The Patriarch Part-III

-Part-III-

We shifted to our new house in the month of September 1984 and I remember that my sister and brother-in-law had come to help us in shifting the house. They were planning to put curtains of their choice in the rooms of the newly constructed house. Masons were still in the housing giving finishing touches to their work. The first festival that was celebrated in this new house was Diwali of 1984. There were a very few people living in the colony at that time but most of us were known as they were government servants. After retirement my father continued his routine of going on morning walk with Mr. Malhotra and in the evening he used to go for a walk with my mother. My father had cherished a dream of opening a residential coaching centre to coach young boys for entrance test to Sainik School. For that he had constructed a hall that can act as classrooms during the day and hostel during the night. He had also constructed a pair of washrooms towards the South western point house that could serve as washrooms for servants and inmates. Though my father cold not get any boarders but my father coached a few local boys for entry to Sainik School but only a few could succeed due to tough competition. However with time he became quite popular as English teacher though he had taught Science and Maths all through out his life due to his pleasing and congenial nature and quite a strong sense of humour. He used to teach English and Maths and he helped a number of young boys and girls in clearing their exams. As Sainik School was a semi-government body  so he was not getting pension so he started taking tuitions that passed his time as well as it helped him to earn his livelihood. The amount that he had received as Provident Fund from the school had been put in MIS of Post office so he used to go to post in the first week of every month to collect the amount of interest that he termed as his pension. Meanwhile I completed my post graduation in 1985 and I got a teaching job as temporary teacher at Government College Karauli which was at that time in the district of Sawai Madhopur. Before I got the job another event that came in the life of my parents was the birth of my elder niece who was named Nidhi at Bharatpur. I remember that I went to see her when she was a few days old along with my mother to Bharatpur. So I went to work at Karauli in November 1985 leaving my parents alone. Both my parents came to see off at the railway station as I was to board a train named Pink City Express that ran between Udaipur and Delhi from Chittorgarh railway station. I was to break my journey at Jaipur where I was to stay with my sister for the night and then next day I was to proceed with my brother-in-law Harendra to my place of posting by bus from Jaipur.

            After my joining the job at Karauli the next mission before my parents was to search a suitable bride for me. My sister’s father –in-law was quite enthusiastic about it and he even came along with his friends from Bharatpur to see me at Karauli.Another gentleman came to meet me at Government College Karauli with the letter of introduction from Satya Dev ji Cheema. I along my brother-in-law even went to see the girl at Bharatpur. I had gone to Jaipur for some work and I was summoned to reach Bharatpur immediately. So I and my brother-in-law got the jeep in the midnight that was carrying newspapers and we reached Bharatpur in the early hours of morning. However, there things could not mature perhaps due to height as the girl was a basketball player so she was quite tall. Meanwhile as my father was searching his papers he got the address of a businessman of Udaipur named S. Zora Singh Dhillion owner of Green Roadways at Udaipur. This gentleman had come to Sainik School a few years back for the admission of his son. He was introduced to my father by headmaster of the school Maj. Randhir Singh, who was also a sikh. However though his son could not get admission to school but he gave his address to my father. My father immediately wrote to him requesting him to sort out the issue of my marriage. The moment he received his letter he gave it to his neighbour S. Karam Singh Deol asking him to take the letter to Bhilwara as the daughter of an Engineer working in irrigation department was of marriageable age. And very next day my father-in-law S. Surjeet Singh along with Karam Singh Deol came to Chittorgah.. But they could meet only my parents as I was away working at Karauli. As colleges closed for summer vacations in 1987 in the month of May S. Surjeet Singh again came to meet me and my parents. This time Surjeet Singh ji brought his brother-in-law S. Hardayal Singh, who was a teacher in Education Department of Government of Punjab. He belonged to Nathuwala Jadid village, which was neighbouring village to Parao Mehna, the village to which my mother belonged to and which was my birth place. My sister and brother –in-law were to visit us in the month of June to celebrate the birthday of me and my sister that happened to be on 6^th June. So the day of 7^th June was selected when we all five of us, including my niece, would go to Bhilwara to finally settle down the matter. Frankly speaking I was not prepared for the marriage as I had only a temporary job that meant that there was no guarantee that I would be in job next year too. I had told these things to my father-in-law also hoping that as he was a government servant he would understand the things but he and his other family members were totally unaffected by it. Secondly I had applied for State Administrative Services whose exams were to be held in the month of December that year so I atleast wanted to postpone the wedding beyond the month of December so that I can give the exam peacefully. Even my parents had assured that they were just fixing the marriage and the the date of wedding would be fixed later on. As destiny would have it on that fateful day my father perhaps forgot everything and readily agreed to the marriage in the month of October 1987. After we met the girl and approving her the wedding rings were exchanged and it was decided that we would be engaged on 17^th October when S. Surjeet Singh along with his relatives would come to Chittorgarh and the next day we will take the barat to Bhilwara to solemnize the marriage ceremony. S.Surjeet Singh belonging to the village of Sujapur in Tehsil jagaraon of Ludhiana district joined as Engineer in Irrigation Department of Government of Rajasthan in Udaipur division. After working on the Mahi-Bajajsagar project in Banswara which was a joint enterprise of Government of Rajasthan and Government of Gujarat he came to Bhilwara and build a house in B sector of Shastri Nagar in Bhilwara. He had three real brothers and a cousin. His father S. Joginder Singh had two brothers S. Ralla Singh and S.Gobind Singh. S. Joginder Singh was a retired Patwari in Revenue Department of Revenue, Government of Punjab while S.Ralla Singh, who had no child, had served from some time in the army and then he worked as a security guard of a bank while S.Gobind Singh also retired as some minor revenue official from Government of Punjab. S. Joginder Singh had four sons. The eldest one S.Pritam Singh joined ministerial service in Government of Punjab and retired as Nazir or Office Supt. The next one S. Ajit Singh devoted his life in looking after farms and doing agriculture. The next one S. Baldev Singh served in Indian Air Force and retired as Junior Warrant Officer, equivalent to JCO in army and S.Surjeet Singh came to serve in Irrigation Department of Government of Rajasthan. S.Gobind Singh had one son S. Tajinder Singh who opened a small workshop in a nearby town of Raikot. Today when I consider the folly of my father who had nearly ruined my career it occurs to me that if he had not agreed for the wedding perhaps I would not have married the whole of my life as one girl had already turned me down and I would have been too downcast to marry someone. So one of the important mission of my parent’s life was accomplished when I was married with this girl named Baljeet aka Satti, who was PGDCA in Computer Application at a simple ceremony at their residence in Bhilwara. The greatest merit of my spouse was that she was PGDCA from a reputed institution of Chandigarh. But she made a fatal mistake of deciding not to work for atleast an year as she was fed up off studies and wanted to take some rest otherwise almost all of her class fellows who had completed their studies from that institute have got jobs in prestigious companies like Microsoft, APPLE, and Infosys in U.S.A. So my marriage to my spouse was just a coincidence.

            My fears for stability in government job turned true as first of all I lost my job just one week after my marriage as my name did not appear in the first merit list. However before this news could get out my name appeared in the second list and I got the job at the same place. But at the end of the session I relost my job as government intended to change the policy so I took up the part time job of teacher in Government Polytechnic College Chittorgarh that was opened the same year and I used to go for a couple of hours to a private school of the town Christian Mission School that now has been closed as its owner has passed away. But somebody got respite from judiciary and I got back my job in the month of December 1988 at the same place from where I had left and I remember that I joined there on 9^th December 1988. My wife was pregnant and my sister had given birth to my younger niece whom we had named Anshu. Colleges were to close for Winter vacation and I came back to Chittorgarh on 24^th December 1988 as it was Sunday and vacations were from 25-12-1988 to1-1-1989.  When I reached Chittorgarh my parents were in state of tension and agitation as their grandchild was expected to arrive any moment. At that time we did not even have telephone connection. However, somebody informed us that my wife has been taken to hospital. As soon as we heard it I, my mother and my father started at once for Bhilwara like three Magis by Bus and reached Bhilwara in a couple of hours. I directly went to hospital from point where we left the bus. My mother-in-law informed me that my wife has been taken into the isolation room but she took me along with her despite the protests from hospital staff to meet my wife. I saw that though she was in pain but she did not show it as much as other women were squeaking and shouting. From there I came to the house of my in-laws and after a couple of hours I got the news that my elder son had come into the world on the evening of December 25,1988 and I decided to name this child Ishu after Jesus Christ who was also born on the same day. So he was named as Ishupal Singh Kang. My wife had two brothers and both of them were in Transport Business and were running a firm named Dashmesh Transport. Her elder brother S. Sukhpal Singh had a son and a daughter named Manjeet Kaur and son Harpreet Singh. The younger brother had one child at that time who waas barelyone year old at the time of wedding. His name is Prithipal Singh.Whenever I visited Bhilwara these children waited eagerly for me as I always took some sweet or candy or biscuit for them that made me popular atleast among the children.

            When my son completed his first year of life my parents decided to celebrate it by holding his ceremony for his religious investiture and throwing a dinner party in the evening. An Akhand path of Guru Granth Sahib ji was arranged in the house on 23-12-1989 and it was completed with solemn ceremony in the morning of 25-12-1989 followed by dinner party in the evening. As it was just one year after wedding so the guest list was already there and other arrangements were made and the birthday cake was cut and dinner was cooked by Halwai and the party was held in the Shamiana put up by the leading tent house of the town.

            My father was very fastidious in his routine. He used to get up early in the morning and go for a walk alone regularly. One day it was time of winters and when he returned he complained of chest pain. During the walk he experienced pain and instead of resting for a few minutes he taking it to be something serious rushed back to the house that enhanced the pain. However, he was admitted to Jainani Hospital where Dr. Jainani had also treated him earlier for his liver problem that led to continuous hiccups in 1984. When Dr. Jainani had examined him he asked him to proceed towards the theatre and he provided a wheel chair of the hospital too. But that chair was stuck up and did not move so my father told me not to worry as he can walk down that distance easily but by the time he reached theatre Doctor came rushing at once and seeing his pale face scolded me for making him walk that distance in that condition when his blood pressure was dropping fast. However he controlled the situation efficiently by giving some injections in the drip that was given to him immediately. Doctor diagnosed the malady to be of Engina pains though the pain could be in chest due to indigestion and weak liver problem also. It could not become clear whether that pain was due to the heart or weak liver leading to indigestion. Father had a weak liver as he had developed Cholera during his childhood and my mother was not in favour of the test that is known as Angiography seeing to his advancing age. At that time my elder son was only a few months old and we used to take him to the hospital in the evening so that his grandfather can play with him. It used to be a good time as my father was getting fed up of medicines, nurses and doctor. My mother used to remain with him continuously day and night and I used to be link between the house and the hospital and my father-in-law also came to see him. So after saying in the hospital for about ten days he came back to the house but from that date till his death he was on complete medication as doctor had advised to an anti cloggant like Disprin, a dilator like Isordil or Sorbitrate and a tablet of B-Complex for the vitality and strength of the body.

            My father after getting cured was again engaged in taking tuition classes. One day a retired District Education Officer Mr. O.L Suwalka, who had recently taken over charge of a private English medium school Central Academy came to meet him. He requested my father to take up teaching job as there was a dearth of teachers who can teach subjects through English medium. But he refused saying that as he was old so he cannot teach now in the school. Mr. Suwalka prevailed over my father by saying that here you would be able to benefit half a dozen students only while at the school nearly 30 students will be able to take his benefit. Convinced with this argument my father agreed to teach Maths to Class IX and X and join the school as part-time teacher and agreed to spend a couple of hours at the school. This also suited school authorities and they agreed to his proposal. He also requested him to place his four classes in continuation so that he can be free by the recess and can return home after taking tea with his friends and colleagues. Joining the school regularized his life as he used to teach at home in the morning and then he used to go to school at 12 o’clock a.m and the return from there by 2.30 p.m and after taking lunch and meals he again used to take one class in the evening. Besides this he used to listen to the news on TV regularly and he was also interested in watching debates and discussions on TV particularly DD Lok Sabha and DD Rajya Sabha particularly during the zero hour discussion.

            Meanwhile jus by default I was transferred from Karauli to Bharatpur though I had neither tried it nor applied for it. At Bharatpur I took a two room kitchen of my brother-in-law’s elder brother Rajesh Cheema’s house on rent. He was also an Engineer in Irrigation Department of Government of Rajasthan. It was just a return to another family as Cheemas lived in joint family at one place where atleast two dozen people lived in peace and harmony. There was no shortage of play mates for my son. Meanwhile my wife again got pregnant and this time my parents and my mother-in-law came to Bharatpur to look after my wife as it was decided that child be born at Bharatpur as there was my sister’s mother-in-law also to look after her. My father used to take my son for evening walks to some surrounding place. When my younger son was born at that time also it was time of evening my father had taken my son for the evening walk and when they returned they got the news of the arrival of my younger son. Mymother,my moter-in-law and my sister’s mother-in law were with my wife in the labour room. Soon my sister’s mother-in-law congratulated me on getting another son. After that my mother came and informed me that the young child had dimples in the cheek as he was born a day before Shivratri so it was decided to name this child Shivpal. When my father returned with my son and came to know that my wife had been taken to hospital they rushed to it as the hospital was just a walking distance from my accommodation. A couple of months ago a son was born to my younger brother-in-law also at Bhilwara and my elder son had seen him. So when my wife returned to the home with that young child Ishu pal was confused that how the child he had seen at Bhilwara had come there and for many days he considered Shivpal to be the same child that he saw at Bhilwara till he saw them both at the same time.

