From the Love Lanes Of Lucknow

Childhood memories in Lucknow include the mouth-watering aroma of delicacies piled up in the school tuck shop. The tuck shop at the La Martiniere Girls School was a little window in the wall behind which lay delicious confectionary and snacks like cup-cakes, cream rolls and patties.

In the British tradition a tuck shop is a small outlet located in a school, hospital or apartment complex. The term was popularly used from the mid 19th century in most Indian boarding schools. Inherited from the British empire, it is almost out of fashion today, and replaced by the word canteen.

However tuck shop was never just a word for us boarders at the La Martiniere Girls School but a life transforming experience. The consensus amongst us was that the tuck shop was enough reason to want to be in school, and worth suffering the strict disciplinarians who had surrounded us.

The weekly visit of the tuck man only added to the joy of being a student. Every Sunday the tuck man would come around tea time. On his head he had carried an aluminium trunk full of foodstuff freshly out of the oven from the local bakery. Each one of us had held our breath as the tuck man brought the treasure chest to the floor, and propped open the lid with a tough bamboo stick.

The display of biscuits and puffs in every shape and size took us as if into Alladin’s cave. It was the aroma that had wafted out of that trunk that is probably responsible for making us who we have become today. The pocket money was rupees two a week, and enough to buy an armload of tuck for a feast that was fit for royalty.

Colourful stories about the tuck shop in the boys La Martiniere school had floated down to us. In the imagination of every female student at the girl’s school, the goodies at the tuck shop in the boys school was a mystery to be explored.

The two schools had existed in different parts of the city but were rumoured to be connected with an under-ground tunnel that none was sure even existed.

It was much later in life, much after having finished school, that I got to visit the tuck shop of the boy’s school, and to meet Nadeem Kazmi.

And like he did for everyone else, Kazmi prepared a meal for me as well of a delectable kebab dressed in the softest bun made as if in heaven.

Who is Nadeem Kazmi?

Kazmi is a Martinian from the 1986 batch who took charge of the Tuck Shop after passing out from school.

Kazmi’s mother Mrs Khan was nicknamed Ma’am Bake and had run the tuck shop like a queen before him.

Between the mother and son, the tuck shop was served by the Khans for more than half a century. The keys of the tuck shop were handed over to Mrs Khan 57 years ago by the then Principal Col Hector Daniels.

Affectionately called Nadeem Bhai, Kazmi too wants to retire from the job. But none want Kazmi to go as he is the Tuck Shop and the Tuck Shop is him.

Apart from feeding the students during the week, Kazmi is remembered for hosting the Sunday Bunday every month, an event that had attracted alumni of the school in large numbers. For Kazmi, the Tuck Shop at the boy’s school was not just a business but a sanctuary for old friends to catch up and for others to make new friends over a bun, a kebab and a cup of tea. It was a place to share laughter and tears with each other. After the Bunday held last Sunday on 29 September, there will be no other event like this one with Kazmi as host, if his retirement plan is accepted. Those who have enjoyed the company and the meals served by Kazmi said that none of them expect the hospitality of the iconic Tuck Shop to end. Kazmi is wanted for more than just the kebab he had served and more for bringing people under one roof to break bread with each other irrespective of the caste or creed that they belonged to.

Simple Need

Those in power today don’t seem to appreciate the simple need of citizens to enjoy breaking bread together. It is no secret that eating, drinking and sharing a few laughs together increases friendship amongst citizens. But the popular politics of the day is determined to spread fear and hate amongst citizens to dent the gracious and inclusive life-style that Lucknow was so famous for.

Many who are in power today want to sow seeds of suspicion amongst citizens in hope that they will perhaps survive longer in power? The Uttar Pradesh (UP) government wants the name and address of owners and managers of food outlets to be displayed on food stalls so that citizens can buy, or boycott businesses on the basis of the caste, creed and religion of vendors.

Hotels and restaurants are expected to install CCTV cameras to spy on who is selling, and who is buying at a time when small shopkeepers are barely able to afford the raw material needed to remain in business.

Similar short term directives in UP including the use of bulldozers are inspiring other states to flex their muscles against citizens as well.

The Himachal Pradesh (HP) government had recently issued an order to street vendors and to all eateries to display their identity. However, Congress leaders stepped in to make sure that the directive by the HP administration was revoked. Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge was not pleased. Kharge had welcomed the Supreme Court’s decision along with other Congress leaders to stay the UP government’s directive last July hailing it as a victory for secularism and justice.

Faced with an anti-people stance taken in the Congress ruled state of HP got the leadership to immediately issue a show cause notice to the state government that has since withdrawn the decree.

So Unfair

Unfair directives like identifying vendors by their name, including house demolitions, arbitrary arrests of citizens and the vicious crackdown on religious minorities is of much concern to former Chief Information Commissioner Wajahat Habibullah. Recently the former bureaucrat drew a comparison between the current situation in India and the early days of Nazi Germany, warning that the government is blurring the lines between nationalism and patriotism in a dangerous way.

The bulldozer injustice is being utilized to prove that 20 percent of the Indian population does not belong to this country. They want to establish Muslims as an anti-national vote bank so that others can applaud this action. To blur the difference between ‘nationalism’ and ‘patriotism’ is what went into the making of Nazi Germany, regretted the 80 year old former bureaucrat. Habibullah was speaking at an event to release two reports by the Association for Protection of Civil Rights (APCR) on “bulldozer justice” in Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh.

These reports focus on issues of violence and discriminatory treatment by the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) governments of Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh. The reports are titled “State-Sanctioned Mobocracy: How State Machinery Fuels Communal Agendas and Extrajudicial Punishments” and “Bulldozing Dissent: Disproportionate State Crackdown on Muslim Protestors”.