New Century, New life, New Problems Author: Dr. K. S. Kang

 

New Century, New life, New Problems

Author: Dr. K.S. Kang

Life in new century is heavily dependent on internet. It significance emerges the moment the signals are disrupted. As soon as net goes people start complaining from diverse corners like “ How am I going to see my patients ?”, or “ How am I going to book seats for my clients on air plane?” or “ How am I going to take my online classes and give assignments to my pupils ?”. One day, among these voices I heard a strange voice saying , “ How am I going to proceed my parent counselling ?” Naturally I was drawn towards this strange voice and I asked him that I had heard about patient counselling, student counselling and even child counselling but what is this parent counselling. Frail, fair complexioned man with dark glasses replied it is comparatively new as it deals with a bi-product of modern age. Gone are the good old days when the chief patriarch of family used to deal all the issues of a child with a wooden round or square rule or rod as he firmly believed in the dictum “ Spare the rod, spoil the child.” Now a days the children are of Computer and Robot Age so they are very sensitive and susceptible to the outside changes and behaviour even of their parents. Hence parent counselling is very essential if you want to achieve the desired result from your children in future. In fact in the new century, as somebody had said, that children have stopped taking birth directly adults are born in a family. As they are ultra sensitive from their birth so they need special treatment at every juncture of life. In parent counselling parents are taught the ways to deal with computer age and robot age children who have their own fancies. Poor current generation of fathers and mothers have suffered at both the ends of life earlier at the hand of their old parent generation and now at the hands of their children. Perhaps some day some body would rise and recognize the plight of current generation and speak about their rights too.

Vandana Author: Dr. K.S. Kang

Vandana

Author: Dr. K.S. Kang

She was an average middle class Indian lady who had performed diverse roles in her life- of a daughter, sister, wife, and mother reasonably well. Vandana adored her children and spouse and was ready to make any sacrifice readily for the well being of her family members. With time her son and daughter grew into fine personalities ready to serve the world and humanity. She was living a perfectly contented and peaceful life but as fate would have it she got infected one day while she had gone to condole the death of her relative to her house. At first she did not bother about the symptoms considering it to be common cold and cough but when the symptoms persisted she on the advise of her neighbours took the test and was confirmed positive. She was isolated in her own room, confined to one room of her house. She was pained to see that her own children, whom she had kept in her womb for a period of nine months avoided and shirked from her for the fear of getting infected. She was forced to lead a prisoner’s life for no fault of her except that she contracted the virus from some person who was perhaps asymptomatic and carried the virus. Her condition deteriorated and she was admitted to hospital. Unfortunately she became critically ill when the vaccine for the malady was still a far cry and life saving medicines were in great shortage though up to some extent this shortage was artificially created by some vested interest in order to earn huge profit by selling the medicines and oxygen at exorbitant prices. Vandana breathed her last exactly five minutes after the cylinder stopped supplying oxygen. Perhaps it was half filled only that deceived her in the middle of the night. After her death her body was lying wrapped in a plastic cover and her own family members out of fear of getting infected did not go near her even to close her eyes at the time of her death. It is strange that her family members for whom she had done so much were avoiding even her dead body and now she was completely dependent on the hospital staff and ambulance driver, who were perfectly strangers to her to lay her down to rest.

 

Infected Relations Author: Dr. K.S. Kang

 

Infected Relations

Author: Dr. K.S. Kang

Corona had not only infected the body but even the thinking, mind and relations too. Harish was a scribe concerned with the local section of a national newspaper. As over the years he had become a sort of whistle blower in the town, so most of the official were afraid of him and tried to avoid him. Though they respected him but this respect was out of fear rather than affection. Rather it was to appease his destructive and nuisance value. It was Harish’s job to go to number of places in town including hospital, clinics and even covid care centres to get the events and happenings for his newspaper as a result of it he was infected by this deadly virus one day. At first he did not pay much attention to it taking it to be common cough and cold which will go with time but when the symptoms persisted he gave his sample for RTPCR test and was confirmed positive. The same day the vehicle of Medical and Health Department stopped in front of his house and out of it came three or four people who could not be recognized easily as they were wearing PPE kits, masks and gloves. They took him and immediately put him on oxygen. Where Harish was admitted was the same place that he had visited frequently earlier also and perhaps he got infection from this place during his last visit a few days ago. Before coming to hospital Harish was leading a perfectly normal life of a middle class man with his wife and two children- one son and one daughter.