            The birth of my younger son brought me to my home town Chittorgarh even though for a brief period of six months but after that I remained within the periphery of 200 kms of my town at the most. Ultimately after working for two years at Bhilwara and for two sessions at Kekri ultimately I succeeded in coming to Chittorgarh in July 1995. After coming to Chittorgarh I started helping my father in taking him on my scooter to his school and to market and other places like market, Sainik School and to meet his friends and colleagues who have settled after retirement in the different parts of the town. My father helped Central Academy by bringing more teachers who also joined this school after retiring from the Sainik School joined it like English teacher Mr. J.N.Bhargava, Chemistry teacher Mr. H.S. Rathi and Geography teacher Mr. O.S.Saxena. Meanwhile his grandsons had also started their education in St. Pauls School and when my father asked them to shift to his school as he would get discount on their fees they simply refused to do so. Meanwhile my wife, after my kids have started going to school started working as Computer professional. In those days one memorable incident that had etched life long was our visit to south India perhaps in the year 1994 when I was working at Bhilwara. My wife’s maternal uncle was at Hyderabad at that time so we decided to go on pilgrimage to Nanded in Maharashtra which is a sacred place for Sikhs as Guru Gobind Singh, the Tenth Guru is believed to have spent the last phase of his life here. In those days there was a direct train from Jaipur to Secunderabad passing through Nanded daily. There was only quota of three berths from Chittorgarh so I got my seat reserved from Bhilwara quota and gave instructions that I will board from Chittorgarh. So all six of us boarded the train at night The Meenaxi Express. And after a journey of 36 hours reached Nanded in the early morning hours. After seeing the historical Gurudwaras at Nanded and around Nanded we went to see River Godavari on whose banks this town is situated. I remember that while coming back from the river bank we saw a rickshaw and I must tell you here that rickshaws of South India are quite special. Their seat is much lower in comparison to the rickshaws of North India. We thought that my parents would be tired so they can go to our accommodation in it. But seeing the rickshaw both of my sons jumped into it and ordered the Rickshawwalah to move. At that time since height of my younger son was good so both of them appeared to be of same height though there was a gap of nearly twenty seven months between them. Many people confused them to be twins. People were so good and honest that Rickshawwalah dropped them at destination we had told him. Next day we went to meet a local gentleman who belonged to Chittorgarh. Actually Mr. Suwalka, Principal Central Academy gave us letter of introduction to us as this gentleman who was a successful businessman was Mr. Suwalka’s class fellow. He had settled at Nanded for more than three decades. He had a sprawling bungalow along with their own guest house. Though they insisted us to stay there but we said that we have to follow the routine of the Gurudwara so we cannot stay there. However we took meals and came back to our accommodation provided to us by the Gurudwara in Maharaja Ranjeet Singh House. Next day we took bus for another place Bidar, that is also known for a historical Gurudwara associated with Guru Nanak Dev ji. This place Bidar is in Karnataka and it nearly took us four and a half hour to reach Bidar. After staying here for two days we took bus to Hyderabad and by the evening we reached the house of my wife’s maternal uncle which located in Housing Board, Vanasthalipuram. Next day my wife’s maternal uncle and his son took us around Hyderabad and Secunderabad and saw its world famous museum Salarjung museum, sprawling zoo of Hyderabad and statue of Buddha in Husseinsagar and of course Char Minar. Our train was on the next day evening so next daya morning I gain went to the city in a local bus and bought a model of Char Minar made of gun metal. Next day our hosts came to see us off at Secunderabad Railway station as we boarded the train back to Chittorgarh. Perhaps this was our first outing and that too religious one as a whole family that all of us enjoyed to the most.

            As our visit to Punjab were almost an annual affair especially after the end of terrorism in Punjab. So we went on a number of such tours accompanied by my parents and our tenants who lived in our house in Moga. His name was also Surjeet Singh. We went along with him to see historical gurudwaras in Punja, like Harmandir sahib Amritsar, Taran taran and at Sultanpur Lodhi. We also went to see India’s international border at Husseiniwala in Firozepur district. We stayed there to watch the Retreat Ceremony when the two flags of the countries are taken down watched by people of both the countries. My mother approached one of the security guards of Pakistan and India and requested them to allow her to put one foot on the foreign soil of Pakistan. From that day till my son went to Italy to study Law, She was the only person in our family to set a foot on foreign soil. I also remember a similar tour that we had taken as a family to Uttarakhand. This tour started from Moga as we had hired a Tata Sumo vehicle and our family friend Surjeet Singh and his family was also with us. After passing through Ludhiana, Ambala and Yamunanagar we reached Hardwara, a holy place for Hindus as River Ganga flows here, in the evening and stayed at Pawan Dham Inn. Next day we went to see The Holy Ganga and to have a dip in it near Har ki Pauri. My mother was very much delighted when both of her grandsons helped her to take a dip in The Holy Ganga River. After that we went to see Mansa Devi temple which was situated on the hill. Though it was just like another temple but the main attraction was that the only was to go to that place was by a rope trolley which was a novel mode of transport for us. We all four of us- I, my wife and my two sons took one trolley and felt the thrill as it soared high into the sky towards the hill top where the temple was situated. Perhaps it was for the first time that I have traveled by this mode and perhaps it was the first time my wife and kids got off the ground for the first time in their life. In the evening we watched the world famous Aarti of River Ganga and nest day we went to Rishikesh where Ganga was much cleaner than at Hardwara. After seeing various temples on the way we came back to Pawan Dham in the evening. Next day we went to Dehradun and stayed at Agarwala Dharamshala near Railway Station. My father was very enthusiastic about Dehradun as my parents have spent some of the best time of their lives there when my father worked as Physics Demonstrator in Indian Military Academy. He often fondly remembered some of the icons of Dehradun like Clock Tower, Prem Nagar, Clementown, Forest Research Institute, Rashtriya Indian Military College and famous Doon School. In the evening while roaming in the campus of IMA we happened to meet one of my father’s student who was working as an office there. Incidentally his neighbour also turned out to be his student his name being Maj. Lakshman Singh. He promised us to take us around the IMA campus and its grand museum housed in Chetwode Building. So we came back after having a cup of tea at the residence of my father’s student. Next day as we reached the main gate of IMA Major Lakshman Singh was waiting for us. He took us to the campus of IMA and its legendary museum where we saw the life size portraits of some of the finest warriors of modern India like Field Marshal Carriappa, Field Marshal Manekshaw, Lt. Gen Gorbinder Singh and the like. We also saw the pistol of Lt. Gen Niazi, Commander-in Chief Eastern Command Pakistan now Bangladesh when he surrendered before Indian commander Lt. Gen J.S Arora.  After seeing the museum we bid farewell to Maj. Lakshman Singh and came back to our staying place. Next day we went to see the adjoining hill station Mussorie which was often visited by my parents during the winters as snow used to fall here. At Mussorie we could not see much as the local taxi union did not allow other taxis to enter the town beyond a point. However, we still went on foot for a couple of kilometers to see Lal Tiba (Red Dune) from where through the binocular we saw the China Boarder. While coming back we also saw the residence of famous writer          

. Next day we went to Prem nagar to see the house in which my parents have spent some of the best time of his life. My father was overjoyed to meet his neighbour who had been nicknamed as Gaddi as he was born in a Railway train compartment while their family was migrating from Pakistan after the partition in 1947. We had a cup of tea with Gaddi and his family and then turned back to Punjab and our ultimate destination of Rajasthan.

            As the twentieth century was coming to close we were a closely knit social unit known as family. We used to attend the wedding parties, picnic parties together. Sometimes I even had to do two trips as in those days I had only one scooter and my wife had a Luna. Another favourite past time of my father once a year was the annual get together of Alumni Union of Sainik School Chittorgarh. He used to take great pride in attending these functions and meeting his students. Later on when he was unable to move out of the house his students used to come at his residence and have a cup of tea with our family.

             I clearly recollect when the first day of new twenty first century and the new millennium was dawning my son was watching World Cup Football matches. Exactly when the clock struck twelve he brought his grandfather in White T-Shirt and white shorts with a football in his hand and he even kicked the ball amidst the cheers of the family members. In the year 2004 I received a large amount in the form of my fixation arrears and with some monetary help from my father I bought a Zen model car of Maruti-Suzuki company. Not only I but my wife also learnt the driving and now it became easier for our family to move out together as we had a car. So mostly we used to attend weddings and other functions together. Sometimes I even used to take my parents in concerts of Indian classical music and dance whenever they were held at Shanakr Menon Auditorium of Sainik School Chittorgarh. This auditorium was named on my father’s suggestion when the condolence meeting at the death of the founder Principal of Sainik School Chittorgarh Lt.Col, later Brig (Retd.) K.S. Menon was in progress.

            Once we even took a driver with the help of my brother-in-law at Bhilwara and went to Punjab in our car. That was perhaps the longest distance covered by it of nearly 2000 kms at one go. He was very happy to see his village, his friends and relatives though most of his fiends were either incapacitated due to old age or had passed away. Once again we went to Punjab by car but this time we hired both a car as well as driver again due to courtesy of my younger brother-in –law at Bhilwara. By now my elder son had started graduation in Law from Rajiv Gandhi National Law University Patiala. So this time we stayed at the house of a relative and went to meet Ishupal and his friends at the hostel of the university. Ishupal’s class fellows and friends were very much happy to meet my father as majority of them were from Rajasthan. This proved to be his last visit to Punjab but this time he could not visit his village the place where he had spent his childhood and early education. During this trip we stayed at my in-law’s residence situated at village Sujapur in Jagaraon Tehsil of Ludhiana district in Punjab. My father was so much tired after such a long journey that he had no wish and energy left to visit his village. So we returned back from this place. By this time my in-law’s due to huge loss in business had sold their house in Bhilwara and wound up their business and build their residence in their village.

            One day my father was lying on the coat and just by chance when he closed his one eye he could not see anything while he could see everything clearly with his other eye. We consulted a local ophthalmologist but he could not say anything except that something was wrong with retina. So we took him to Goma Bai Hospital Neemuch where after several tests Doctors declared him that the sight of one of the eye has been destroyed to Glucoma that can be defined as stealth of sight. However still he was doing well with the other good eye but unfortunately he started developing cataract in the other eye too. We took him to Jaipur where doctor assured that he would try his best to preserve the sight of his good eye as long as possible and he even promised to remove the cataract also when it matured. Still he was doing well with the sight of one good eye for a number of years but with time his sight was diminishing and he was facing more and more difficulty in seeing things clearly. But he got mental setback when that doctor refused to remove the cataract owing to his cardiac problem and old age and he could not take the risk of operating the eye as if the operation failed he would be totally blind.

            Once he again felt a pain in the chest and it seemed uncontrollable so we took him to the nearest private nursing home of Dr. Khabiya. Though this trouble was due more to indigestion but there was danger or heart collapse always. However he recovered after taking the medication and staying in the nursing home for about ten days and returned to he house a health man. However with time his number of medicines were increasing as besides his heart ailment he was taking medicines for the declining number of malenin pigment in his body and then something for digestion too as he was facing bout of severe constipation and when he took laxative he grew weak due to excessive excretion. He was nearly caught in the vicious circle of constipation and loose motions. Then with age his Pancreas had also enlarged leading to frequent urination and he was taking a pill or two for that too. But still he was keeping well and I used to take him in the car aat regular intervals to see his colleagues and friends. Meanwhile Chickengunia spread like an epidemic though it was not fatal but it had incapacitated many for many months and particularly for old people it could be quite dangerous. My mother became victim to it and she was unable to digest even water. When the things worsened we took her to hospital who admitted her at once. At that time my wife was working as a teacher at Birla Shiksha Kendra. So whole of her time was taken up in looking after my mother day and night. At the hospital one of my friend Dr. Nacchittar Singh Pannu was working there and he told Dr. Vaishanav, who was treating my mother, that be careful doctor you are treating not his mother only but my mother as well. After that hospital staff and doctor started paying more attention and priority to her. After a long patient wait she recovered and she was released from Hospital but with a number of precautions and restrictions as she was also patient of High Blood pressure.

Now children of my sister as well as my wife’s elder brother were growing, they had completed their education and the elder girl Manjeet was of marriageable age. Ultimately her marriage was fixed with Mr. Rajvinder Jagpal son of S. Lakshman Singh Jagpal of village Boarai in Ludhiana District. Mr. Lakshman Singh Jagpal had retired as a teacher from School Education Department, Govt of Rajasthan from Jodhpur Division and then he bought a house at Udaipur and decided to settle there as his younger son was working with a private firm as an Engineer. Marriage was to be held at Ludhiana as it would be convenient for the people of Punjab to come to Ludhiana then at Udaipur or Baroda where also he had a house as his daughter was settled there. Marriage was solemnized in the winters of year 2008 at a marriage palace Ludhiana. My mother wanted very much to attend this wedding but due to my father, as it was nearly impossible for him to travel such a long distance of 1000 kms she was unable to do so. At that time my elder son was studying at Patiala so all of reached Ludhiana from where we were picked up by my brother-in-law and went to Sujapur. Next day we came for engagement ceremony and the wedding ceremony that was to take place at a local gurudwara and then the celebrations were to be held at a resort taken on rent.

So as to facilitate my parents we had employed three servants in the house. One was to clean the utensils, the other was to wash clothes and the third one was to cook food for them. In the year 2010 Jaipur chapter of Alumni Association decided to hold a two day convention at Jaipur and they invited all the retired teachers for it. I was given responsibility to bring all the retired teachers residing in Chittorgarh to Jaipur in a mini bus hired by the students. On reaching Jaipur we were put in a reasonably good hotel and from there we were taken to Cantonment area for the meeting. After the meeting and lunch the main celebration was to be hosted by Lt. Gen (Retd.) Mandatta Singh at his residence Hotel Kalwar Palace. In those days my father could not walk easily for long distance and at the hotel there was an elevated stage on a raised piece of land to felicitate the teachers and there was no possibility that my father would have reached that place. His students who had come for the celebration deliberated something and a dozen of them lifted him on his shoulders and took him to the stage where he was to be felicitated. Indeed it was a proud moment of his life as he was surrounded by the students who have become army commanders, ambassadors, army chiefs and civil servants. Perhaps that was the zenith point of his life that has shown him the wealth that he had earned by working through out his life. This indeed would have certainly given feeling of bliss and contentment in his life that his efforts in life have not been wasted. After staying for two nights we came back to Chittorgarh. Perhaps it was for the first time that my father visited Jaipur but did not go to my sister’s residence.

Meanwhile as the sight of my father weakened so much that he had nearly become blind. One day my father stumbled into something and fell down and my mother who was coming behind him tried to stop him from falling and she also fell on him. That day just by chance my wife was at home and she picked up both of them. That day she took one of the biggest decision of her life and that as to give up her job and gave notice to school authorities. My elder niece’s marriage was fixed. Here I would like to tell that my elder niece whose name was Nidhi aka Surbhi was an Engineer from Jaganath Institute of  Engineering and Technology and there after she did MBA from Chirst University Bangalore with international exposure of one trimester from Singapore. The boy selected for her was also an Engineer and MBA working in CONCOR. His father worked as an agricultural scientist in some concern of CSIR at Palanpur and belonged to a village near Greater Noida in Uttar Pradesh. The marriage was fixed for January 13 , 2013 that also happened to be the festival of Lohri. As I had to go to Jaipur to attend Master Trainer’s Training Program under Ms. Connie Greenleaf, Senior English Language Fellow, American Embassy a few days earlier. So my friend Mr. C.M. Koli helped my parents in finding a driver who bought my parents and my wife to Jaipur in my car. Though my father could not see anything but he participated almost in every ceremony of the wedding through the eyes of my mother who related to him everything that was going on. Perhaps this was the last wedding attended by my parents and with this wedding their one of the dream was realized as both of them were very much attached to her. My mother even considered her as the reincarnation of her mother or her sister who had died a few days after her birth.

