Documenting family history

I probed my dad today, asking him questions on my grandfather's and his journey during the mid and late 20th century times.

My dad was born in December of 1951 and moved to Dhanbad in 1952. They lived in Dhanbad until 1958 and moved to Muzaffarpur thereafter where my dad attended a convent school for a couple of years before moving to a Government school in 7th grade. 

My dad's family moved to Chaibasa for some time thereafter.

My dad has the fondest memories from the Chaibasa days. They used to go on tours with my grandfather (Dadu) to different places like Jamshedpur. When in Jamshedpur, they used to spend some time with Bade Nana (my mom's uncle) and his family. My dad sang songs for Bade Nana who appreciated my dad's singing skills. They lived in a big Government bungalow in Chaibasa.

After Chaibasa, they moved to Patna. My ancestral home in Srikrishnapuri was built in 1965 after the land was bought in 1964, on the insistence of one of Dadu's colleagues. The house was rented out until the early 70s since Dadu still moved around a bit. BTW, our famed Ambassador car BRR73 was bought by my Dadu from Bade Nana in 1965 for mere Rs. 9000. It was a 1958 model. For the record, we kept it until 2012 (nearly 50 years).

When they were in Patna in the mid-60s, my dad and his two brothers started frequenting Bankipur club on Saturday nights, where my dad performed on stage and collected a lot of accolades doing the same. 

Eventually, my dad moved to the hostel in Patna College in 1969/70. He continued with his interest in music and visited Bombay in 1971-72 with a bunch of friends to sing at a friend's wedding. He had also visited Bombay with his brothers in 1971 and stayed with Mohanjee Prasad. After he came back from Bombay, he visited Bade Nana who asked him to visit Girija Samanta (Shakti Samanta's brother) on his next trip. He got several letters from Dadu's contacts via an Ex Income Tax Bombay chief and visited a host of actors like Dilip Kumar and Raj Kapoor on his next trip to Bombay. He started working for Shakti Samanta as the assistant director in movies like Ajanabee, Amanush, and Charitraheen. He also appeared for a couple of Pune Film city auditions (once in Delhi and once in Mumbai) around this time where the likes of Jaya Bahaduri suggested that he pursue singing instead of acting. He never pursued singing and returned back to Patna in 1975. 

Back in Bihar, he started a string of businesses. First, he dabbled with the "Glass tinting" business in Patna and then with "Varnishes and Paints" in Dhanbad and Patna. In both the Patna operations, his older brother was his business partner. 

In the late 70s, he started Pizza Hut, which ran until 1984. After Indira Gandhi was assassinated in 1984, everything was shut down for a month and he lost his staff, which prompted him to close down operations.

He thereafter also started a dairy/milk business in Patna, Bihar Sharif, and Koderma, with my mom which he ran for a year. 

This was a brief summary to capture the first 35 years of my dad's life. He is nearly 70 years old now.