Post- Thunderbolt

As in my last blog I mentioned the sudden and unexpected demise of my father whose story I left unfinished which I will try to complete it today. From Khalsa College Amritsar my father went to TDEL of Defence Department at Kanpur to work as technical in 1951 where at that time already already 27 Ph.D's were working on different defence projects including the shape of berry caps and shoes for Jawans. My father got prized posting of a Physics Demonstrator in IMA Dehradun in 1952. This was perhaps the golden period of his life during which he not only got married but even my sister was born in 1957 who is going to retire next year. Besides during this period upto 1962 he got opportunity to see the military and civil elite of that time and see some of the leading personalities of that time like Pt. Jawaharlal Nehru, Dr. Rajendra Prasad and the like. In 1961 one of his neighbourer in Dehradun then Lt.Col. K.S. Menon was sent as a Principal to set up and manage Sainik School in the historical town of Chittorgarh in Rajasthan. Seeing that the prospects of promotions in IMA were slim, Col. Menon asked my father to join Sainik School as Teacher in Physics. So my father came to Chittorgarh from Dehradun in February 1962. Though he was post graduate  in Mathematics but still he got special permission from Central Board of Secondary Education, Delhi to teach Physics to higher classes. In Sainik School he worked in various capacities such as House Master of Hamir and then Pratap House, I/C Photographic Club, Head Department of Physics, and as Senior Master of the school. After serving for about 22 years he retired in 1984 and bought a house in Chittorgarh in 1984. Even after retirement he worked as a part-time teacher in a private school- Central Academy where one of his student achieved 100% marks in Mathematics at the State Matriculation Exams of Rajasthan Board. It is a matter of pride to the family that one of his student Gen. Dalbir Singh Suhag became army chief of the nation which is one of his another success story. He lived  peacefully till he breathed his last on 30-5-2015 at the ripe age of 89 years.       

Another Thunderbolt Strikes

Barely five months after sudden demise of mother another thunderbolt struck our family in the form of sudden and unexpected demise of my father S. Kehar Singh Kang on May 30th 2015. If tour of Punjab in winters deprived me of my mother the summer tour of this state deprived me of my father. Still fortunately we were able to spend a few last hours of his life with him as we came back from Punjab just a day before his death. Looking at his life of nearly nine decades which began in a remote village in Punjab in 1926 A.D he somehow managed to continue his studies thanks to the facility of scholarship and succeeded in graduating from D.M.  College Moga, a nearby town situated near his ancestral village Dharamkot. During his college days he struggled living alone and cooking for himself in a rented room. During the days of partitioned he volunteered for the social work in relocation of refugees from across the boarder as  a result of which he gained promotion to the next class without appearing in the exams. His unmarried life's end almost coincided with the end of his graduation and ending the job at Khalsa College Amritsar. 

First Quarter Sans Mother- A Tribute

It had been a difficult time for the whole family to pass three months without an important member of a family who nearly spent more than eight decades on this planet and nearly six decades to build my family as it stands together. Her life can roughly be divided into four phases. The first phase was of her childhood at Parao Mehna village and education at Moga upto graduation level and then graduation in education from D.S.College Firozepur. This phase also includes her brief stint as a teacher in a school owned by the then Chief Minister of Punjab Pratap Singh Kairon at Patti. Second phase of her can be said to have begun with her wedding with Kehar Singh Kang of Dharamkot village in 1953 A.D. This phase included her decade long stay at Dehradun upto 1962 A.D, where my father worked as Physics demonstrator at Indian Military Academy. This phase was a blend of sorrow, joy and achievement. Her source of sorrow was the loss of her first child and joy knew no bounds when she was blessed with a daughter and in between these two phases her academic achievement was post graduation in Maths along with her husband Shri Kehar Singh Kang from D.A. V. College Dehradun and Agra University. Second phases ended with twin events- one was her husband's new assignment as Physics teacher at Sainik School Chittorgarh and then the birth of her son in 1962. During this phase of her life too she had brief stint of service as a matron in the school. Lack of domestic help compelled her to leave this job in the interest of the family. This phase also saw the sad demise of her parents as her father passed away in 1969 and then demise of her mother in 1972 A.D . Despite these sorrows she strengthened herself by devoting her entire energies to build her family. The fourth and last phase of her life began after my father's retirement from Sainik School and the family shifted to the bought house from Housing Board. Though marriage of her daughter was held in third phase of her life but her son's marriage and the joy of grandchildren could come only in the fourth phase of her life. she gave strong support to her husband in his illness as heart patient and seeing his illness no body could have even dreamed that she would breath her last in the dying month of the last year.