My niece gave birth to a daughter on October 31, 2014 at Jaipur. My wife was sent at once to help in Jaipur. The girl child was named as Anvi Gahalan. My wife returned when another lady was sent to Jaipur to help my sister and niece. Another wedding that was approaching was of my brother-in-law’s son Harpreet who had settled as soft Engineer in the Melwoucke town of Wisconsin State in USA. He was o be married to Harry Gill who belonged to Patiala and who was studying at that time in Canada. Their marriage was to be held at Sujapur and Patiala and of course a day’s celebration at some resort of Ludhiana. Though my mother wanted to attend this wedding but seeing the condition of my father she was unable to do so. As the plans to go to marriage were being made my niece offered to come to Chittorgarh along with her 45 days old daughter so that we can go to attend the wedding of Harpreet at Punjab. She came to Chittorgarh the same evening of the day when we had proceeded to Punjab to attend the wedding. The wedding was full of fun and celebration.

After attending all the functions we returned back to Chittorgarh on 22-12-2012 next day was the annual reunion of Sainik School Alumni and as usual some of the old students of my father came to meet us at our residence and my mother served them a hot cup of coffee. Next day was birthday of Ishupal and in the afternoon my mother was sitting alone outside the house and when I asked whether everything was alright during our absence she replied quietly that everything seems to be going on well in the world. That day Harpreet along with his newly wed wife had also come to attend Ishupal’s birthday. My mother and Harpreet’s wife started conversing each other things about her childhood and education and other things as both of them belonged to the same tribe. Soon my mother started shivering and she a mild fever. She was hesitant in taking medicine but that day she said “ show me to any doctor if you want other wise I am not sure “. My sister had given medicine due to which fever had come down a bit and we got busy in celebrating Ishupal’s birthday. Next day morning she was feeling so weak that I met a doctor who sent his man to collect her blood sample. And by noon the report came that showed that she was suffering from a special type of malaria know as Phalsiporium. Secondly her Haemoglobin count was very low a little above four. Doctor advised to admit her at once. We took her to Hospital in the car despite her protest my younger son Shiv pal picked her up like a child and put her in the car. During the journey to hospital she only uttered the name of her granddaughter that is my sister’s elder daughter. At the hospital as it was lunch time so there was no attendant or stretcher available and doctor had promised us that he will come soon. Meanwhile the cottage ward allotted to us was on the first floor. Sensing the emergency Shivpal took her in his arms and picked her up and climbed the stairs and put her on thebed. Perhaps it was that point that she collapsed in the arms of her favourite grand son Shivpal. Though doctor came immediately and I had gone to bring the medicines but by the time the doctor came she was beyond the reach of medicine and doctors as she had reached the other world. Like her simple life she had faded away silently and peacefully without disturbing anybody and without giving much trouble to anybody.

Now the problem before us was to break this new to my father who was thinking all the time that she was live while her corpse was lying in the house. Nobody had courage to do so and as he was a cardiac patient we did not know how he will react to it. So the night passed and in the morning my brother-in-law Harendra gave this tragic news to my father barely a couple of hours we were to take her for her last rites. While she was being taken out for funeral my father’s only response was “I was to go before you how come that you are going before me.” This event broke him completely and by this time he had lost the sense of day and night due to his blindness and he would wake up all the night calling out names of neighbours in clear loud voice while sleeping during the day. Another tragic event that befell our family just a fortnight after the demise of my mother was death of my father-in-law Surjeet Singh ji. Again my younger son Shiv Pal was sent to attend his funeral as my father was in no position to be left, so my wife could not attend even the funeral of my father. That was the dedication and sacrifice.

One day I watched that he had started talking strangely as if in a delirium and his food intake had also gone quite slow. In fact it was struggle to take food twice or thrice a day. My wife sometimes even had to thrust food down his throat. In the absence of my mother my wife and my younger son looked after his every need. My younger son Shiv Pal cleaned him ,bathed him and even did his shave and cut his hair with his electric trimmer. Perhaps  l would never forget the dedicated and selfless service done by my Shiv Pal and his mother in the last days of my parent’s life. So I brought the doctor in the car and after examining him he told us that his sodium level has gone low and that is responsible for his strange behaviour. He also advised us to admit him to a private hospital where he was working. So we admitted him to the hospital at once and it was a hard struggle to give medicine and drips and to take blood samples from his body. As it was very difficult to find vein in his body due to shrinking of his skin. However his level of sodium got normal after six days and he started behaving normally so we brought him back to the house.

Everything was normal and he entered the ninetieth year of his life on May 1^st 2015 though this was his first birthday without his wife. However we celebrated his house and he cut the cake in the evening at the dining table and my younger son Shiv Pal even took him for a ride in his new wheel chair. Finding that we had arranged so much for his birthday he was overwhelmed and his expression was “ I am starting feeling like a human being again. If you will keep me thus , how will I leave this world”. My elder son was also present at his birth day celebrations and next day he had to go to France for his Ph.D . So he left for France and life again became normal In the second week of May I had to go to Bikaner for Viva interview for a Ph.D. As I had already given the consent so I went to this place and met a number of old students of my father. When I came back I told him about all of them and he seemed very satisfied to know that his students still remember him and keep him in high esteem. In the third week, I and my wife had planned to go to Punjab to meet our relatives. We had got the seats reserved in the weekly train that normally runs from Udaipur to Jammu Tawi. I called my sister and younger niece Anshu, who was a dentist to look after my father in our absence and then Shiv Pal was there to help them. So I and my wife left for Punjab I the third week of May. While at Punjab my sister informed me on the telephone that he has stopped taking anything and whatever, even water was excreting out of his body. However Shiv Pal was not worried as earlier also my father suffered frequently from loose motions and then he used to recover. However as scheduled we got back into the train at Ludhiana though the train was late by six hours and by the time it reached Chittorgarh in the afternoon at 3 p.m whereas it was scheduled time was 7.30 a.m. After coming home though he was weak but still my father was taking and he enquired about his every relative and was relieved to know that they are well. Still he said one thing, “you still have reached in time”. I could not make sense of his statement and my reply was that no our train had reached atleast seven to eight hours behind schedule. But he repeated the above sentence again.

Next morning my sister and her younger daughter who had come to look after my father had to go back to Jaipur. So I went to leave them at Station but at the station we came to know that due to derailment the train was late by three hours. So we came back and again went three hours later to see them off at the station. After returning from station we had lunch and I had an afternoon nap and my had prepared tea and my family was sipping tea surrounding my father who was lying in the bed. Suddenly the phone rang and it was from Jaipur informing that my sister and her daughter have reached safely at Jaipur. By that time we finished the tea and my wife had gone to keep the glasses in the kitchen and I informed my father about the safe arrival of my sister and her younger daughter. He heaved a sigh of relief and said O.K. when I returned back to his room after washing my hands I saw that my father was moving his hands as if a swimmer tries to save himself from drowning. I called Shivpal and my wife at once. After moving his hands a couple of time he fell back on his people and his eyes became still though they were open. Shiv Pal sensed the inevitable and I rushed out at once to bring the doctor and this doctor happened to be his student who came and declared him dead as there was no activity in heart and lungs. The journey of life that started humbly as the son of a peasant and that gained respect and eminence sheer due to grit, determination and hard work ended and the voice that roared for more than two decades in the class room of Sainik School Chittorgarh and in Hamir House and late on in the premises of Central Academy Chittrgarh fell silent on the evening of May 30, 2014.

                                                                                                           Author        

                                                       

The Patriarch Part II

–Part II-

In the nighbourhood lived a young army major of Army Education Corps from Kerala named K.S. Menon, who had watched the way of living of my father and developed a liking towards him. His servants used to visit my father’s house frequently along with two young daughters of K.S. Menon. Soon this young officer was promoted to the rank of Lieutenant Colonel and sent out of IMA to open an educational institution Sainik School at Chittorgarh whose chief aim was to bring quality public school education within the access of common man and to prepare young boys to join army as officers, particularly National Defence Academy Khadakvasla at Pune. These Sainik Schools were dream project of the then Defense Minister of India Shri V. K Krishnan Menon. Seeing

 the rich and glorious history of Chittorgarh the dynamic Chief Minister of Rajasthan Mr. Mohan Lal Sukhadia suggested Chittorgarh as ideal place to open such a school in Rajasthan. So Colonel Menon was made founder Principal of this school and the school came into existence on August 7^th 1961 in the makeshift arrangement in which buildings of Gadiya Lohar served as houses or hostels and the imposing building of Bhopal Bhawan ( Current Circuit House) served as the academic block where classes were held though Chief Minister, Defense Minister and founder Principal Col. Menon had selected a plot of land by the banks of River Berach as the permanent site of the school as that point gave the full view of historical fort of Chittorgarh that would motivate youngsters to join army. At that time seven such schools were opened in different states of India in the partnership of Central and State Government in which funds were to be provided by State Government while the rules of Central Government services were applicable. Now the task before Principal was to recruit suitably qualified staff for the smooth running of this institution. So he alongwith Headmaster Sqn. Ldr. Karkare and Registrar Capt. O.N. Khajuria advertised for the posts of teachers in different subjects in all the leading newspapers of the nation. As Col. Menon was feeling lonely at Chittorgarh as this place was just more than a village, so he personally contacted my father and asked him to apply for a job in it and appear for the interview. At the same time he asked his friends in IMA to persuade my father not only to appear in interview for job but to join it as well as there was hardly any promotion prospect for a Laboratory Demonstrator in IMA whereas in this school he could rise up to a Post Graduate Teacher. So my father came to Chittorgarh on some day between August 1961 and 8^th January 1962 as letter of Registrar Capt. Khajuria dated 8^th January 1962 intimated my father that he has been selected as Master and he is required to send his consent slip by 20^th January 1962. Though my father was not very enthusiastic to join here especially after his first visit to the town but staff of IMA nearly forced him to join this job. So he came to Chittorgarh on 5^th February 1962, as he used to relate humourously that on that day five planets of our solar system were in straight line and hardly any body was traveling that day as people feared that something untoward is going to happen that day. In the same letter that intimated my father of his selection as Master it has also been mentioned that regarding applicant’s wish that a job should be given to his equally qualified wife too. However Registrar informed him that at present he was unable to find a suitable job for her but he promised to find a suitable job for her in future. My father in his letter to Commandant IMA dated 23 January 1962 informed the authorities about his selection and wish to join Sainik School Chittorgarh and his wish to be relieved at their early convenience. At the time of his joining he also brought his automated bike popularly known as Vicky of Lambretta company that he had purchased from the canteen of Indian Military Academy Dehradun. But at that time there were hardly any roads in Chittorgah. At that time Sainik Schol was operating from the temporary arrangement in which classes were being held in Bhupal Bhawan (current Circuit House ) and there were four houses or hostels stationed in the buildings of Gadiya Lohar Trust. These hostels were named after illustrious and brave warriors of Chittorgarh- Pratap, Sangha, Jaimal and Hamir. My father was given accommodation in one of the Quarter situated near the hostel and was soon promoted to be House Master of Hamir House after the then House Master of hamir House Mr. Erasmus decided to leave the job. This accommodation still exists near the hostel of Government College Chittorgarh. My father led single life from February 1962 to perhaps April 1962 and then he went to spend Summer Vacations in Punjab where his wife was expecting. It was during these vacations that he got the joyous news of birth of a son, that is me, on 6^th June 1962 at the place of his in-laws Parao Mehna. So after the vacations his wife could not join him so he had to spend lonely life from July to October 1962. During this span of life my father remembered how he enjoyed life with other teachers who were either unmarried or living without their families. He also recollected the Bengali Hotel, situated near Railway station of the town that was the only non-vegetarian joint of the town at that time. So my mother joined my father after autumn vacation along with a girl of five years and a young infant boy that was me in the month of October 1962. My sister was put in a private primary school situated across the railway station and a tonga used to come to fetch her from home to school. At that time there was hardly anything near Railway station except a few restaurants and tea shops. My father remembered the name of the hotel Sanwariya Lodge where he stayed and took his meals when he came here for the interview. At that time this school was affiliated to Indian Cambridge Secondary Education. Though my father was post graduate in Mathematics but he expressed his wish to teach Physics as he was interested in teaching it and seeing his results Central Board of Secondary Education gave him special permission to teach Physics to higher classes in the school. At that time founders of this institution took great pains to recruit the best teachers from different parts of the country. Mathematics teacher Mr. K.R Warrior was from Kerala. The other mathematics teacher Mr. K. Seetaramiah was from Karnataka and of course my father was from Punjab. English teacher Mr. R.C. Wadhera from Kanpur had distinction of teaching English in African countries like Nigeria and Mr. G.D. Thapliyal another Maths teacher had distinction of doing post graduation from USA and teaching in Kenya. Other duties that were assigned to him he was incharge of Cinema screening and photography club in the school besides the charge of House master of Hamir House. At that time our country had leanings towards socialist bloc. So school had purchased a 16 mm projector of Photophone company from Soviet Union. My father went to take its delivery from Delhi. Almost every weekend some Hindi or English movie was screened for entertaining the students in the open compound of the school where all the students along with staff and their families used to assemble. Boarders looked forward eagerly for Saturday to come so that they can see some film and get a change from the monotony of daily routine. The founder principal was of the view that on Sunday and other holidays except vacations students should go on some picnic, or excursions to some place. So in those days cycle tours were quite common to some place in the neighbouring areas of Chittorgarh. School had purchased one 50 seater bus of Tata Company for this purpose and I remember house picnic of Hamir House organized by my father to Fatehpur Sikri, Agra, Deeg and Mathura. Other houses also took outings of their houses using the vehicle facilities provided by State Transport Department or private buses. At that time there were six senior houses in the school- Jaimal, Pratap, Badal, Hamir Kumbha and Sanga and one was junior house named Tiny –Tots house. The house of master of Jaimal House at that time was Mr. K.R. Warrier, while the House master of Pratap House was Mr. B.M. Bhargava, of Badal House the house master earlier was Mr.M.S. Rautela and then Mr. G.S. Acharya was its House master, my father K.S. Kang was house master of Hamir House, Mr K Seetarmaiah was House Master of Kumbha House that had earned the distinction or providing an army chief General Dalbir Singh Suhag to the country and Mr. H.S. Rathi was house master of Sangha House. So the school bubbled with activity and enthusiasm under its founder Principal Lt. Col K.S. Menon. It was not that there were no lapses during that period of the sixth decade of twentieth century. The greatest lapse of that period was death of a student who was drowned in the river Berach that bordered the eastern fringe of the school campus. That day some cultural event was going on in Sanga House and whole staff was assembled there. Some students of Pratap House decided to have a swim and bath in nearby Berach river without telling anybody. When they saw that this boy did not surface after diving into water for a long time they panicked and ran back to the house but one boy named Siddharth, who later on became a doctor was walking there saw these boys running back to the house. They told him that one of their companion had drowned in the river. Siddharth went to the river and with help of some people took out this boy from the river. Perhaps the hair of this boy were strangled in some rock, as he was a Sikh boy, and he could not come back to the surface. When he was taken out of the river he was still alive and breathing. Somehow the boys manage to take him to the Police Lines situated on the other side of the river on the carrier of a bicycle. From the police lines a vehicle took the body of the boy to the government hospital but that was too late as the boy had died by then. This death came as the first major shock for the school community. This era of activity, enthusiasm and honey moon came to an end with the transfer of first Principal on completion of his tenure.

