fहndi - Mahatma Gandhi Antarrashtriya Hindi Vishwavidyalaya

6. RAWALPINDICrossing all the bonds of historyMy heart was thumping with images,self-created images of a long-lost past,It was a past of a dead mother,my nana used to tell me.of her life and time in Rawalpindi.At the entrance of the narrow lanehung a freshly painted signboardwhich was unable to hide thebold letters, scripted in Hindi,which reflected the old glory ofRawalpindi.My heartbeat froze... as I stoodfgndi •I reached the narrow laneof the old city of my nana and my roots.I held a white rose in my handalong with an address of Rawalpindi.in front of the ‘Melaram Haveli’similar to the photograph I held in my hand.Just the word ‘OM’ engraved at thethreshold stood testimony to the creed oflifestyle of my nana who lived in his daysat Rawalpindi.Few people...passers-by on the roadtried to bring me back to today’s realityreminding me of my own real self.They said, it was not the old Punjab.which remains alive in my consciousnessit’s not the same Rawalpindi.April-June 2013 :: 75