The Good Old days

My school i.e. S.D .Higher Secondary School, Shimla, where I studied fifth class on wards till eleventh, is situated in Ganj Bazar or Anaj Mandi as some people would call it. Both Lower Bazar and Ram Bazar are nearby, and so were the Shahi Cinema below Ram bazaar and the Rivoli Cinema across the Lower Bazaar tunnel , the road leading to the Lakaar bazaar bus stand from where buses to upper Shimla and Kinnaur and some local areas are available. The recess time was spent in moving about in either of these two places. From Lower Bazar we used to purchase books and stationery items , where as Ram Bazar , with some suitable spots available then , was seasonally abuzz with some Pathan with his wares spread out on a sheet and a raised illustrated cloth chart towards which he pointed with a long wooden stick to the pictures of wild animals in the high mountains from whom the medicine material was obtained and alternately to the containers in which medicines were kept. As a pastime I also would stand among the onlookers , not catching even an iota of what he said. However the cleverer fellow students told us that he sold potency medicines. No longer such scenes are available , with some regular and other make shift shops having come up on both sides of the road right up to the spot where the road joins the circular road near the old bus stand.Now one has to literally elbow and jostle through to reach Old Bus Stand via Ram Bazar.
Another star attraction was an occasional juggler showing his tricks to the public gathered around. This really interested me, as whatever five or six tricks I happened to watch came handy while writing an essay on ‘ The Juggler’s Show’ as a school assignment .Needless to say this original presentation always fetched me good marks.