Interestingly the second Principal Lt.Col R.P. Verma who was posted to the school was also one of the neighour of my father in IMA Dehradun and he had sought my father’s advise whether he should join the school as Principal or not and my father had advised him not to give consent to be Principal as it was below dignity of an officer who had worked even as an instructor in IMA to become Chief of just a Higher Secondary School and that too a residential one whose cost was being borne by the poor state government unwillingly and reluctantly, as it was always suffering from shortage of funds and Principal had to visit state capital Jaipur and literally beg to Education and Finance Secretaries to get funds for the school. But R.P Verma joined this institution as second principal and thus became the first person from the state to become Principal as he belonged to Ajmer town of Rajasthan. Though my father continued as House Master of Hamir House under him also but his relationship with school administration did not remain that congenial and comfortable that he had under the founder principal.

The first blow that my parents had to bear was the death of my maternal grandfather Thakur Singh Gill, who became an ascetic belonging to the Udasisn sect founded by the elder son of Guru Nanak Dev ji, Baba Shri Chand ji. He was also educated upto eighth standard that was known as Vernacular Certificate in those days. This certificate mentions 1897 A.D as date of birth of Thakur Singh Gill. In those days his class fellows had even become Tehsildars and higher ranks in the field of education and revenue. As usual we had gone for summer vacations to Parao Mehna where my mother spent her childhood though my maternal grandfather belonged to the nearby village of Dala as his farm came in the revenue boundary of that village. On reaching the village we found that somebody had assaulted him while he was coming to Mehna from Dala and due to that stunning effect his right side had been paralyzed resulting in his loss of speech. Though he survived for a few days after this assault but ultimately he succumbed. I was unable to understand that why people were carrying my grandfather who seemed to be peacefully sleeping to be burnt outside the village. His death had shaken my mother and grandmother badly as my mother was the lone child of her parents. As my grandmother was an old lady of more than 70 years of age so it was not possible for her to live alone in the village and here my father’s leave was running out. So ultimately it was decided that my father would leave for Chittorgarh while I was to stay back with my sister, mother and grandmother in the village of Parao Mehna. That was the longest tenure I had spent in any village of India let alone Punjab. After a month or so my father came to take us to Chittor and my maternal grandmother came with us to Chittorgarh. She had never come out of her village let alone state in her whole life. But she was spiritually quite mature as a result of which she took to even this life easily. In Hamir House she enjoyed Kabbadi matches between two teams of boys belonging to Hamir House. Even when she was no well she used to make a ball of clothes in old socks for me to play. As she was diagnosed with the malady of enlarged heart so she used to have breathing trouble like an asthma patient and doctor had advised to give oxygen supply to her to give her relief in breathing. In those days it was difficult to procure oxygen cylinder, more particularly at home. But my father created this facility by arranging oxygen cylinder for her from the neighbouring Birla Cement Works Chanderiya Chittorgarh. Our nearest neighbour Mr. G.S. Acharya and school authorities cooperated with my father in those days and provided transport facility whenever required to get the doctor or oxygen cylinder from BCW or the market, as some of the welding shops in the market also kept oxygen cylinders. She was looked after by Dr. Habibur Rehman who though was a surgeon but was most respected and established doctor of the town in the government hospital. Doctor on school campus Dr. P.C. Bhatnagar also cooperated with all his capacity to take care of my granny. On the last night of her life Dr. Habibur Rehman had gone out of town and Dr. Bhatnagar advised artificial breathing to her and my father put all the fifty two boys of the house to give pumping and artificial breathing for five minutes by turn as Dr. Bhatnagar was not ready to declare her dead. In the early morning hours Dr. Rehman came and declared her dead which was the first major set back to my parents, particularly my mother to lose a near and dear one in totally alien environment and area. So my granny ended her journey of life at Chittorgarh that she began at some point of time in twentieth century at some place in Patiala district. Though my parents were shaken badly by this tragic event but the consolation and cooperation from the school staff and students that was received was simply wonderful . The whole school was united- staff, students and officers – in sypathising with my parents and this thing was marvelous and pare excellence.

Though this was my second experience of death in my family but I had hardly felt anything at the death of my maternal grandfather as at that time I was too young to comprehend the implication of death. At that time I was studying in third standard at Bal Niketan School that was primarily opened for the children of the staff. Strangely the medium of instruction in this school was Hindi as in those days it was difficult to get teachers in Chittorgarh who could teach various subjects in English. When I came to know that medium of instruction in Sainik School was English my parents decided to apply for my admission to it. At that time entrance in Sainik School was only at level Five and the age of a boy should be between 10 and 11 years. There used to be an entrance test comprising of Speed Accuracy Test consisting of 100 simple calculations of addition, subtraction, multiplication and division to be completed in fifteen minutes, Mathematical Ability Test consisting of twenty questions to be done in 2 hours time, Language Ability Test consisting of Unseen Comprehension Passages in which questions following the passage were to be answered and the last was Verbal and Non-Verbal Logical Ability Test consisting of completing mathematical series, figures and filling gaps in series and the like. As during this period I, as a result of prolonged Pneumonia had developed Allergic Bronchial Asthma due to weak lungs so my parents did not put much pressure on me for this forthcoming entrance exam. As a result of which I performed disastrously at the entrance test securing only 1 mark in one of the test and that too due to generosity of one of the teacher who did not like to give zero on any answer sheet. But I survived due to my father, who was employee of the school and there was a provision in the school administration that 7% of the total strength of the school was reserved for the children of staff members who could study as Day scholars in the school but they were not to get any kind of scholarship. That year second Principal was transferred and new Principal Wing Commander R.M. Saran, who was working as head Master of the school took over as new Principal of the school. He allowed boys from Delhi and Haryana to enter class V of the school as a result of which the strength of the school increased as a result of which all the children of the staff members who had appeared at the entrance test were admitted to the school and so I was also one of the beneficiary. In that batch there were eight children of staff members who were admitted to school as Day Scholars in class V and when I passed out in Class XII in 1980 there were only two Day scholars me and Asheesh Rautela, son of our Geography teacher Mr. M.S. Rautela. When I entered the school my sister, who was elder to me, was also student of the same school in Class XI and she earned the distinction of the first girl day scholar to pass out from the school successfully. At that time our class was the largest as it contained 125 students.

Another decision taken by this Principal which affected the growth of my personality was to relieve my father from House Mastership of Hamir House and we had to shift to a much smaller accommodation in Staff Colony situated on the North-West end of campus. This accommodation was on the first floor and this was our first experience to live on the first floor. But soon its advantage came in sight when due to heavy rains the campus was flooded with water and houses on the ground floor was flooded with water upto to knee deep level. Everybody in the neighbourhood, including Mr. Joseph’s pet parrot who was brought by his son Rajiv in a cage, took shelter in our house. Perhaps it was reaction against the independent streak of my father’s mind who did not hesitate to voice his protest and opinion without any fear or favour as the first two Principals of the school were well known to him as he had worked with them in IMA Dehradun. Though my father had not much problem with Wing Commander Saran , who was first Principal from Indian Air Force as he had a brief tenure as Principal and soon replaced by Lt. Col. K.N. Sardana who had worked in intelligence branch as knew even Korean language. He did not take my father’s protests sportingly or in the right spirit. The conditions in the school deteriorated due to callous and casual attitude of officers, who came for the period of three to five years so they did had any sense of belongingness and attachment with the institution. Mostly they saw it as an opportunity to relax and make money and the interests of the institution which should have been foremost in their minds, receded to the background. It could be seen in every walk of life on the campus and deterioration led even to the suicide by two students, one of hem belonging to my class. This incident had tarnished the image of the school in the town for the first time. The then Principal simply refused to listen to his senior colleagues and staff members and that led to student’s strike and even teaching staff’s strike for the first time in the school campus. Rather than taking his senior staff member’s ideas positively he considered them as trouble makers and had even secretly arranged for their transfer to different Sainik Schools in different states of India. My father with the support of academic and administrative staff gave a representation to Honorary Secretary, Sainik School Society and Minister of State for Defence, who hailed from Haryana and was known to the Office Supt. of the School Mr. O.P. Dahiya and driver Mr. Sher Singh, who also hailed from Haryana. So the good sense prevailed due to interference of Minister of State for Defence that instead of transferring one dozen academic and administrative staff members to other school one Principal was transferred. So Lt. Col Sardana was replaced by Col. O.P Chaudhry as new Principal of  the school and the age of mistrust, suspicion and terror on the campus ended with Col. Sardana’s exit. And the new Registrar Capt. Kehri Singh Faujdar who had come after working as Registrar at Sainik School Kapurthala smoothed up matters for my father as both Principal and Registrar comprehended the organizing capacity of my father and his soundness as a capable teacher and strong administrator. While Col Sardana was Principal I too had to face one of the worst crisis of my academic career. I was about to fail in Class VIII as Col. Sardana wanted to fail the wards of  all the people who were hostile against him so that later on he can make some sort of compromise with them. My father had already made clear to me that in case I failed he will withdraw me from the school and put me into some other school of the town and in no circumstance he would go, beg and bow before Col. Sardana not to throw out me of the school . So that acted as a great motivational force for him and I succeeded in clearing the VIII standard exam and I came to the next class. Announcement of result nearly coincided with the ouster of Col. Sardana from the school. Though my father was a vehement and vocal opponent of Col. Sardana yet he selected me for NCC camp that was to take place at a place Khrew near Srinagar in the beautiful state of Jammu and Kashmir as it was mandatory for every cadet to attend atleast one camp for becoming eligible for A Certificate that I subsequently passed. With the coming of new Principal Lt. Col. O.P.Chaudhry there was atmosphere of freedom and festivity in the campus. At that time Sainik School Soceity took a decision to create a post  of Senior Master who could act as a link between the officers and the rest of the staff in general and academic staff in particular and he could act in the absence of officers accordingly. The senior most faculty in Sainik School Mr. B.M. Bhargava – Hindi and Sanskrit teacher was made first Senior Master of the school. The first Principal Lt. Col. K.S. Menon encouraged faculty members to learn and play tennis and for this purpose a lime hard court was also constructed just behind the Academic Block. My father, who was then House Master of Hamir House also learnt playing Tennis at that time with a wooden racquet of Symonds company. So when I came to Class X I also started learning Tennis with my friends and teachers with the same wooden racquet with which my father also used to play. I have seen my father along with me playing Tennis though it was a rare moment as we had only one racquet and due to growing his knees had stared giving trouble. Coming back to my father when Mr. Bhargava was made Senior Master of the school he had no objection as he was a natural choice because he was the senior most faculty member working at that time. After the transfer of Lt. Col . O.P. Chaudhry the new Principal of the school was Lt. Col. C.V.K.S Rao from Andhra Pradesh who was such a tough guy that I have never seen him in full sleeves shirt even in the severe winters as he was a great lover of Amla that was secret of his resistance against cold. Col. Rao appointed my father as next Senior Master after he served as House master of Pratap House for a couple of years from 1980-1982. This hurt the ego of Mr. Bhargava who was senior to my father in service though he was junior to him in age. So he felt that he will have to work under my father still for a couple of years as my father was to retire in 1984 at the age of 58 years. So Mr. Bhargava started coming late in the morning assemblies and in meetings deliberately but my father never pointed out it to him even though people tried to instigate him against Mr. Bhargava because he respected his seniority in service. In the capacity of Senior Master he also became Incharge of Sainik Bal Niketan School, a primary school that was opened basically for the children of the staff.

            Two tragic events that affected my father in that decade was sudden and untimely death of his elder brother S. Labh Singh who had helped him in getting education. Though he was not so much old but he became victim of excessive alcoholism. A few years earlier his elder son had also passed away in a road accident who was married and even had a son. Now their family was looked after my the younger brother Amar Singh who also had come to Chittorgarh to study but he could not proceed for more than one year so my father sent him back to Dharamkot. Another event that shook him more was the untimely death of his sister’s son S. Ajaib Singh, who died of food poisoning, and who was survived by a  son and a daughter and of course his wife who practiced local medicine at Muketsar. My father had worked actively to get S. Ajaib Singh educated at Dehradun from where he matriculated and then helped him in securing the job of a conductor in the local city buses of the town and then as a clerk in the Army. My father had great trust that this gentleman who was educated and enlightened would become his support in his old age. But as destiny would have Almighty took him even before my father retired from his job. Now my father made it as the mission of his life to bring his eight years old son Prithvipal to Chittor, educate him and get him admitted into Sainik School. He was admitted to the primary school that ws being run in the school campus and a teacher of the school Mr. Chatar Singh was asked to give private tuitions to this boy in Maths and General Knowledge so that he can clear entrance test to the Sainik Schools. With time he gave the entrance test and cleared it to get admission to Class VI in Sainik School Kapurthala where ex head master of School Wg. Cdr. S.K. Sharma was Principal

            After solving this problem the next problem encountering my father was marrying off my sister who after graduating from Government College Chittorgarh and doing her M.Sc. from Government College Ajmer and B.Ed. from Regional College of Education Ajmer was working as temporary lecturer in a private college at Jaipur. His priority was of getting her married before his retirement that was due in the month of May 1984. In this matter former Registrar of the school Capt. Kehri Singh Faujdar rendered a great help as he talked to a prominent Punjabi Jat family of Bharatpur as he also belonged to Bharatpur. For the youngest son of Satya Dev ji Cheema who had migrated from Sialkot after partition and finally decided to settle at Bharatpur. At that time he was employed in CIIMCO Rail Coach Factory that was owned by Birla Group. His youngest son Harendra was working as a Research Associate at Agriculture Research Station at Durgapura Jaipur. At that time it was affiliated to Udaiur University. Satya Dev Cheema’s father was perhaps first generation learner in his family who rose to become an English teacher. He got his eldest son Satya Dev educated from the iconic and famous DAV College Lahore where he graduated with English Literature as a subject. Satya Dev ji Cheema migrated to Bharatpur after partition and settled at Bharatpur where he was working as private secretary to the then ruler of Bharatpur. He came to India along with his parents, younger brother, a sister and five sons. The eldest one worked as an Engineer in Irrigation Department of Government of Rajasthan. His name was Rajesh. The younger one Mahendra was a journalist who had worked as a correspondent with one of the  famous paper of Rajasthan Rajasthan Patrika, the next one Pradumman worked in Electricity Department of Government of Rajasthan and the next one Vijendra worked in Central Cooperative Bank Bharatpur and the youngest one was working as an agriculture scientist. One of the interesting anecdote of this period was that Harendra insisted that he knew me as I had joined Agriculture College at Udaipur for one year in 1981 where he was doing his post graduation while Kehri Singh and his children were saying how can you know him when we, who have introduced the whole family had not introduced him to you. So my father, his colleagues Mr. Rautela, Geography teacher, Mr. Malhotra, who was Hostel Supt. in Sainik School and the then Registrar of the school Maj. Randhir Singh went to Bharatpur to perform the ring and engagement ceremony of my sister. Here it was decided that marriage will take place in Bharatpur in the month of October 1983 though initially I was against the idea of going to Bharatpur and I protest also weakly but I knew that my parents were also equally helpless as it was difficult to handle so many guests at Chittorgarh and that too at Sainik School which was 4 kms away from the town and there was no regular conveyance between the school and the town. So we went to Bharatpur along with two cooks and established ourselves at the accommodation near Govt. Pre Primary School Fort Bharatpur. So my sister was married on 26 th October 1983 following the Sikh ritual of Anand Karaj. After the marriage Cheema family visited Chittorgarh. Though my father initially wanted to give dinner or lunch to celebrate the marriage but Principal Col. Rao persuaded my father not to waste the resources and give a High Tea party instead. So a Tea Party was arranged with the help of Mess Staff and mess manager in the Ante-room of the school mess. From Bharatpur besides Harendra, his parents, his younger sister Neerja along with her daughter and his younger brother’s wife came to grace this occasion.

