Kanchan Daw tells Pragya Paramita that his family was the first to own a petrol pump in eastern India The nondescript petrol pump in North Kolkata will hardly get a few special glances from passers-by,except perhaps the frenzied motorist looking for some gas. Once they fill up their tanks then its time to hit the road. But few know that this is a place that is steeped in history. Ask Kanchan Daw,the owner of the pump,and he will say that his family was the first to own a petrol pump in eastern India. The Jatadhari Daw and grandsons petrol pump was first established in 1929,way before the concept of petrol pumps existed in the city. My ancestors established the petrol pump after an oil storage was set up in our zamindari. The place still exists today in Budge Budge and it is the area where all the oil companies have their godowns, says the 49-year-old Kanchan Daw,owner of the petrol pump. Those,he says,were the days of the freedom struggle and his grandfather decided to set up the first petrol pump. I have heard that many freedom fighters used to come to the petrol pump,and later many of them became political leaders of free India. But I am not very sure who they were and my grandfather used to know them all, says the man. In those days,he admits,they were the only petrol pump in this part of the country,and now it is the only pump in the stretch between Girish Park and Esplanade,albeit for different reasons. Once the metro route was laid in the area,all the petrol pumps moved from here and went to other parts of the city. But we decided to stick around as this is more than a petrol pump. It is a part of heritage and,I feel,old buildings,history,old tales and old traditions should be preserved, he says. Having been in the business for nearly a century,he says a lot of his old customers keep coming back to him. It is especially touching when youngsters come to the petrol pump and tell him that their fathers and grandfathers used to take petrol from here. We have literally seen the times change around us. We were the first to set this up when the fashion was to have the single pumps on roadsides. we had that,now we have the In and Out stores,and next we are going to expand this place and add another floor as an office and store space. But competition,he says,is becoming stiffer. After all there are newer and brighter pumps that are being opened up. Of course,it is impossible to compete with them but I still feel that tradition never goes out of fashion,and that people would always want to come back to places that have history associated with them,especially if they have some connection with it,like all my customers who are all a part of this old tradition, he says. But thankfully,for the Daws,this is more than a family business and even the youngsters in the family still want to be a part of this tradition.
