder Nagar was established three years later. Shourie, father of Arun Shourie, was the life and soul of the consumer movement in India.

Most of the families in Old Rajinder Nagar came from Peshawar, Dera Ismail Khan, Sindh and Multan. Perhaps this is why you will find schools named Multan DAV and Dera Ismail Khan School here. Dera Ismail Khan is near Peshawar. Over the years, many families have moved to other places after getting plots. The houses had two rooms, a kitchen, and a bathroom. The roofs were covered with asbestos sheets. Some houses still stand as they were then. Looking at them, it seems as if their owners want to remain stuck in the same era as before.

The SRK link:

It goes without saying that if Shah Rukh Khan has read about the death of three youngsters in Old Rajinder Nagar, he too would be saddened. After all, he was born in New Rajinder Nagar, which is separated from the old one only by a road. He spent the first 15 years of his life there.

Balraj Madhok, a veteran Jan Sangh leader, also lived there for decades. Ved Marwah, former governor of Jharkhand, spent his childhood in this very area. Later, his family moved to Khan Market, where his father opened the now popular bookstore called Fakir Chand & Sons.

Families living in Old Rajinder Nagar have many heart-wrenching partition related stories. They didn't just leave their homes, cities and villages. They lost many loved ones in the riots that broke out. Every August, their mind takes them back to those nightmarish days.

But what happened in their neighbourhood has left them shattered. Talk to anyone and they choke over the untimely deaths of the three Civils aspirants. The New Rajinder Nagar has been a residential colony since inception but Old Rajinder Nagar has changed rapidly.

It has become a hub for coaching institutes for competitive exams. The people running these institutes have flouted regulations in connivance with corrupt government officials. They have built buildings and basements wherever they could. The greed for quick money has claimed the lives three young lives.

As you walk past the house of the late famous Sindhi singer Lajja Bhatia in Old Rajinder Nagar, you'll find people of all ages discussing these three deaths. Of course, the wounds of this heart-wrenching tragedy will haunt people for a long, long time.