–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
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 7th 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 8th
January 1962 as letter of Registrar Capt. Khajuria dated 8th January
1962 intimated my father that he has been selected as Master and he is required
to send his consent slip by 20th 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 5th 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 6th 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 village
of Parao Mehna 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 Sainik School Sainik
School 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 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
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 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.
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