Suddenly in the middle of that fateful night oxygen supply was disrupted and Harish was unable to breath on his own and he collapsed in the early hours of the morning. His wife and children were afraid to go near him for the fear of getting themselves infected though they had tried to avoid him the moment he tested positive and was admitted to hospital. It was a strange situation in which a person’s life partner and his kids, who were his own blood and flesh were afraid to go near him. His body was lying wrapped in the plastic bag unattended in the verandah of the hospital.

Kansa Ram was posted to this town as City Magistrate a few months ago. His modus operandi was that he used to visit some government office early in the morning suddenly the moment it opened without any prior information or notice. His predecessor while giving him charge and warned him of journalists like Harish who may tarnish his image out of selfish and petty motive. That day Kansa Ram decided to visit the hospital where Harish’s body was lying unattended. He took his friend Sub-Inspector Nikhil Chand with him. When he saw the body of Harish lying unattended in the verandah of the hospital he enquired about it. Hospital authorities informed him that hospital was ready to hand over the body for funeral but his own children and wife were shirking to come near him and carry his body to the waiting ambulance. For some time Kansa Ram looked at the lady and two children standing at the door of the hospital. Then he looked towards Nikhil Chand and ordered hospital authorities to bring masks, PPE Kits and gloves at once. Donning PPE Kits and masks both Kansa Ram and Nikhil Chand carried the body to the waiting ambulance and asked the lady and children at the entrance of the hospital to reach the funeral ground and leaving their official vehicle at the hospital they came into ambulance in order to supervise that the body of Harish is disposed off in a proper and dignified manner strictly according to the Covid guidelines while his wife and children were watching the proceedings from the gate of the funeral ground.

Land, Water and Air Lords Author : Dr. K.S. Kang

 

Land,Water and Air Lords

Author: Dr. K.S. Kang

An owner of land even a small plot of land is considered a man of substance as he enjoys financial and economic security throughout the life. Such a person is often more sought after in matrimonial alliance, as it assured that his family will not starve come what may. A land owner at least promised a decent standard of life to the family member that was to leave their family and join his family after the wedding. Besides a land owner enjoyed respectable status at least in Indian society.

Over the years man’s destructive activities like deforestation, digging of wells in order to exploit under ground water led to the conditions of draught and famine that caused the shortage of water and food. People started paying more attention to water as even a land lord having acres of land can grow nothing without the proper supply of water. Rising population with time also made this problem more grave and people started recognising the importance of water. Change in life style also led to the increase in consumption of water. Earlier the acqa needs of a man were limited and confined but with the growing use of coolers, WC toilets and the like has increased the water needs of a human being manifold. In good old days water needs of an average family were easily met by the water connection provided by Public Health Engineering Department of the government. Then people started digging tube wells in their houses while other built tanks inside and outside their house to store water for the Summers during which this problem became more acute. People even constructed large tanks with the capacity of 10000 litres inside their houses. Some even started putting booster pumps directly in the pipe line to quench their water needs. Mostly common middle class man had to rely on private water tanker service that gave rise to Water Mafia that minted money during the crisis particularly during the summers when the water was in great demand and supply scanty. One person succeeded in winning the local elections successfully as he satisfied water needs of his voters for nearly five years free of cost by sending his tanker to anyone who needed it in his constituency. People even saw the water storing capacity of a family before finalising the matrimonial alliance of their daughter.

With time human civilisation faced one of its worst crisis in its history in the form of Corona, which was a highly contagious disease that attacks and weakens the lungs. Once the virus enters the body it is nearly possible to get a cure and person dies of suffocation in absence of proper amount of oxygen. Now clean air or oxygen became man’s needs to survive. Even the persons of great stature and substance could not survive the sudden disruption of supply of oxygen at a critical juncture. Suddenly Oxygen mafia cropped up in the country who wanted to mint money by exploiting the needs of the man. Even hospital admitted patients on this condition that they will have to arrange for their own oxygen cylinders. This mafia sold not only cylinders at high price but even after shelling the asked amount people were not getting fully filled oxygen cylinders on the other. A person even after paying the asked amount discovers to his horror that the cylinder that he gets is either half filled or empty and it stops supplying oxygen and the patient dies before reaching the hospital.

