In July 1991, luckily I got a copy of the third edition printed in
1911, of the book titled ‘Short Account Of The Life And Works Of Rai Jeewan Lal
Bahadur’ written by my grand father, Lala Maharaja Lal Saheb in 1895. The book
gave a vivid description of our ‘KAKRANEAH KAYASTHA MATHUR FAMILY’. It traced
history of very learned and highly respectable personalitites, who held very
responsible, honourable and pivotal positions not only, in the society, but
also, in various governments, from the reign of Mughal Emperors Shahjahan &
Aurangzeb to the British Era, covering a period of 4 to 5 centuries.
The concluding paras of the Author’s introduction chapter, vindicated
his expectations from his descendents to maintain the Family’s HIGH TRADITIONS
of affection, sacrifice, devotion to duty, sincerity, humanity, service to the
family and the society.
Inspired by these aspirations, I decided to do my duty towards this end
and live upto my grand father’s expectations as best as I could.
The span of over 104 Years since the
publication of the 1st edition of the above book had brought about
an immense change in the social standards and the filial attitude of the
society. The ties of relationship are not that cordial as it used to be in the
olden days. Hard conditions of life, don’t give them the scope for
get-togethers. The breaking up of joint families & living separately at
distant places, spread over various continents, countries and even in far flung
cities of India, added to the generation gap, which not only, made the contacts
difficult, but also, created a veritable estrangement amongst the younger
generations.
With a view to bridge this wedge of distance and estrangement, I
ventured, to build up an academic link to knit the scattered family in one
indivisible string.
To begin with, I circulated 50 photostat copies of LALA MAHARAJA LAL
JI’S book amongst the present heads of the family of LALA MAHARAJA LAL JI. With
it, I added a note to provide the family members with a media of contact and
acquainting themselves with the ancestral lineage, I intended to compile the
Family Directory of R.B. JEEWAN LAL JI.
The Directory in addition to the genealogical charts and family history
also provides information about the Names, Addresses, Telephone numbers, Fax numbers and Dates Of Births, Marriage
Anniversaries, to enable the members to possess a ready reference and immediate
uptodate media of contact.
The response to this request of mine was an over-whelming appreciation
of the idea. Most of the Members provided me the required particulars, profiles
and photographs.
I am grateful to all my family members who have assisted me in this mission
with utmost attention and very helpful suggestions.