-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 Sainik School Sainik School 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 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 6th
June. So the day of 7th 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 17th 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 9th
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 24th 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
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
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 Central
Academy by bringing more teachers who
also joined this school after retiring from the Sainik School St. Pauls School 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 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 Rashtriya
Indian Military
College and famous Doon School Chetwode Building 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
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 1st 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.
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