            After marriage my sister got permanent job as a government teacher in Chemistry and was posted at a place Lalsot. My parents thought of visiting her in the month of February-March before his retirement. At Lalsot my father fell ill and his leave was coming to an end so he exhorted some doctor to cure him quickly so that he can join his duties soon. My father returned back and joined his duties but due to strong side effects of medicine given by doctor at Lalsot he developed Liver problem and had continued hiccups for 21 days continuously day and night. So my father was admitted in a local private hospital Dr. Jainani’s hospital hose owner Dr. Jainani who also owned one of the Cinema houses of the town also was a good physician. So my father spent the last fortnight of his service in hospital and he retired from hospital as school closed for Summer Vacations at the end of April 1984. As his registered date of birth was May 1, 1926 so he was to retire on May 31 but due to vacations and his illness his retirement function could only be held in July 1984.

            Even after retirement my father stayed in the campus in the accommodation on payment basis and then decided to shift to the two room set that he had taken on rent in the house of  his friend and colleague Mr .S.P.Malhotra, who had also retired as Hostel Supt. from Sainik School. His house was in Senthi suburb on Chittorgarh –Mangalwar Road. My father had applied for a house in Rajasthan Housing Board but that house was not complete and to make it liveable some alterations were necessary so we came to this house which was hardly ten minutes walking distance from the place where our own house was coming up. It nearly took four months to complete our house that was situated on the fringe of  Pratap Nagar and was known as Housing Board Colony Pratap Nagar, Chittorgarh.

The Patriarch Part-I Author : Dr. K.S.Kang

-The Patriarch-

Part-I

Traditionally lanes and streets of any Indian village or town are divided into various sections known by various names like mohallas, patties, Katra or katla, Agwar and the like. In one such Agwar named Agwar Gillan of a small town of North –West Punjab, known as Dharamkot my father was born. Though his date of birth on his matriculation certificate is 1-5-1926 but that may not be exact as in those innocent days, when literacy was scarce, date of birth or the age of a child was determined by the teacher giving admission to the child in primary education. My father spent most of his early childhood in this Agwar Gillan where his family lived in their ancestral house. Agwar Gillan was named after the dominant sikh peasant community of that area Gills. Dharamkot had been a town from a very long time as it was a municipality as it is on record that my grandfather S. Khazan Singh Kang was member of municipality and he left it only after elder son and my uncle S. Labh Singh joined the Muincipal services of the town as toll collector. My great great grand father S. Buta Singh was some petty revenue official known as Kankash whose function was to evaluate a value of a land on the basis of its yield and collect its revenue to be deposited in Govt. Treasury. In those days he used to move on horseback to the nearby villages to perform his duties swiftly. He did his work so efficiently that British employers were so much pleased with him that they ready to give a large estate in nearby village Pandori. But he was discontented with his son S. Mhia Singh, who was idler and did nothing except dressing up and sitting idly, and his were character and conduct was so strong that he refused to take this reward. In Punjab the revenue officialship at the lowest strata was hereditary. So the Lambardari continued in our family and my grand father S. Khazan Singh Kang was Lambardar of Agwar Gillan. As a Lambardar it was his duty to collect revenue from the Agwar and deposit it in the govt. treasury of tehsil Zira. Besides that my grandfather was also member of muincipality so my family was fairy respected and honoured in the contemporary rural society. My grandparent’s children did not survive so somebody advised to pierce the ear of my father so as to ensure his longevity and that piercing of his ear at the time of his birth assured his life hale and hearty for nearly nine decades. Though education at that time did not appeal much to the masses yet my grandparents paid attention to the education of atleast male members of the family. First my father’s elder brother S. Labh Singh got his education up to the eighth standard and became one of the highly educated young boy of his village and it was due to this education that he got job in Muincipal services of the town. So my father was also admitted to the Vernacular Government school of the town as his family could ot afford the fees of the private school. Recollecting his first year in the school my father used to tell us that he as very much afraid of a teacher ho used to come from the neighbouring village Pandori on Bicycle. Though his name was Rehmat Ali but due to his particular head gear, normally worn by Pathans known as ‘Kulla’ in local dialect he came to be known as Kullewala Master. Every student used to pray in his heart that Kulle wala Master should not become their class teacher. But as destiny would have it he became their class teacher. One day he had his encounter with this awesome teacher when he punished whole of the class for the trouble they did not make. This was unbearable to my father and in protest he stopped going school from the very next day. As Headmaster of the school was personal friend of my grandfather so noticing absence of my father from the school he came to meet to my grandfather and came to know that Rehmat Ali was at the root of this trouble. Headmaster asked Rehmat Ali to apologize from my grandfather and gave him duty to bring back the boy at any cost otherwise he will have to lose his job. From next day this poor fellow used to start half an hour earlier from his village and came first t my father’s house and then to the school. But my father sensed this conspiracy so he used to take cattle even earlier and go out of the village so the helpless teacher had to come disappointed. This continued for a number of days till one day good sense prevailed and my father on the advise of elders decided to return back to school. But the trouble did not end there and then as on the very day of his return to the school the same teacher gave some problem to be solved. When my father approached him with the solution he stood up and said with folded hands. ”you need not come, your order me anything you want, including sweets, as you are son of influential people of the village and I cannot afford to antagonize you as it may cost my job”. Even at that tender age my father was conscious that his condition is not beneficial to him in long run and feeling this teacher would certainly ruin him he stopped going to school again from the next day. And he only returned to school after an year when Rehmat Ali left the school.

After he returned to the school his elder brother, who was toll collector in Muincipal services of the town, used to coach him so that he can cover up the gap left in his studies due to his absence in the school. On day his elder brother gave a rather difficult problem and when he could not solve it to his satisfaction he scolded him and in rage he threw slate at his face and came to the house running all the way. However, from that day the course of his studies was smooth and it was the fruit of his hard work and devotion towards studies that enabled him to clear three levels in two years. After the completion of primary education my father’s family was in no mood to send him to another private school for more education . But at the primary level my father bagged a scholarship and to get the scholarship it was essential for him to take admission in Arjun Dass High School Dharamkot for his further studies. This school was founded by a rich trader of the village Lala Arjun Dass in 1905 A.D who had no issue and so he utilized his property by creating the trust controlling this educational institution for the benefit of the people of not only Dharakot but of surrounding villages as well. Even the Britishers appreciated the efforts of these philanthropists and honoured them by presenting a plaque (khillat) to the founders of this educational institute – Lala Arjun Dass, Lala Prabh Dayal and Lala Bhagat Ram. So my father came to study from a vernacular school to a private school. Today it has grown to be a Post Graduate College offering post graduate courses in Arts stream. Here also my father rose in prominence atleast in the eyes of his teacher Lala Kundan Lal who later on became Headmaster of this school. He not only gave charge of the class to him by making him monitor but of his house hold as well to the extent that my father had knowledge of his house hold that his even wife and children did not have.

It was the time when Nationalist Movement in India was gaining momentum under the leadership of Mahatma Gandhi and passions were running high against the britishers as they had hanged Bhagat Singh, Rajguru and Sukhdev. The earliest recollection of his childhood was the news of the death of Bhagat Singh and his friends that his father brought when he was only 8 years old. And it was the same time when Udham Singh had taken revenge of Jallianwala Tragedy by killing General Dyer. In this environment of growing demand of independence of India from British rulers, my father matriculated from this school in 1945 A.D but he was not left untouched by his surroundings as he also organized activities promoting nationalism and patriotism by organizing Bal Congress (Children’s Congress). At one time authorities considered checking his activities by issuing warrant against him but then taking his activities to be nothing more than a child’s pay did not pay any serious attention to his actions. My father’s performance at the Matriculation Exam that was conducted by Punjab University, whose headquarter was still at Lahore- now in Pakistan, was that he secured first division bagging 691 marks and bagging another scholarship for further studies. His teacher and mentor and headmaster of school Lala Kundan Lal had to say the following words about him:

        This is to certify that Kehar Singh Kang son of Sardar Khazan Singh Kang has been a monitor throughout his school career and a scholarship holder too. He has also been a nice player of Volleyball and participated in the same in the district tournament for two years. He has also worked as Scout Troop Leader in the school.

These comments indicate the all round development of this boy who was not only academically accomplished but physically well accomplished as well. He had a well balanced personality. He had represented his school in the game of volleyball for two years.

After the completion of matriculation all the roads of higher education in his native town Dharamkot ended for him. But as he had bagged scholarship so he came to the nearby town Moga and took admission in D.M. College that offered two years course in Arts stream known as Faculty of Arts of F.A. As he was a meritorious student so he got admission to this college without any difficulty. His elder brother helped him in getting rent free accommodation in the house of his friend S. Kartar Singh, who was a quack of sorts- as he practiced some Ayurveda that he had learnt from a sage. Dr. Kartar Singh had a shop in the main area of the city that as called Shivala Soodan as the shop in which Kartar Singh worked and lived was the property of Shivala Soodan or the abode of Lord Shiva as it had a temple of Lord Shiva in its precincts. In this accommodation Dr. Kartar Singh worked and lived on the ground floor and my father lived in a single room on the first floor. So as to cut the expenses of living my father used to cook his meals. This Dr. Kartar Singh used to brew his own wine in the name of making medicine and even sold its remains in the name of tonic to the poor uneducated villagers that had capability of providing male child to the aspiring couple. So my father took admission in F.A in 1945 and completed this course successfully in 1947 A.D.  This year was important not only in national history but also in the personal history of my father.

One incident of this period is related to his elder brother who was among the few educated young man of the village and then he had a job with Rs. 13 monthly salary. With that salary he used to get new shoes and new pair of clothes- Kurta (Tunic) and Payjama (Pants). This elder brother went to Ferozepur to attend some camp and fell ill. Now this place Ferozepur which was district headquarter and nearly 50 kms from Moga and Dharamkot. He sent a message to my father and ordered him to bring some money and provision to Ferozepur. Though my father had saved some money from his scholarship amount and put in his box. But when he went to recover it he to his surprise found that money had gone and what he found there was a note by Dr. Kartar Singh who had informed him that he was going to Haridwara and so he was taking this amount and will return the same after returning from Haridwara. My father covered the distance of nearly 15 kms from Moga to Dharamkot by foot and by evening – which happened to be evening of Diwali- reached his village and took money and provision and set out for Firozepur at once to help his elder brother and mentor as he took care of his education after my father lost his father when he was in Class X. 

            The second incident is related to his elder brother’s friend S. Kartar Singh who was also a Psychologist of sorts besides being a physician. He had learnt the skill of knowing the amount of money in the pocket of the patient. He used to prescribe the medicine of that amount to the patient for some imaginary malady from which the patient suffered. Then taking the entire amount from the pocket of the patient he used to return the amount of fare generously to the patient so that he can easily return to his village. As Dr. Kartar Singh was in habit of booze so he used to brew his own wine and retained its precipitate and remains to form his own tonic that he named as Lohasav. He not only claimed that this tonic enhanced the health of a person but he even claimed that it helped a person in getting a son. He used to ascertain that patient takes Lohasav also as a tonic along with other medicines. As my father lived in his house so he used to utter these words:

             Kehar Jaga ke Suta

             Tu Sher ke Kuta

       ( O’ Kehar are you sleeping or awake?

          Are you a lion or a cur ?)

As it has been mentioned that earlier that my father, after matriculation went to Moga for his F.A and B.A and studied there for a period from 1945 to 1949 which was one of the most turbulent period in the history of modern India, when India was shaking itself free from the shackles of British Imperialism and emerging as an independent modern nation with a democratic base. Before coming to the activities of my father during his college days let me throw light on his activities in the year 1947 and on  the day 15 th August when India gained independence. As he was educated and enlightened young man so he was fully aware and conscious of the political events taking place around him. He was also socially and politically active as he had formed a group of young boys of his neighbourhood. On the historic day of Indian independence he took his boys to a hillock situated outside the village and decided to celebrate Indian independence by cooking Kheer ( Rice Pudding). But they did not had milk and asked a cowboy to allow them to take some milk from the cattle but being ignorant and illiterate the cowboy could not comprehend the significance of the occasion so he refused. However, when the cow boy was sleeping under the cool shade of the tree he asked his boys to milch the cattle for required quantity of milk. Thus the kheer was prepared and first Independence Day was celebrated with vigour and gaiety. He was natural ring leader of these boys who were studying in the school and considered him as their ideal. He also used to take them for early morning walk outside the village where they used to have work out so as to keep themselves physically fit.

            The year 1947 not only brought independence for the country but also partition of the country on the basis of religion into two sovereign states of  India and Pakistan. It was the time of violence, mistrust and deceit. The whole nation was engulfed in senseless violence and muslims in large number were migrating from India to Pakistan and the Sikhs and Hindus were coming from Pakistan to India. Like the rest of the country my father’s area was also affected by these events. He narrated an interesting incident of those days when he saved the life of a muslim couple purely on the humane basis. One day while wandering in the street of his village, he saw a dark, lean and thin man with a sword chasing a fair stout Kashmiri muslim couple, who were unable to resist as this man had a sword in his hand. But for the sword this lean , thin and dark complexioned man would never have hoped even to touch this stout, tall Kashmiri couple. My father courageously grabbed sword from the hand of this man and pushed him to the ground easily. Without sword this man ran away and this couple was saved from becoming the victim of senseless communal violence.

