Allahabad: History doesn’t change with names.

 It would not be fair enough to call Allahabad just another city. This is a name that has lived itself out of being called just a city. Only by setting foot in Allahabad people achieves glory which they can’t even imagine. And who comes here with hope never leaves empty handed.

Sometimes we talk about the city and sometimes we talk about soil. If we had to discuss something about the city then it would have been wrapped up easily but here it’s related to soil. The roots of this soil are embedded to the time when maa Lakshmi was emerging from "Samudra Manthan" and the few drops of 'Amrit' were spread down at four different locations of Bharat, One was Allahabad.

Allahabad, which originated from Puranas, continued to develop over time and made its identity in the country as well as abroad. Due to the water of sacred Ganges and the fertile soil, the number of people kept increasing day by day. India being a secular country and holding 94% of the World hindu population ,the divine reason for people which made them inclined towards Allahabad was Kumbh. A point for three holy rivers to meet is here and we name it as Sangam.

Over time, different states and kingdoms were established and ruled over Allahabad. Mughal emperor Akbar was none apart from the list who originally named it Allahabad and made his fort in 1583. The city didn’t remain untouched by the East India company and was ruled by them after the treaty of Allahabad, 1765. As much as Allahabad was crucial for other rulers, equally it was for the East India company which made them to make Allahabad as a capital of India for a single day and it was November 1, 1858.

It would not be wrong to say that once upon a time the center of politics was also Allahabad. The first Prime Minister of India, Jawaharlal Nehru was born in Allahabad and his father bought a house named Anand Bhavan in 1930 as a Nehru family house which later on became the Nehru office. Since the Nehru family was active politicians which made other great leaders of the country to visit Allahabad frequently in that era. This Anand Bhavan was later on donated to the Indian Government and nowadays open for visitors.
Apart from the political activities our extremists for national freedom were also active here and the shot story of Chandrashekhar Azad took place in Allahabad.

Post Independence of India, Allahabad gave Jawaharlal Nehru, Gulzari Lal Nanda, Indira Gandhi, Chandrashekhar, Vishwanath Pratap Singh as the Prime minister of India. If it is not wrong to say that the way to the throne of Delhi leads through Uttar Pradesh then it would not be wrong to say that one of its streets passes through Allahabad.

After the establishment of Allahabad University in 1887, Allahabad became the eminent point of attraction for students and had marked a new beginning of education in India. This university gave birth to masters of almost every field to India and abroad. And later on recognised as "Oxford of East" and sometimes by "IAS Factory".

Mahadevi verma (Poet, Padma Awardee), Murli manohar joshi (Politician) , Madan Mohan Malviya (Freedom Fighter) , Prashant Bhusan (Supreme court lawyer), Raghunandan Swarup Pathak (CJI, judge of International court of justice), Krishnaswamy Sundarji ( Chief of Army Staff), Shankar Dayal Sharma (President of India), Govind Ballabh Pant ( CM of UP), Vinod kumar Yadav ( Chairman of Indian Railways), Manuel Aaron ( International chess master), Rajendra singh Rana ( Magsaysay Awardee) ,N C. Saxena (IAS, member of Planning commission of India), Mrinal Pande (Journalist), are few notable alumni of the University of Allahabad. My father being a student and admirer of Allahabad University always say that someone who has kept his shoes on the campus will not sleep hungry even for a day because the University is blessed by Maa Saraswati.

Amitabh Bachchan, the "Shehanshah" of Bollywood, who gave a new identity to the film industry and won the hearts of people with his acting, films and episodes over the years have roots from Allahabad. In 1984 when Amitabh was about to quit the film industry and tried to jump into politics, he was elected to Lok Sabha by winning from one of Allahabad's constituencies.

Allahabad sometimes emerged as a birth place and sometimes as a place of karma for legendary poets like Akbar Allahabadi, Subhadra Kumari Chauhan, Suryakant Tripathi Nirala, Mahadevi Verma and Harivansh Rai Bachchan.

Over time, New cities developed in India and unfortunately Allahabad got suppressed. Due to which the pace of development slowed down in Allahabad. Today Allahabad lacks basic infrastructure, medical facilities, industries which Allahabad actually deserves. By taking a few more lines I would like to say that Allahabad is that tree of Uttar Pradesh to which if we feed development in the form of water, then its fruits will be available not only for Uttar pradesh but for the rest of the world.