But as light and darkness co-exist in the world simultaneously. In the above paragraphs I have given dark picture of the situation in which certain greedy in human brutes were making money by black marketing not only oxygen cylinders but also essential medicines and equipment while on the other hand people in Gurudwara are not only providing masks, PPE kits and gloves at a subsidized prices long with free food to the needy and the epitome of humanity came in Gurudwara at Indirapuram where Gurudwara has arranged the supply of Oxygen to the needy patients free of cost. Here people gathered in large numbers as volunteers despite the dangers and risks involved known to help and serve the suffering humanity.

In the end light will prevail over darkness

Hope goodness will eradicate evil.

Long live humanity,

May everybody prosper.

On Sixtieth Birthday Author: Dr. K.S.Kang

 

On Sixtieth Birthday

Author: Dr. K.S. Kang

It has been a question of an endless debate since time immemorial whether birthday should be celebrated or not. Some say that it is an occasion signifying the end of one more year of your life and you have moved close to our death. So there is hardly anything to celebrate, particularly after you have crossed the meridian of 60 years of age when there is nothing to look forward to except the old age with all its horrors, deformities and weakness ready to engulf you before sending you to the penultimate end. However, in Indian psyche and way of life, where even death is celebrated, though in a solemn way, to mark the occasion with appreciation that man has completed the journey of life successfully that is no mean achievement. As far as possible a person should embrace the element of positivity in life, as positivity is nearer light and divinity. A person should see his birthday as an occasion that he has covered another year of his life successfully, hence the occasion for celebration. Then this occasion gives the opportunity to know about your friends and well wishers who greet you with the choicest wishes on your birthday. This boosts your morale and gives you courage to move forward in life warding off the darkness of depression and disease with the light of fresh and positive energy that your derive from the wishes of friends and well wishers. A person should try to be positive till the last moment of his life in a ‘die hard spirit’ which will help in facing even death with the halo of positivity that protects you from horrors and images of death to some extent which are more horrible than the death itself. Positivity has become more relevant in the present moment of global crisis as it gives courage to move forward, forget the past and embrace life and future with new hope. So when you are fortunate to get human life then the celebration should continue till the last moment of life as it shows your gratitude to your creator whom you remember on this occasion for the human life that He has given to you and His endless praise. On this occasion I recollect following lines

Count your life

By Smiles, nor Tears,

Count your Age, by Friends

Not Years.

Amen Author: Dr.K.S. Kang

 

Amen

Author: Dr. K.S. Kang

It seems that Covid Pandemic has come in this world to take me away as I am likely to be its most vulnerable victim because my lungs are weak as I had an attack of Pneumonia in my childhood and due to improper cure it developed into nearly life long Bronchial Allergic Asthma. So as my lungs are weak and the moment this virus infects me it will imply that my journey from this planet to the unknown destination, from where no body has returned yet, will nearly begin. It is not that I am regretting my death as I have led a fairy good and sufficient life enjoying my fair share of respect, comfort, and wealth. I know well that this body is perishable and one day it must succumb to potent death. Though I have succeeded in surviving the pandemic for almost an year but if almighty had devised this way for me to go from this world then let it be so. I have no instructions regarding my body to give. They may burn it like the Hindus, bury it like Muslims and Christians, drown in a flowing river like Naths and Yogis or hand me in the well of silence like the Persians so that beasts and vultures may make the best use of even my body. Regarding property I believe, as scriptures say, that it is unstable it never stays with one person for long, so whoever will take initiative will get it. As far as little intellectual property that I have created with my limited capability, is concerned I believe that if it will be popular and worth reading then it can take care of itself by creating its own place and space otherwise I will be contented thinking that worthless literature has no right to survive. However, I wish that it should survive at least till my death. Amen

Contentment Author : Dr. K.S. Kang

 

