Goodbye, ‘Yusuf’: Last heritage landmark of Patna’s Dak Bungalow area razed

It witnessed the birth of a free nation, while the old shops on its ground floor provided livelihood to migrant families from Pakistan after Partition.

It even saw the arrival of Christmas this year, but the last heritage landmark of the historic Dak Bungalow area in the heart of Patna — the Yusuf Building — has now been consigned to history.

According to many local residents, the demolition work began two days ago and was carried out late at night — even as the city was gearing up to ring in the new year.

On the night of 29 December, bulldozers pounded a large portion of the three-storey building into a mountain of rubble, presenting an unusual sight the next day as this structure sat at one corner of the Dak Bungalow Chouraha, known for its infamous traffic snarls, while at the opposite corner stood the eponymous 19th-century Dak Bungalow before it was razed in the 1990s.

While the British-era landmark lending the area its name was erased by the district board authorities over 30 years ago to make way for a high-rise complex, its name survived the onslaught of modernity. The Yusuf Building, now reduced to a pile of bricks and debris, stood right opposite that lost icon of Patna.

PTI had visited the Yusuf Building in May 2024 and interacted with the descendants of the Kapoor family, three generations of which ran the famous department store Roshan Brothers on its ground floor, and again in the first week of December.

Rakesh Kapoor, 62, whose grandfather Roshan Lal Kapoor set up the store after migrating here after the Partition, is now finding it difficult to grapple with the loss of the building to which he and his family members were "very emotionally attached".

"I passed by the heaps of bricks and whatever is left of the Yusuf Building. It feels like a personal loss... like losing someone in my own family. My children are the fourth generation of Kapoors associated with the building, so it feels very heavy inside," an emotionally overwhelmed Rakesh said.

After the death of his grandfather, Rakesh's father Inder Lal Kapoor ran the store and Patna old-timers still fondly recall his genteel behaviour while interacting with the customers.

Besides Roshan Brothers, other stores operating from the ground floor until very recently were Khanna Stores, Lucknow Xerox House (earlier Lucknow Sweet House) and Prakash Studio.

"All these stores were set up by migrants who came from Pakistan after Partition. My father died 10 years ago aged 72, after which me and my brother managed the store till the local authorities sealed the building recently following a court order," Rakesh said.

The longevity of the building, which was "Patna's iconic heritage" and the "last historic landmark at Dak Bungalow Chouraha", could have been augmented with timely intervention in the past, and it should have been preserved, he said.

Rakesh also said that despite a legal case, he and his family members enjoy a "very cordial relationship" with the owner, a prominent family of Patna.

"Our bond dates back several generations. The building may have gone, but the warmth will remain," the 62-year-old said.

Kolkata-based Rajiv Soni, 71, a retired marketing professional and author who left Patna in 1988, said he became overwhelmed with nostalgia after hearing the news of demolition of the "last historic landmark" of the Dak Bungalow area.

"Though I came to know of the family that owned Yusuf Building only in the 1970s, the shops in that building, along with J.G. Carr and Sons, and Sunshine Dry Cleaners next door, were part of our growing up years in Patna.

"I was six when we moved to Patna in 1959, and I often visited Roshan Brothers with my parents. It was a one-stop shop for all groceries and toiletries," Soni told PTI.

He still recalls the ornamental wooden nameplate the shopfront had originally, which was replaced with a modern signage about 10 years ago when it became a franchise of a popular bakery brand.

Soni said he has sweet memories of the old Lucknow Sweet House run by a Khanna family that occupied the central portion on the ground floor overlooking the Chouraha. Later it was replaced by Lucknow Xerox House.

"Lucknow Sweet House was the go-to place in Patna. Mr Khanna with his curly cropped hair served the customers, always immaculately dressed. The shop specialised in 'barfis', but its 'chamcham' was also legendary. It remains in my mind as the cleanest sweet shop I had seen in the city," he reminisced.

Prakash Studio was located on the western portion of the building, facing the then Dak Bungalow.

"I often used the dark room of the studio to take out my prints when I was young. It was a small photo studio, but did a great job with portraits. Unfortunately, it did not sync its business with technology and lost out to the onslaught of the digital world," Soni said.

The owners of Yusuf Building shall perhaps build a structure on its site, again, but the famous Dak Bungalow Chouraha has "lost a gem in its shrinking heritage necklace", he rued.

A family friend who did not wish to be named, recalled spending time at Yusuf Building during his childhood.

"The curved balcony on the first and second floors were like a balcony in a theatre, providing us front-side view of the events that unfolded in Patna, be it the 1975 floods or the 1974 JP agitation or the mass protests by activists over the decades," he recalled.