            He also served the refugees coming from Pakistan by distributing blankets, food packets, medicines and other articles among them. He even put at stake his career as this was the year when he was to appear for his F.A final exam. But he gave preference to people in need purely on humanitarian basis and continued to serve these needy people. But as selfless service dos not go unheeded, so Education Department of the state decided that year to clear all the students by deeming them as passed who have participated in social service. So he got the degree of F.A without appearing in the exam and received the certificate of 1947 session with the words, “…passed under Special Service Regulations”. This certificate was issued by Panjab University, Solan Hills  Shimla by Assistant Registrar (Exams) on 25-09-1951. After clearing F.A exam my father took admission in two years degree course of B.A. Arts in the same college of Moga from where he did his F.A.

            Now before proceeding further let us view the conduct and his performance during these for years. The views of Group Tutor about him were “… during his stay in the college he behaved… that his colleagues and teachers liked and loved him alike. Not only that he was first class scholar and stood first in his house examinations but also took keen interest in literary activities. Hardly any debate or symposium was held in the college when he was not present on the stage. He contributed liberally to the college magazine with his poems and was very successful as secretary of one tutor group. Inspite of his long practicals and hard studies he never missed his regular evening exercise as a member of college Volleyball team. He pursued his ideals with vigour. I wish him all the best in life.” Remarks given to him by Director, Physical Education of his college were , “ Sardar Kehar Singh Kang, passed his B.A Exam from this college in 1949. During his stay in the college he took a lively interest in sports and was a member of volleyball team. He is an energetic young man possessing a very good physique. He is well behaved and bears a good moral character.” His Principal’s views about him were “ He was one of good students. He was well behaved and courteous young man. He took part in all the extra mural activities of the college. He gave full cooperation to his teachers in matter of discipline. His moral character is excellent. I wish him all the best in life.”

            So my father graduated from East Panjab Universiy, Solan Hills, Shimla in 1949 with subject English Literature, Maths A Course, Physics and Urdu as third language. He was sufficiently adept in Urdu that he composed poems in it. He was also a regular subscriber of Urdu magazine “ Biswin Sadi” nearly throughout his life. Besides that he had a number of Urdu poems of all prominent poets like Galib, Iqbql, Mir, Faiz Ahmead Faid, Josh Malihabdi and the like in his personal library at home. One of his English teacher was a famous prose writer of Urdu named Kanahaiya Lal Kapur who wrote satires in this language. He had migrated from Pakistan and my father recollects that there was only one cot in his temporary house at Moga and whenever any student approached him with problem he used to get up and teach and ask the student to sit on the cot. Among the English classic authors that he studied during his college days included Ben Jonson, Samuel Johnson, Christopher Marlowe, Shakespeare and of course Bacon. During his stay in the college as a student he sufficiently proved that he was a man of beliefs and convictions and for them he could even go to the extent of stubbornness. Once he did not hesitate to point out even to his teacher to make his teaching interesting in order to stop learners from dozing. He even accepted his teacher’s challenge to teach the class but on condition that he be given one day’s time to prepare. When teacher suggested him to complain against him to Principal, his reply was ‘ I never complain against my friends and teachers.” In those days he supported the right cause even at the cost of antagonizing his own class fellows. Once students were on strike and they decided to boycott the exam but my father thought that their reason for boycotting the exam was not justified. So he went to Principal and asked him to make arrangement as he was ready to appear for the exam. Despite the threats and warnings from students he went ahead and appeared in the exam. My father remembered that his name was put on the honour board of his college Dr. Mathura Das College Moga.

            After graduation now my father was searching for job. The first mention of his job can be seen in relieving letter given by Headmaster of The Haryana National High School Adayana, Tehsil Panipat Distt. Karnal. It was part of Punjab at that time though for the first time my father was stepping out of his district for doing a job. For the first time my father realized, on coming to Adayana that even clean shaven and dhoti wearing people were also farmers tilling the land. He has worked here as Senior Maths Teacher for a few months. His Principal says the follwing about him

         Ch. Kehar Singh B.A worked in this school as Senior Maths Teacher for about six months. During this tenure he proved himself as a conscientious teacher and I always formed a good opinion about his work, conduct and ability. He took a keen interest in school games and became popular among the students and staff. He is a young man with pleasing manners and active habits and bears an excellent moral character”. ( Amar Nath). This citation is signed on 6-9-1950 which shows that he worked as Maths teacher in this school for six months that means he took this job on some day in the month of March 1949. That is to say that my father entered the profession of teaching at the age of 23 years and continued teaching till the end of twentieth century that implies that his teaching career spanned nearly five decades. After working here for six months he left this institute in October 1950 to join prestigious Khalsa College Amritsar as Physics Demonstrator in Department of Physics of this historic college.

            Khalsa college is a historic educational institution of Amritsar that was founded in 1892 A.D. Khalsa College Establishment Committee was set up in 1890 A.D with Colonel W.R.M. Holroyd, Director of Public Instruction Punjab as President and W.Bell, Principal of Government College Lahore as Secretary. Among the native constituents of its 121 member committee were Sir Attar Singh, Gurdial Singh Mann of Nabha, Diwan Gurmukh Singh of Patiala, Bhai Kahn Singh, Prof. Gurmukh Singh and Sardar Jawahir Singh. Many princely states also contributed to set up this institution financially that included Maharaja Rajendra Singh of Patiala, Maharaja Hira Singh of Nabha and Maharaja Jagatjit Singh of Kapurthala and Sir Sunder Singh Majithia. The noteable alumni of this institution included Poet and novelist Bhishm Sahani, Folk Singer Ranjieet Bawa, Pratap Singh Kairon, Gurdial Singh Dhillon, English novelist Muk Raj Anand, Hukam Singh and the like. Two persons including my father were selected by the college to work as Demonstrators in Physics Department. At that time Principal of the college was Sardar Jodh Singh and Head , Physics Department was Dr. Jagat Singh. As college had invited application on the plain paper so they did not that my father was a clean shaven sikh. So taking him to be a Keshdhari they sent appointment to him too. At the time of joining though Principal did not say anything but Dr. Jagat Singh asked my father that he did not tell them that he was not a Gursikh. My father’s curt reply was that there was no such column in the application form. Taken aback by his curt yet logical reply the authorities made up their mind not to extend his appointment beyond the given period. The other gentleman who was a Gursikh earned the favour of the employers on two counts. One was that he was a Keshdhari and as premier sikh institute they felt it as their duty to promote him in academic field and secondly he was a refugee who had lost everything and had come uprooted from Pakistan so he was badly in need of job to support his family. During his stay in the college my father came in contact with some of the leading academicians, poets and authors like Professor Sahib Singh, who was Head of Divinity Chair of the college and who had written commentary on Sri Guru Granth Sahib, and the great poet and novelist Sant Singh Sekhon during his morning walks. Dr. Jagat Singh, head Physics Department had given my father a citation that has been counter signed by the Principal of the college Bhai Jodh Singh that says:

     “ Shri Kehar Singh B.A is working under me as demonstrator in Physics since 30^th October 1950. His main duty is to conduct the practicals for intermediate classes but lately he has been assigned some work in the senior practicals as well. It gives me much pleasure to say that he is a quiet and conscientious worker, never complains and meddles with others affairs. Whatever I have seen of his work during this short period is an entire satisfaction to me “.Another person Professor Darbara Singh, M.S, Fellow East Punjab University opined about him on 2-3-1951 “ It is a matter of pleasure for me to certify that Mr. Kehar Singh B.A worked with us at Khalsa College Amritsar in Physics Department as Demonstrator from November 1950 to March 1951. During this short period of his stay in the college I had the chance of hearing enough about him. He is an excellent, hard working, unassuming and clever Youngman. He realizes his duty and is faithful to the task entrusted to him. He takes interest in his work and I can confidently recommend him for any responsibility he is fit for and I am sure he will succeed in his life.” He finally left Khalsa College Amritsar in March 1951 to join as SAJ Grade II in Technical Develoment Establishment Laboratory at Kanpur under the auspices of Defence Ministry of the country. This stated his partnership with Defence forces that continued till his retirement in 1984 for 33 years. It was a research organization working on the design and modeling of weapons, implements, tools and even dress articles used by the soldiers. Even at that time the department in which he worked that is Statistics Department there were 27 Ph.D’s working on one or the other project. During his stay at Kanpur he even made a vain effort to do post graduation in Maths from D.A.V. College Kanpur with the help of his cousin brother who was a JCO on deputation in the NCC of the college. My father related an interesting incident from those days that showed the spirit of the people of that time and the honesty and efficiency of law enforcing agencies and the people’s firm faith in them. My father used to live with his colleagues in shared apartment. One day his colleague came in the early morning train on the winter morning. He entered along with the Rickshawwallah who were arguing about the fare. My father was still sleeping and his watch was under the pillow outside the quilt. Suddenly Rickshawwala stopped arguing and went out of the room peacefully and after a few moments my father’s watch had disappeared. They took their bicycles and chased that Rickshaw and soon spotted and  searched the rickshaw and his clothes thoroughly but to their utter surprise they could not find the watch. They decided to report this matter to the nearest Police Station. Officer in charge of Police Station calmly assured them to take their watch by evening. When my father came to Police Statin in the evening the officer handed over the watch to my father. My father in utter dismay asked the officer how did he retrieve the watch when they could not find it in the rickshaw or the clothes of Rickshawwalah. The officer told my father calmly that this Rickshawwalah and others deposited the stolen articles with a Hotel owner. He simply searched the hotel and found the watch and the culprit who was responsible for it. My father was simply impressed with the efficiency of Police Force of those days which was swift in responding to the complaints of atleast young educated people like my father.

            Meanwhile my father applied for the post of Physics Demonstrator again but this time in Physics Department of Indian Military Academy Dehradun which was premier institute for training army officers for Indian army. Until World War I Indians were not elegible for commission as officers in Indian Army. Following the experiences of World War I where Indian soldiers proved their mettle, Montague-Chelmsford Reforms facilitated ten Indians per year to undergo officer training at Royal Military College Sandhurst. At the first Round Table Conference despite the British resistance of expansion of Indian officer cadre the establishment of Indian Officer Training College was one of the few concessions made at the conference. The Indian Military College Committee was set up under the chairmanship of Field Marshal Sir Philip Chetwode and Indian Military Academy came into existence in 1931 to train forty young men twice a year to become officers in Indian army. Its alumni included army chiefs of India Field Marshal Manekshaw, Pakistan army chief General Muhammad Musa and Burmese Army Chief Lieutenant General Smith Dun. In interview my father was placed second in merit but the person who was placed first was my father’s colleague at Kanpur but he assured him that he would leave this job soon and so at some point of time my father joined IMA as Physics demonstrator in 1952. He had joined as Technical Laboratory Assistant in the pay grade Rs. 205-7-240-8-280 in the Defence Department of the Central Government of India. At that time he was accommodated in the accommodation that was provided to Portugese Prisoners of War of Second World War held at Dehradun by British forces. At that time his Head of Department was a Sikh gentleman Colonel Balwant Singh. The term given to the Military trainees of this academy by Pandit Jawahar Lal Nehru, First Prime Minister of India was Gentleman Cadets. My father’s chief duty was to supervise the Physics projects undertaken by these Gentleman Cadets. IMA was training not only officers but technical graduates like engineers, doctors, teachers, lawyers and the like. At that time National Defence Academy, now stationed at Khadakvasla near Pune in Maharashtra, was also at Dehradun. Once his head of department Col. Balwant Singh asked him why he did not keep unshorn hair as he was a jat Sikh. My father’s reply was that since aim of every religion was to make honest and upright human being so he did not feel the need to keep hairs he can become that even without that. He felt that it is better to be honest clean shaven sikh rather than hair keeping drunk, dishonest and cheat sikh. Col. Balwant Singh was impressed by his reply and from that day he usd to give his example to the Sikh cadets who supported turbans but trimmed their beards by saying “ Look at Mr. K.S. Kang, who appears as he looks atleast he is not deceiving people like you, by keeping turbans but trimming beards, in the name of religion and when you cannot be loyal to your religion how you can be loyal to your country. My father’s stay of a decade at Dehradun was perhaps the most wonderful and eventful decade of his life. It was during this time that he got married. That is another story how his father-in –law came to see him while he was on leave and had come to his village to spend his vacation. His father –in-law was a age wearing saffron clothes belonging to Udaysin sect founded by the elder son of Guru Nanak Dev ji, Baba Srichand ji. He came from Parao Mehna village to Dharamkot to see his father and met my father’s elder brother Sardar Labh Singh who took him to the fields where my father was working in knee deep water. My maternal grandfather was impressed and was assured that he was a hardworking and laborious educated young man. My mother at that time had graduated from D.M College Moga the same institute from where my father also did graduation. At that time she was pursuing B.T. course from Dev Samaj College of Education for Women. Finally my father married this lone child of her parents who at that time was more qualified than my father who was working as teacher in a Private school at Kairon village Patti which was managed by the family of Pratap Singh Kairon who later on became Chief Minister of Punjab. My father married Hardaya Kaur Gill daughter of S. Thakur Singh Gill and Har Kaur of Parao Mehna/Dala village as my maternal grandfather’s land was in neighbouring Dalla village. My maternal grandfather Thakur Singh Gill had also acquired education up to Eight standard in a Vernacular school and that certificate mentions 1897 A.D as his date of birth. This marriage was solemnized in the April 1953 at village Parao Mehna and the wedding card mentions that barat( wedding procession) will go by lorry( the word for bus) and there was an instruction for the guests to bring their own bedding. After some days after marriage she accompanied my father to Dehradun and my maternal grandmother Har Kaur also visited them regularly to take their care and ensure the well being of young couple. Har Kaur knew to write her name both in Punjabi as well as in English. My mother told me that once a peon brought a circular in the absence of my parents. He was astonished to see an old lady of 60 years signing it in English.   

            At Dehradun my father witnessed some of the illustrious personalities of that age like C. Rajagopalachari, First Indian Viceroy of Independent India, Dr. Rajendra Prasad, The first President of Independent India, Dr. Sarvapalli Radhakrishnan, the great academician and philosopher and first Indian Vice President, Shri V.K Krishan Menon, Defence Minister of India, and many military and civilian leaders. Even the first Indian Field Marshal Sam Maneckshaw was Lieutenant Colonel at that time in IMA. About him my father used to say that he was extremely fit without any paunch.