Contentment

Author: Dr. K.S. Kang

I had to go to a village a few kilometres away from my home town for a few days in my job. My vehicle scooter helped in daily commuting to that place. As I used to reach my home late in the afternoon so I used to take snacks in a tiffin that I used to take during the break. One day there was some religious festivals and villagers were observing it with a feast in the village. During the break while I was having snacks with my colleagues a group of villagers came with a large vessel containing edibles. An old man of the village place a Laddo1 and a Gulabjamun 2 in my plate saying that sometimes you should taste our food too and don’t worry you will not have to take lunch today in your house. I was quite pleased with the sweets that the villagers offered me. Along with the villagers came a little angelic girl with an innocent and sweet face picked up my plate. Suddenly her uncle said, “ Don’t eat too much. You had taken already a lot for your little stomach”. To it this girl replied by turning around and facing her uncle “ I am not taking it for myself, I am taking it to give it to the beggar child sitting outside in the scorching sun. Don’t worry I will not take anything from it and I will give only half of the sweets to the child and bring the rest to the Babuji” pointing towards me. However, She was lost in her play and perhaps she had forgotten to give instruction to that child only to eat half of the sweets too. I also did not expect the plate to come back. Strange are the ways of God a little ago I was going to have sweets in addition to my snacks of the tiffin and now I will have to go without any food till afternoon but that day even after reaching my home I was not feeling intolerably hungry, even though I did not have a single morsel except morning tea, because my hear was full of contentment as I gave my food to a destitute child and appeased his hunger at least for a day.

Banwari Bania Author: Dr. K.S. Kang

Banwari Bania

Author: Dr. K.S. Kang

Banwari Lal owned a shop in the village. Perhaps his grandfather or great grandfather came to this village and saw how villagers struggled to get provisions from the town. He saw the opportunity of earning his livelihood easily here and decided to open the shop though he declared that he is opening the shop for the convenience of the villagers and he wants to help the people of the village. Earlier he saw his grand father bringing goods in a bullock cart from the nearby town then he saw his father bringing things on his bicycle and trolley and now he just gave orders to the wholesalers sitting in the town and their mini truck or loading tempo delivers the things to his shop in the village. With time Banwari’s family not only settled easily in the village but they had created property by diversifying their business and his father constructed the only completely pucca house in the village just behind his shop. Though his name was Banwari Lal Mittal but he was so much used to be called Banwari Bania by the villagers that he had nearly forgotten his surname nor anybody in the village seemed to remember that he had a surname too.

It was not that Banwari carried on his business in an honest and upright manner as he believed that it is not possible even to survive on honesty let alone thrive. Nor was it that he gor pure and original things from the wholesalers sitting in the town. So whenever villagers complained of Papaya seeds in black pepper, small white stone in rice or mashed boiled potato in Desi Ghee, he used to fairly put blame on the wholesalers of the town and used to tell the villagers that he does not own a Papaya orchard or a potato farm to do these thing he is giving the villagers whatever he is receiving from the wholesalers of the town. Besides him, only his faithful assistant Lakha knew that how Banwari Lal instructs him at night to mix white small stones in rice and other cereals like pulses and papaya seeds in Black Pepper.

However it is the benefit of rural environment that conscience does not die. Banwari had made arrangements for that too. He had an image of a holy and pious person in the village as he was away from every vice like booze, smoking, gambling and the like. It was not that he was a really pious person at heart but his lifestyle and the tradition of his family taught him to lead the life economically even to the extent of the miserliness and these things cost money and his ancestors have never taught to squander his hard earned profit even on his personal comforts. He actively participated in the religious festivals and activities of the village and used to donate things quite liberally according to his standard as he considered these donations to be investment as they gave him publicity and help in maintaining his image of a religious and pious man. As Banwari had to tell lies and commit other small sins in his daily business so he took the help of the local priest of the temple, who was also actually a business man in the garb of a priest as he had also inherited the priesthood from his ancestors. Priest was getting richer day by day by playing on the superstitious nature of the villagers, including Banwari while Banwari was thriving by playing on the ignorance of the villagers. So on one hand while these two were thriving day by day by visibly doing nothing while on the other had the peasants, even after sweating, toiling, labouring whole day in their fields were finding it hard even to procure two meals a day for their family.

