-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
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 temple
of Lord Shiva
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 college of Moga
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
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 30th 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 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 Indian
Military Academy Manekshaw , Pakistan 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 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
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
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 temple
of Lord Shiva
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 college of Moga
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
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 30th 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 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 Indian
Military Academy Manekshaw , Pakistan 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 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
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