            The married life of my parents did not begin well. Though my mother got pregnant but she could not give birth to a live child or the girl child died just after birth. This tragedy sent my mother into abyss of depression. So as to divert her attention my father got her admitted into M.A. Maths as regular student in DAV College Dehradun and also registered himself as teacher candidate in the same course. At that time this college was affiliated to legendary Agra University, which was one of the oldest university of North India. Both of them discussed notes, solved problems and theorems after dinner over a glass of milk. Both of them gave exam and cleared it becoming Post Graduates in mathematics in 1956. As my parents had filled the form together so they got consecutive roll numbers and so they were seated close to each other in the exam hall but my father was such a righteous man that my mother wrote an answer on an eraser and deliberately threw it from the table in order to confirm an answer but my father simply picked it and placed it on her table without looking at it. My mother again got pregnant and this time gave birth to a normal though a bit weak girl child on 6^th June 1957. As my elder sister was born at Dehradun so my grandmother came to look after her daughter and daughter’s daughter in order to help her in child rearing. As an enlightened and educated member of his family he tried to fulfill his responsibility of providing education to the members of his family too like his nephew( both children of his elder brother as well as his sister). First of all he brought his brother’s elder son named Dilber to Dehradun but he could not clear X Class so after a stay of year or two at Dehradun he returned back to his native village Dehradun. He used to bring his relatives on this condition that the moment they will fail to clear the academic session he will deport them back to their village. He brought his sister’s eldest son named Ajaib Singh but he succeeded in clearing the exam and my father got him the job of a bus conductor in the local city transport of Dehradun. He belonged to village Bargari of Bathinda District at that time. Later on he joined Military Engineering Service (MES) as clerk. My sister was named Amar Jyot alias Rani and she was apple of the pupil of her parents. My parents used to take her for the evening walk to Prem Nagar Market adjoining the academy campus and during the walk she used to stop at the toy shop and shopkeeper used to put before her the latest toy of his shop she used to  simply pick it up and start running towards home as she did not have idea that things have to be paid for. Though later on my father paid the shopkeeper well in time-The Patriarch-

Part-I

Traditionally lanes and streets of any Indian village or town are divided into various sections known by various names like mohallas, patties, Katra or katla, Agwar and the like. In one such Agwar named Agwar Gillan of a small town of North –West Punjab, known as Dharamkot my father was born. Though his date of birth on his matriculation certificate is 1-5-1926 but that may not be exact as in those innocent days, when literacy was scarce, date of birth or the age of a child was determined by the teacher giving admission to the child in primary education. My father spent most of his early childhood in this Agwar Gillan where his family lived in their ancestral house. Agwar Gillan was named after the dominant sikh peasant community of that area Gills. Dharamkot had been a town from a very long time as it was a municipality as it is on record that my grandfather S. Khazan Singh Kang was member of municipality and he left it only after elder son and my uncle S. Labh Singh joined the Muincipal services of the town as toll collector. My great great grand father S. Buta Singh was some petty revenue official known as Kankash whose function was to evaluate a value of a land on the basis of its yield and collect its revenue to be deposited in Govt. Treasury. In those days he used to move on horseback to the nearby villages to perform his duties swiftly. He did his work so efficiently that British employers were so much pleased with him that they ready to give a large estate in nearby village Pandori. But he was discontented with his son S. Mhia Singh, who was idler and did nothing except dressing up and sitting idly, and his were character and conduct was so strong that he refused to take this reward. In Punjab the revenue officialship at the lowest strata was hereditary. So the Lambardari continued in our family and my grand father S. Khazan Singh Kang was Lambardar of Agwar Gillan. As a Lambardar it was his duty to collect revenue from the Agwar and deposit it in the govt. treasury of tehsil Zira. Besides that my grandfather was also member of muincipality so my family was fairy respected and honoured in the contemporary rural society. My grandparent’s children did not survive so somebody advised to pierce the ear of my father so as to ensure his longevity and that piercing of his ear at the time of his birth assured his life hale and hearty for nearly nine decades. Though education at that time did not appeal much to the masses yet my grandparents paid attention to the education of atleast male members of the family. First my father’s elder brother S. Labh Singh got his education up to the eighth standard and became one of the highly educated young boy of his village and it was due to this education that he got job in Muincipal services of the town. So my father was also admitted to the Vernacular Government school of the town as his family could ot afford the fees of the private school. Recollecting his first year in the school my father used to tell us that he as very much afraid of a teacher ho used to come from the neighbouring village Pandori on Bicycle. Though his name was Rehmat Ali but due to his particular head gear, normally worn by Pathans known as ‘Kulla’ in local dialect he came to be known as Kullewala Master. Every student used to pray in his heart that Kulle wala Master should not become their class teacher. But as destiny would have it he became their class teacher. One day he had his encounter with this awesome teacher when he punished whole of the class for the trouble they did not make. This was unbearable to my father and in protest he stopped going school from the very next day. As Headmaster of the school was personal friend of my grandfather so noticing absence of my father from the school he came to meet to my grandfather and came to know that Rehmat Ali was at the root of this trouble. Headmaster asked Rehmat Ali to apologize from my grandfather and gave him duty to bring back the boy at any cost otherwise he will have to lose his job. From next day this poor fellow used to start half an hour earlier from his village and came first t my father’s house and then to the school. But my father sensed this conspiracy so he used to take cattle even earlier and go out of the village so the helpless teacher had to come disappointed. This continued for a number of days till one day good sense prevailed and my father on the advise of elders decided to return back to school. But the trouble did not end there and then as on the very day of his return to the school the same teacher gave some problem to be solved. When my father approached him with the solution he stood up and said with folded hands. ”you need not come, your order me anything you want, including sweets, as you are son of influential people of the village and I cannot afford to antagonize you as it may cost my job”. Even at that tender age my father was conscious that his condition is not beneficial to him in long run and feeling this teacher would certainly ruin him he stopped going to school again from the next day. And he only returned to school after an year when Rehmat Ali left the school.

After he returned to the school his elder brother, who was toll collector in Muincipal services of the town, used to coach him so that he can cover up the gap left in his studies due to his absence in the school. On day his elder brother gave a rather difficult problem and when he could not solve it to his satisfaction he scolded him and in rage he threw slate at his face and came to the house running all the way. However, from that day the course of his studies was smooth and it was the fruit of his hard work and devotion towards studies that enabled him to clear three levels in two years. After the completion of primary education my father’s family was in no mood to send him to another private school for more education . But at the primary level my father bagged a scholarship and to get the scholarship it was essential for him to take admission in Arjun Dass High School Dharamkot for his further studies. This school was founded by a rich trader of the village Lala Arjun Dass in 1905 A.D who had no issue and so he utilized his property by creating the trust controlling this educational institution for the benefit of the people of not only Dharakot but of surrounding villages as well. Even the Britishers appreciated the efforts of these philanthropists and honoured them by presenting a plaque (khillat) to the founders of this educational institute – Lala Arjun Dass, Lala Prabh Dayal and Lala Bhagat Ram. So my father came to study from a vernacular school to a private school. Today it has grown to be a Post Graduate College offering post graduate courses in Arts stream. Here also my father rose in prominence atleast in the eyes of his teacher Lala Kundan Lal who later on became Headmaster of this school. He not only gave charge of the class to him by making him monitor but of his house hold as well to the extent that my father had knowledge of his house hold that his even wife and children did not have.

It was the time when Nationalist Movement in India was gaining momentum under the leadership of Mahatma Gandhi and passions were running high against the britishers as they had hanged Bhagat Singh, Rajguru and Sukhdev. The earliest recollection of his childhood was the news of the death of Bhagat Singh and his friends that his father brought when he was only 8 years old. And it was the same time when Udham Singh had taken revenge of Jallianwala Tragedy by killing General Dyer. In this environment of growing demand of independence of India from British rulers, my father matriculated from this school in 1945 A.D but he was not left untouched by his surroundings as he also organized activities promoting nationalism and patriotism by organizing Bal Congress (Children’s Congress). At one time authorities considered checking his activities by issuing warrant against him but then taking his activities to be nothing more than a child’s pay did not pay any serious attention to his actions. My father’s performance at the Matriculation Exam that was conducted by Punjab University, whose headquarter was still at Lahore- now in Pakistan, was that he secured first division bagging 691 marks and bagging another scholarship for further studies. His teacher and mentor and headmaster of school Lala Kundan Lal had to say the following words about him:

        This is to certify that Kehar Singh Kang son of Sardar Khazan Singh Kang has been a monitor throughout his school career and a scholarship holder too. He has also been a nice player of Volleyball and participated in the same in the district tournament for two years. He has also worked as Scout Troop Leader in the school.

These comments indicate the all round development of this boy who was not only academically accomplished but physically well accomplished as well. He had a well balanced personality. He had represented his school in the game of volleyball for two years.

After the completion of matriculation all the roads of higher education in his native town Dharamkot ended for him. But as he had bagged scholarship so he came to the nearby town Moga and took admission in D.M. College that offered two years course in Arts stream known as Faculty of Arts of F.A. As he was a meritorious student so he got admission to this college without any difficulty. His elder brother helped him in getting rent free accommodation in the house of his friend S. Kartar Singh, who was a quack of sorts- as he practiced some Ayurveda that he had learnt from a sage. Dr. Kartar Singh had a shop in the main area of the city that as called Shivala Soodan as the shop in which Kartar Singh worked and lived was the property of Shivala Soodan or the abode of Lord Shiva as it had a temple of Lord Shiva in its precincts. In this accommodation Dr. Kartar Singh worked and lived on the ground floor and my father lived in a single room on the first floor. So as to cut the expenses of living my father used to cook his meals. This Dr. Kartar Singh used to brew his own wine in the name of making medicine and even sold its remains in the name of tonic to the poor uneducated villagers that had capability of providing male child to the aspiring couple. So my father took admission in F.A in 1945 and completed this course successfully in 1947 A.D.  This year was important not only in national history but also in the personal history of my father.

One incident of this period is related to his elder brother who was among the few educated young man of the village and then he had a job with Rs. 13 monthly salary. With that salary he used to get new shoes and new pair of clothes- Kurta (Tunic) and Payjama (Pants). This elder brother went to Ferozepur to attend some camp and fell ill. Now this place Ferozepur which was district headquarter and nearly 50 kms from Moga and Dharamkot. He sent a message to my father and ordered him to bring some money and provision to Ferozepur. Though my father had saved some money from his scholarship amount and put in his box. But when he went to recover it he to his surprise found that money had gone and what he found there was a note by Dr. Kartar Singh who had informed him that he was going to Haridwara and so he was taking this amount and will return the same after returning from Haridwara. My father covered the distance of nearly 15 kms from Moga to Dharamkot by foot and by evening – which happened to be evening of Diwali- reached his village and took money and provision and set out for Firozepur at once to help his elder brother and mentor as he took care of his education after my father lost his father when he was in Class X. 

            The second incident is related to his elder brother’s friend S. Kartar Singh who was also a Psychologist of sorts besides being a physician. He had learnt the skill of knowing the amount of money in the pocket of the patient. He used to prescribe the medicine of that amount to the patient for some imaginary malady from which the patient suffered. Then taking the entire amount from the pocket of the patient he used to return the amount of fare generously to the patient so that he can easily return to his village. As Dr. Kartar Singh was in habit of booze so he used to brew his own wine and retained its precipitate and remains to form his own tonic that he named as Lohasav. He not only claimed that this tonic enhanced the health of a person but he even claimed that it helped a person in getting a son. He used to ascertain that patient takes Lohasav also as a tonic along with other medicines. As my father lived in his house so he used to utter these words:

             Kehar Jaga ke Suta

             Tu Sher ke Kuta

       ( O’ Kehar are you sleeping or awake?

          Are you a lion or a cur ?)

As it has been mentioned that earlier that my father, after matriculation went to Moga for his F.A and B.A and studied there for a period from 1945 to 1949 which was one of the most turbulent period in the history of modern India, when India was shaking itself free from the shackles of British Imperialism and emerging as an independent modern nation with a democratic base. Before coming to the activities of my father during his college days let me throw light on his activities in the year 1947 and on  the day 15 th August when India gained independence. As he was educated and enlightened young man so he was fully aware and conscious of the political events taking place around him. He was also socially and politically active as he had formed a group of young boys of his neighbourhood. On the historic day of Indian independence he took his boys to a hillock situated outside the village and decided to celebrate Indian independence by cooking Kheer ( Rice Pudding). But they did not had milk and asked a cowboy to allow them to take some milk from the cattle but being ignorant and illiterate the cowboy could not comprehend the significance of the occasion so he refused. However, when the cow boy was sleeping under the cool shade of the tree he asked his boys to milch the cattle for required quantity of milk. Thus the kheer was prepared and first Independence Day was celebrated with vigour and gaiety. He was natural ring leader of these boys who were studying in the school and considered him as their ideal. He also used to take them for early morning walk outside the village where they used to have work out so as to keep themselves physically fit.

            The year 1947 not only brought independence for the country but also partition of the country on the basis of religion into two sovereign states of  India and Pakistan. It was the time of violence, mistrust and deceit. The whole nation was engulfed in senseless violence and muslims in large number were migrating from India to Pakistan and the Sikhs and Hindus were coming from Pakistan to India. Like the rest of the country my father’s area was also affected by these events. He narrated an interesting incident of those days when he saved the life of a muslim couple purely on the humane basis. One day while wandering in the street of his village, he saw a dark, lean and thin man with a sword chasing a fair stout Kashmiri muslim couple, who were unable to resist as this man had a sword in his hand. But for the sword this lean , thin and dark complexioned man would never have hoped even to touch this stout, tall Kashmiri couple. My father courageously grabbed sword from the hand of this man and pushed him to the ground easily. Without sword this man ran away and this couple was saved from becoming the victim of senseless communal violence.

            He also served the refugees coming from Pakistan by distributing blankets, food packets, medicines and other articles among them. He even put at stake his career as this was the year when he was to appear for his F.A final exam. But he gave preference to people in need purely on humanitarian basis and continued to serve these needy people. But as selfless service dos not go unheeded, so Education Department of the state decided that year to clear all the students by deeming them as passed who have participated in social service. So he got the degree of F.A without appearing in the exam and received the certificate of 1947 session with the words, “…passed under Special Service Regulations”. This certificate was issued by Panjab University, Solan Hills  Shimla by Assistant Registrar (Exams) on 25-09-1951. After clearing F.A exam my father took admission in two years degree course of B.A. Arts in the same college of Moga from where he did his F.A.

            Now before proceeding further let us view the conduct and his performance during these for years. The views of Group Tutor about him were “… during his stay in the college he behaved… that his colleagues and teachers liked and loved him alike. Not only that he was first class scholar and stood first in his house examinations but also took keen interest in literary activities. Hardly any debate or symposium was held in the college when he was not present on the stage. He contributed liberally to the college magazine with his poems and was very successful as secretary of one tutor group. Inspite of his long practicals and hard studies he never missed his regular evening exercise as a member of college Volleyball team. He pursued his ideals with vigour. I wish him all the best in life.” Remarks given to him by Director, Physical Education of his college were , “ Sardar Kehar Singh Kang, passed his B.A Exam from this college in 1949. During his stay in the college he took a lively interest in sports and was a member of volleyball team. He is an energetic young man possessing a very good physique. He is well behaved and bears a good moral character.” His Principal’s views about him were “ He was one of good students. He was well behaved and courteous young man. He took part in all the extra mural activities of the college. He gave full cooperation to his teachers in matter of discipline. His moral character is excellent. I wish him all the best in life.”