 

Balu Blackia is Dead Author : Dr. K.S. Kang

 

Balu Blackia is Dead

Author; Dr. K.S. Kang

The news Balu blackia is dead spread throughout the town like a wild fire. Blackia was not his surname as people in smaller towns are rarely called by their surnames nor he acquired that name due to the colour of his skin as he was quite fair. He got this suffix after his name due to his involvement in black marketing of goods on every available opportunity throughout his life. There was no dearth of opportunities for black marketing in this country be it famine, drought, epidemic, pandemic, earthquake, floods and war. So he was popularly or notoriously known as Blackia even to the children of the neighbouring towns also. As it was a profitable activity, though illegal, so he made a good property in the form of land and a nice house in the town. Though these people followed one way of worship or the other as prescribed by the society in which they were born but to most of them Money was their only God and wealth their only religion. This was a similarity in almost every black marketer that united them. It was strange and even miraculous that even children of the town knew he was a black marketer, which is a criminal offence under law yet people do not remember him going to jail, police station or even court for a single day of his life. Though everybody well knew about his illegal activities yet Police and other Law Enforcing Authorities were short sighted so much that he was invisible to them perhaps due to his regular and punctual habit of greasing the palms of the authorities. As he was a member of human society so everybody came to meet his son to his house to condole his death. Daily there was a continuous stream of people going in and coming out of his house, the only people who did not come to condole his death were people of his own trade who were perhaps rejoicing his demise in their dens and secondly they could not take risk of coming into public place for the fear of being spotted by the police authorities.

Struggle for Safety Author: Dr. K.S. Kang

 

Struggle for Safety

Author: Dr. K.S. Kang

Moni and Soni could not forget that day through out their life when they encountered their first danger in life. They reached an area of the town when due to some occurrence or event or misunderstanding some people turned against them and decided to teach them a lesson. Both of them became aware of impending danger in time so they took off before the affronted party could send their men to teach them a lesson. Moni and Soni had not hoped to outwit or outdistance their rivals as they were local people well versed with the local terrain. But a procession celebrating some religious festival came to their rescue as they joined it and covered some distance when crossing the road they saw a bus that they boarded. As the bus was crowded so they could only get place on the roof of the bus. After the bus moved a couple of kilometres they came across Raja Saheb, with his black stiff upright moustache, coming from the opposite side in his vintage 1968 model Mercedes car. Recognizing each other Raja Saheb waved his hand at Moni and Soni sitting on the bus top and they also replied in glee. But then it occurred to them that they might be spotted so they left the bus and took a jungle path.

After walking on the jungle path for a kilometre they came across a graveyard. All the time they were keeping an eye behind to ensure that they are not followed. Now they had to cross the graveyard and as the darkness of the evening was setting in they decided to cross the yard. As they entered Soni advised Moni to walk around the graves and not over it as they would get blessings and wishes of the dead people that might help them in this escape though it would take them longer time. However they succeeded in crossing the graveyard and they came to the river bank that was covered by dense trees. Here they took a branch of a tree and pounded it on the ground before taking next step as they had been told that there could be snakes or scorpion near the river bank. Soon they reached a culvert that helped them to cross the river as the water in the river that day was only knee deep. After crossing the river and walking for another kilometre on the Jungle Path they reached the highway. After walking for another kilometre as they took the left turn the lights of the colony where they lived filled them with hope of success. Perhaps the wishes and blessings of dead people have helped them in this escape as the people after them came upto the bus and even after that for some distance but they returned back when they could not find Soni and Moni as they had taken longer time than expected in the grave yard by walking around the graved rather than over them. They heaved a sigh of relief as they entered the gates of the colony and jumped with joy as if they have won some battle.

My Interests Author Dr. K.S. Kang

 

My Interests

Author: Dr. K.S.Kang

I was quite impressed by people having balanced personality, having an ideal blend of physical, intellectual, and spiritual strength. They followed the dictum of Right Time, Right Dress for Right Occasion. Their life was systematically divided into well compartmentalized slots of reading, listening and playing music, physical exercise and playing games. A man gets a human life after a lot of waiting, turbulence and troubles so he should utilize it for the general benefit of humanity by rising above the narrow confines of me, myself and my family. Being educated at a military biased educational institution I comprehended the significance of a good turn out and well dressed in appropriate clothes quite early in life. Dress code was prescribed for every occasion in the school whether it was PT time, or games time or the studies. There were three dresses that were to be changed daily for PT, Games, Classes and Evening dress if the night suit was not included. In the morning and evening the dress prescribed was white half sleeves shirt or T-shirt, white shorts or pants with white socks and white canvas shoes in Summers and a grey pull over was added during the winters.

