Social Life
The fertilizer plant brought together people from many different locations of India to work in various roles. Sindri was truly the mixing pot for various cultures and regions in India. It was not unusual to find a Bengali, a Bihari, a Sikh, a Tamil, a Kannada and a Jain family living in the same block of the town. The communal harmony and social acceptance which was instilled in youngsters growing up in the town made it much easier for them to adapt to a diverse culture. The greatest contribution of Sindri Fertilizer Plant may be in creating a generation of Indians born with multi-cultural values. Such multi-cultured adaptive people are now spread all over the world.
Shaharpura hosted the downtown shopping area where established dry goods merchants, tailors and butchers shared their space with farmers and other small time merchants. Every Monday, Wednesday and Saturday a lively open air market was held featuring fresh locally raised produce, poultry and locally crafted artefacts. Wandering minstrels and traditional medicine men from as far away as Afghanistan brought with them unexpected services and concoctions like low cost street side tooth extraction and "lizard oil" for arthritis sufferers that was brewed in-situ at low heat in wide mouthed vats of oil in which a few exotic looking lizards lounged around (unharmed) for the afternoon. Marathon bicyclists occasionally came to town to ride around in circles for days on end without setting their foot down. This form of theatre elevated everyday activities like shaving, showering and eating to heroic levels and got the salaried men of Sindri to spare some change for their more venturesome if less fortunate compatriots. The open air market was Sindri's window to the rest of India and brought a splash of colour to an otherwise pastel town.
A well stocked library was a great place to relax and spend time. The local club barber Moinuddin was a popular figure and was responsible for a quite a few latest haircuts in the town. With an ever ready smile and a latest gossip he was the most popular barber in town.
Sindri was also known for its active socially conscious Ladies Club and Vanita Samaj, two prominent organizations for the wives of the officers in Sindri.
Literature in different languages thrived in Sindri with organizations like Hindi Sahitya Parishad, Vidyapati Parishad, Urdu-Hindi Sangam and Anjuman-i-Urdu. Various Mushaira's (Urdu Poetry) and Kavi samelans were held in between 1965 and 1995. From a literature perspective, this was the glorious era of Sindri due to people like Mr. Gosain Salig Ram and Mr. Maheshwar Mishra who worked actively for conducting literary activities in the town, specially in the field of Hindi literature.
Theatre, Drama and Music had a significant role in the social lives and the Bengali community played a significant part in this. This part of Sindri life was heavily influenced by Calcutta (now Kolkata, just 250 km away). Ajanta Kala Mandir was a significant part of the children growing up in Sindri. Children learnt Kathak dance and Hindustani Classical music from Mrs. Ajanta Jha (TV and radio-artist,municipal councilor). Mrs Ajanta Jha is still running the institution but student-count has decreased immensely. In its days of glory, this institution had won many awards for Sindri.
The Kalyan Kendra (Welfare Centre) located between Rohrabandh and Shaharpura had a sprawling ground adjacent to it. The complex boasted of a traditional gym and a modern one too. Later a swimming pool was built as part of this complex. It was the venue for Independence Day and Republic Day parades and location of choice for staging plays and poetry readings by groups that believed that watching movies (along with chewing tobacco, imbibing tea, gambling and playing chess or cards,) was a bad habit. The one western influence that seeped into Kalyan Kendra was table tennis and of course carrom board. The Bengali literati staged night long yatras and durga pujas, the Bihari Literati (and those from Eastern UP) staged Kavi Samelans and observed Chaat, the Tamil literati arranged for Kacheris and staged Ayyappan Puja. Nehru would have been proud of the melting pot he had helped create. He would probably have been less proud of the unauthorized but quite popular late night transvestite cabarets that popped up in the wild. Now Goushala is also known as tower city because, all telecom companies of Sindri have tower in Goushala.
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