            So my father graduated from East Panjab Universiy, Solan Hills, Shimla in 1949 with subject English Literature, Maths A Course, Physics and Urdu as third language. He was sufficiently adept in Urdu that he composed poems in it. He was also a regular subscriber of Urdu magazine “ Biswin Sadi” nearly throughout his life. Besides that he had a number of Urdu poems of all prominent poets like Galib, Iqbql, Mir, Faiz Ahmead Faid, Josh Malihabdi and the like in his personal library at home. One of his English teacher was a famous prose writer of Urdu named Kanahaiya Lal Kapur who wrote satires in this language. He had migrated from Pakistan and my father recollects that there was only one cot in his temporary house at Moga and whenever any student approached him with problem he used to get up and teach and ask the student to sit on the cot. Among the English classic authors that he studied during his college days included Ben Jonson, Samuel Johnson, Christopher Marlowe, Shakespeare and of course Bacon. During his stay in the college as a student he sufficiently proved that he was a man of beliefs and convictions and for them he could even go to the extent of stubbornness. Once he did not hesitate to point out even to his teacher to make his teaching interesting in order to stop learners from dozing. He even accepted his teacher’s challenge to teach the class but on condition that he be given one day’s time to prepare. When teacher suggested him to complain against him to Principal, his reply was ‘ I never complain against my friends and teachers.” In those days he supported the right cause even at the cost of antagonizing his own class fellows. Once students were on strike and they decided to boycott the exam but my father thought that their reason for boycotting the exam was not justified. So he went to Principal and asked him to make arrangement as he was ready to appear for the exam. Despite the threats and warnings from students he went ahead and appeared in the exam. My father remembered that his name was put on the honour board of his college Dr. Mathura Das College Moga.

            After graduation now my father was searching for job. The first mention of his job can be seen in relieving letter given by Headmaster of The Haryana National High School Adayana, Tehsil Panipat Distt. Karnal. It was part of Punjab at that time though for the first time my father was stepping out of his district for doing a job. For the first time my father realized, on coming to Adayana that even clean shaven and dhoti wearing people were also farmers tilling the land. He has worked here as Senior Maths Teacher for a few months. His Principal says the follwing about him

         Ch. Kehar Singh B.A worked in this school as Senior Maths Teacher for about six months. During this tenure he proved himself as a conscientious teacher and I always formed a good opinion about his work, conduct and ability. He took a keen interest in school games and became popular among the students and staff. He is a young man with pleasing manners and active habits and bears an excellent moral character”. ( Amar Nath). This citation is signed on 6-9-1950 which shows that he worked as Maths teacher in this school for six months that means he took this job on some day in the month of March 1949. That is to say that my father entered the profession of teaching at the age of 23 years and continued teaching till the end of twentieth century that implies that his teaching career spanned nearly five decades. After working here for six months he left this institute in October 1950 to join prestigious Khalsa College Amritsar as Physics Demonstrator in Department of Physics of this historic college.

            Khalsa college is a historic educational institution of Amritsar that was founded in 1892 A.D. Khalsa College Establishment Committee was set up in 1890 A.D with Colonel W.R.M. Holroyd, Director of Public Instruction Punjab as President and W.Bell, Principal of Government College Lahore as Secretary. Among the native constituents of its 121 member committee were Sir Attar Singh, Gurdial Singh Mann of Nabha, Diwan Gurmukh Singh of Patiala, Bhai Kahn Singh, Prof. Gurmukh Singh and Sardar Jawahir Singh. Many princely states also contributed to set up this institution financially that included Maharaja Rajendra Singh of Patiala, Maharaja Hira Singh of Nabha and Maharaja Jagatjit Singh of Kapurthala and Sir Sunder Singh Majithia. The noteable alumni of this institution included Poet and novelist Bhishm Sahani, Folk Singer Ranjieet Bawa, Pratap Singh Kairon, Gurdial Singh Dhillon, English novelist Muk Raj Anand, Hukam Singh and the like. Two persons including my father were selected by the college to work as Demonstrators in Physics Department. At that time Principal of the college was Sardar Jodh Singh and Head , Physics Department was Dr. Jagat Singh. As college had invited application on the plain paper so they did not that my father was a clean shaven sikh. So taking him to be a Keshdhari they sent appointment to him too. At the time of joining though Principal did not say anything but Dr. Jagat Singh asked my father that he did not tell them that he was not a Gursikh. My father’s curt reply was that there was no such column in the application form. Taken aback by his curt yet logical reply the authorities made up their mind not to extend his appointment beyond the given period. The other gentleman who was a Gursikh earned the favour of the employers on two counts. One was that he was a Keshdhari and as premier sikh institute they felt it as their duty to promote him in academic field and secondly he was a refugee who had lost everything and had come uprooted from Pakistan so he was badly in need of job to support his family. During his stay in the college my father came in contact with some of the leading academicians, poets and authors like Professor Sahib Singh, who was Head of Divinity Chair of the college and who had written commentary on Sri Guru Granth Sahib, and the great poet and novelist Sant Singh Sekhon during his morning walks. Dr. Jagat Singh, head Physics Department had given my father a citation that has been counter signed by the Principal of the college Bhai Jodh Singh that says:

     “ Shri Kehar Singh B.A is working under me as demonstrator in Physics since 30^th October 1950. His main duty is to conduct the practicals for intermediate classes but lately he has been assigned some work in the senior practicals as well. It gives me much pleasure to say that he is a quiet and conscientious worker, never complains and meddles with others affairs. Whatever I have seen of his work during this short period is an entire satisfaction to me “.Another person Professor Darbara Singh, M.S, Fellow East Punjab University opined about him on 2-3-1951 “ It is a matter of pleasure for me to certify that Mr. Kehar Singh B.A worked with us at Khalsa College Amritsar in Physics Department as Demonstrator from November 1950 to March 1951. During this short period of his stay in the college I had the chance of hearing enough about him. He is an excellent, hard working, unassuming and clever Youngman. He realizes his duty and is faithful to the task entrusted to him. He takes interest in his work and I can confidently recommend him for any responsibility he is fit for and I am sure he will succeed in his life.” He finally left Khalsa College Amritsar in March 1951 to join as SAJ Grade II in Technical Develoment Establishment Laboratory at Kanpur under the auspices of Defence Ministry of the country. This stated his partnership with Defence forces that continued till his retirement in 1984 for 33 years. It was a research organization working on the design and modeling of weapons, implements, tools and even dress articles used by the soldiers. Even at that time the department in which he worked that is Statistics Department there were 27 Ph.D’s working on one or the other project. During his stay at Kanpur he even made a vain effort to do post graduation in Maths from D.A.V. College Kanpur with the help of his cousin brother who was a JCO on deputation in the NCC of the college. My father related an interesting incident from those days that showed the spirit of the people of that time and the honesty and efficiency of law enforcing agencies and the people’s firm faith in them. My father used to live with his colleagues in shared apartment. One day his colleague came in the early morning train on the winter morning. He entered along with the Rickshawwallah who were arguing about the fare. My father was still sleeping and his watch was under the pillow outside the quilt. Suddenly Rickshawwala stopped arguing and went out of the room peacefully and after a few moments my father’s watch had disappeared. They took their bicycles and chased that Rickshaw and soon spotted and  searched the rickshaw and his clothes thoroughly but to their utter surprise they could not find the watch. They decided to report this matter to the nearest Police Station. Officer in charge of Police Station calmly assured them to take their watch by evening. When my father came to Police Statin in the evening the officer handed over the watch to my father. My father in utter dismay asked the officer how did he retrieve the watch when they could not find it in the rickshaw or the clothes of Rickshawwalah. The officer told my father calmly that this Rickshawwalah and others deposited the stolen articles with a Hotel owner. He simply searched the hotel and found the watch and the culprit who was responsible for it. My father was simply impressed with the efficiency of Police Force of those days which was swift in responding to the complaints of atleast young educated people like my father.

            Meanwhile my father applied for the post of Physics Demonstrator again but this time in Physics Department of Indian Military Academy Dehradun which was premier institute for training army officers for Indian army. Until World War I Indians were not elegible for commission as officers in Indian Army. Following the experiences of World War I where Indian soldiers proved their mettle, Montague-Chelmsford Reforms facilitated ten Indians per year to undergo officer training at Royal Military College Sandhurst. At the first Round Table Conference despite the British resistance of expansion of Indian officer cadre the establishment of Indian Officer Training College was one of the few concessions made at the conference. The Indian Military College Committee was set up under the chairmanship of Field Marshal Sir Philip Chetwode and Indian Military Academy came into existence in 1931 to train forty young men twice a year to become officers in Indian army. Its alumni included army chiefs of India Field Marshal Manekshaw, Pakistan army chief General Muhammad Musa and Burmese Army Chief Lieutenant General Smith Dun. In interview my father was placed second in merit but the person who was placed first was my father’s colleague at Kanpur but he assured him that he would leave this job soon and so at some point of time my father joined IMA as Physics demonstrator in 1952. He had joined as Technical Laboratory Assistant in the pay grade Rs. 205-7-240-8-280 in the Defence Department of the Central Government of India. At that time he was accommodated in the accommodation that was provided to Portugese Prisoners of War of Second World War held at Dehradun by British forces. At that time his Head of Department was a Sikh gentleman Colonel Balwant Singh. The term given to the Military trainees of this academy by Pandit Jawahar Lal Nehru, First Prime Minister of India was Gentleman Cadets. My father’s chief duty was to supervise the Physics projects undertaken by these Gentleman Cadets. IMA was training not only officers but technical graduates like engineers, doctors, teachers, lawyers and the like. At that time National Defence Academy, now stationed at Khadakvasla near Pune in Maharashtra, was also at Dehradun. Once his head of department Col. Balwant Singh asked him why he did not keep unshorn hair as he was a jat Sikh. My father’s reply was that since aim of every religion was to make honest and upright human being so he did not feel the need to keep hairs he can become that even without that. He felt that it is better to be honest clean shaven sikh rather than hair keeping drunk, dishonest and cheat sikh. Col. Balwant Singh was impressed by his reply and from that day he usd to give his example to the Sikh cadets who supported turbans but trimmed their beards by saying “ Look at Mr. K.S. Kang, who appears as he looks atleast he is not deceiving people like you, by keeping turbans but trimming beards, in the name of religion and when you cannot be loyal to your religion how you can be loyal to your country. My father’s stay of a decade at Dehradun was perhaps the most wonderful and eventful decade of his life. It was during this time that he got married. That is another story how his father-in –law came to see him while he was on leave and had come to his village to spend his vacation. His father –in-law was a age wearing saffron clothes belonging to Udaysin sect founded by the elder son of Guru Nanak Dev ji, Baba Srichand ji. He came from Parao Mehna village to Dharamkot to see his father and met my father’s elder brother Sardar Labh Singh who took him to the fields where my father was working in knee deep water. My maternal grandfather was impressed and was assured that he was a hardworking and laborious educated young man. My mother at that time had graduated from D.M College Moga the same institute from where my father also did graduation. At that time she was pursuing B.T. course from Dev Samaj College of Education for Women. Finally my father married this lone child of her parents who at that time was more qualified than my father who was working as teacher in a Private school at Kairon village Patti which was managed by the family of Pratap Singh Kairon who later on became Chief Minister of Punjab. My father married Hardaya Kaur Gill daughter of S. Thakur Singh Gill and Har Kaur of Parao Mehna/Dala village as my maternal grandfather’s land was in neighbouring Dalla village. My maternal grandfather Thakur Singh Gill had also acquired education up to Eight standard in a Vernacular school and that certificate mentions 1897 A.D as his date of birth. This marriage was solemnized in the April 1953 at village Parao Mehna and the wedding card mentions that barat( wedding procession) will go by lorry( the word for bus) and there was an instruction for the guests to bring their own bedding. After some days after marriage she accompanied my father to Dehradun and my maternal grandmother Har Kaur also visited them regularly to take their care and ensure the well being of young couple. Har Kaur knew to write her name both in Punjabi as well as in English. My mother told me that once a peon brought a circular in the absence of my parents. He was astonished to see an old lady of 60 years signing it in English.   

            At Dehradun my father witnessed some of the illustrious personalities of that age like C. Rajagopalachari, First Indian Viceroy of Independent India, Dr. Rajendra Prasad, The first President of Independent India, Dr. Sarvapalli Radhakrishnan, the great academician and philosopher and first Indian Vice President, Shri V.K Krishan Menon, Defence Minister of India, and many military and civilian leaders. Even the first Indian Field Marshal Sam Maneckshaw was Lieutenant Colonel at that time in IMA. About him my father used to say that he was extremely fit without any paunch.

            The married life of my parents did not begin well. Though my mother got pregnant but she could not give birth to a live child or the girl child died just after birth. This tragedy sent my mother into abyss of depression. So as to divert her attention my father got her admitted into M.A. Maths as regular student in DAV College Dehradun and also registered himself as teacher candidate in the same course. At that time this college was affiliated to legendary Agra University, which was one of the oldest university of North India. Both of them discussed notes, solved problems and theorems after dinner over a glass of milk. Both of them gave exam and cleared it becoming Post Graduates in mathematics in 1956. As my parents had filled the form together so they got consecutive roll numbers and so they were seated close to each other in the exam hall but my father was such a righteous man that my mother wrote an answer on an eraser and deliberately threw it from the table in order to confirm an answer but my father simply picked it and placed it on her table without looking at it. My mother again got pregnant and this time gave birth to a normal though a bit weak girl child on 6^th June 1957. As my elder sister was born at Dehradun so my grandmother came to look after her daughter and daughter’s daughter in order to help her in child rearing. As an enlightened and educated member of his family he tried to fulfill his responsibility of providing education to the members of his family too like his nephew( both children of his elder brother as well as his sister). First of all he brought his brother’s elder son named Dilber to Dehradun but he could not clear X Class so after a stay of year or two at Dehradun he returned back to his native village Dehradun. He used to bring his relatives on this condition that the moment they will fail to clear the academic session he will deport them back to their village. He brought his sister’s eldest son named Ajaib Singh but he succeeded in clearing the exam and my father got him the job of a bus conductor in the local city transport of Dehradun. He belonged to village Bargari of Bathinda District at that time. Later on he joined Military Engineering Service (MES) as clerk. My sister was named Amar Jyot alias Rani and she was apple of the pupil of her parents. My parents used to take her for the evening walk to Prem Nagar Market adjoining the academy campus and during the walk she used to stop at the toy shop and shopkeeper used to put before her the latest toy of his shop she used to  simply pick it up and start running towards home as she did not have idea that things have to be paid for. Though later on my father paid the shopkeeper well in time.