As it was a military biased institution whose primary aim was to provide officer material to Armed Forces by preparing young boys for admission into National Defence Academy so the school uniform prescribed for classes the uniform of Desert Combat Corps consisting of Half sleeves Khakhi Shirt with shoulder flaps and pocket caps, Khakhi Shorts in Summers and Khakhi Pants in Winters with provision of wearing belt, and black leather Oxford type shoes with blue stockings that covered almost whole of your shins. Added to it was a olive Green beret cap or Pugree for sikh students with School logo in steel and an orange Heckle.

There was also dress code for evening too that comprised of White full sleeves shirt, Pants with black leather shoes and school tie and added to it was a navy blue Tweed coat in winters and grey worsted pant in winters. Besides there was different dress code for Wednesdays and Saturdays that comprised of Blue Shirt full sleeves, Khakhi Pants, Black leather shoes, school tie in Summers and navy blue Tweed coat and worsted pants in the winters.

As a student of literature I developed the habit of reading classics in the long summer vacations after the Tenth class and Twelfth Class exams. As the summers were intense and scorching in the part of the country where I lived so it was nearly impossible to go out in the summer vacations during the day. As I was son of faculty member so I had an additional benefit and privilege of getting books from the school library that was quite well stocked with English classics atleast. So taking benefit of this privilege I read authors ranging from Thomas Hardy and Charles Dickens to Arthur Mclean, Harold Robbins, James Hadley Chase, Carlolyn O’Keene’s Nancy Drew Series, Enid Blyton’s Secret Seven Society and of course Hardy boys series. Habit of reading has become by life long habit and I hope I will retain it till the last phase of my life. During school days I not only read English classics but I went through Russian classics as well like Tolstoys’s War and Peace, Dostovesky’s Crime and Punishment, Maxm Gorky’s Autobiography in three volumes and his great work The Mother and the short stories of Anton Chekhov. Here I would like to mention that I was not interested in reading newspapers and magazines as much as in reading classics mostly stories and novels.

My other interest, besides literature is music. Those were the days of Gramophone and circular black records. The credit of drawing me towards Ghazals and serious film music goes to my sister who used to get good marks as she was quite studious so she prevailed over her parents to buy a HMV stereo music system with a few records of Ghazals and classic film music. As a result of this I grew interested in reading some of the finest poetry of Hindi and Urdu classic authors like Harivansh Rai Bachhan, Ghalib, Iqbal, Faiz Ahmed Faiz, Firaq Gorakhpuri, Sahir Ludhianvi and Amrita Preetam. As I was born in a Sikh family whose holy book Guru Granth Sahib was composed in Indian classical music system of Ragas. So I wanted to get a glimpse of right forms of different Ragas. As I was trying to find somebody who can take me to the world of Indian classical music I came into contact with my Head of Department and Vice Principal of M.P. Government P.G.College Chittorgarh Dr. S.S.Shrotriya who drew me into an organization named SPIC-MACAY whose aim was to preserve and introduce classical music and culture among the youth of this nation by organizing concerts of artists in the campus of educational institutions. As a result of which I had soul elevating life time experience of listening to stalwarts of classical music both vocal as well as instrumental like Pandit Bhimsen Joshi, Dagar Brothers, Hariprasad Chaurasia, Pt. Shiv Sharma and Pt. Vishwa Mohan Bhatt and many more. As I wanted to go through scriptures of Sikhism so I learnt Punjabi or Gurumukhi script, though I do not have any official and formal qualification in it. But this gave me opportunity to come across the stalwarts of Punjabi Literature like Waris Shah, Nanak Singh, Jaswant Singh Kanwal, Bhupendra whose poems I have translated into English and many more.

Studying in a residential public school, though I was a Day Scholar as my father was a staff member of the school, I got immense opportunities of playing many modern games both indoor as well as outdoor. I learnt playing games like Cricket, Football, Hockey, Basketball, Badminton, Baseball, and Tennis in outdoor activities and Table-Tennis, Chess, Billiards, Carom, Chinese Checkers and the like in the indoor activities. Still I regret that I could not learn playing Volley ball though it is a quite popular game in Indian scenario. In fact the facilities for games were so ample in the school that it spoiled me like a person who cannot decide what to take and what to leave at a sumptuous feast. The facilities for games were so many that I was unable to concentrate on any one game. The result was that I could not excel in any one. My experience and my advise to the youngsters is to concentrate on one game only as the competition has increased manifold if they want to achieve anything in this field in their life. I would also like to suggest that choose individual games as it is easier and more convenient to plan your training and schedule in individual games than in team games as it is nearly impossible to find ten equally motivated and like minded individuals, who are equally committed to make a team. With age I do not claim to be as active on the playfield as during the young age but I enjoy watching live games on Television a lot and now my workout is nearly reduced to walk and play minor indoor games only meant to maintain my fitness as much as I can and as long as I can. So these were a few interests that led me to enjoy my life in the same way as the spices lead a person to eat a dish

Comedy of Common Names Author: Dr. K.S. Kang

 

Comedy of Common Names

Author: Dr. K.S. Kang

Generally in North India and specifically in the state of Punjab and Haryana it is very difficult to tell the gender of a person just by the name. That is why there is convention of suffixing Singh after the name of males and Kaur after the name of females. But mostly the family members call a person affectionately by his or her fist name without caring to put the suffix Singh or Kaur that leads to confusion, chaos and comic situation at least for some time till the light of truth dispels the darkness of doubt. This confusion has increased in the modern world of mobiles, e-mails, and even internet.

One such situation arose in the Singh family who had a son and a niece by the identical name Manpreet, though the name of their parents were also identical. Everybody in Singh family was worried about their son who was reluctant and hesitant in getting married due to a strange trait in the modern young people to bear the responsibility of looking after their life partner and family under the guise of so called liberty that they try to protect as long as they can. Even their relatives had no clue how Singh family is going to persuade their son in getting married.

Meanwhile Singh Sahib’s niece who had completed the graduation was sitting idly at home for the last one year as neither her parents were interested that she should do some job nor she was adequately qualified to get a one. So her parents decided to marry her to a suitable match. After a number of interviews and complicated deliberations a match was fixed for her that according to her parents was the best that she could have hoped to get in her life. In glee and joyful mood her parents informed Singh Sahib about the fixing of her their daughter’s marriage. While Singh was talking on the phone “ Manpreet’s wedding is fixed, o’ congratulations. What marriage is next month, oh very good”, their maid servant Lalitha, who had lazy hands but alert ears and eyes, overheard it and and after finishing her work went out of the house very quickly. Within twenty four hours this news spread like a wild fire in the whole colony through Lalitha and her colleagues who took this news to the houses where they worked. Within a day every body came to know about the fixing of Manpreet’s wedding except Manpreet himself, who was out of town on some errand related to his job.

Next day in the morning when Manpreet came by morning train and decided to cover the distance from railway station to his house, that was about half a kilometre by foot, at every corner he came across some of his colony resident who congratulated him on getting his wedding fixed. Far from being happy Manpreet was devastated,frustrated and angry at his parents who did not feel even the need of informing him before fixing his marriage. His temper nearly reached the boiling point when the gate of his house came in sight. As he opened the bolt of the door he threw away his bag and sat on a cot placed near the door and started crying loudly. His mother and sister rushed to the door on hearing the bang of the bag on the floor, and loud crying of Manpreet. They thought that Manpreet’s new boss had fired him that is why Manpreet is feeling dejected at losing his job that was mainstay of his reputation in society.

His sister rushed inside to get a glass of water for him while his mother caressed his hair and told him not to worry by saying “ Don’t feel disheartened, losing job does not mean the end of the world. If God closes one door, He opens ten more doors”. Looking angrily at his mother Manpreet nearly burst our “ Who has lost the job? But certainly somebody has lost mind in the family that has fixed my wedding without taking me into confidence. I had told you not to fix my marriage till my probation period is over and I am on more stable ground. His mother replied “ Do we have to go to hell by arranging the marriage of educated person like without informing you.” Manpreet retorted back angrily, “ then why everybody in the colony is congratulating me on getting my wedding fixed. Manpreet’s mother and sister were unable to get what he was saying but almost at the same time Lalitha entered the house to do her job and smilingly congratulated them. She said, Don’t think that I am such a fool that I will not know anything if you will not tell me, I heard Singh Sahib talking to somebody on the phone”. Now Manpreet’s mother got at the source of misunderstanding and she scolded Lalitha by saying “ O’fool it was Manpreet Kaur’s wedding that has been fixed, who is SinghSahib’s niece and not Manpreet Singh”. Both Lalitha and Manpreet looked bewilderingly at his mother as it took some time to settle the face that it was common name that has caused the confusion. Manpreet with bowed head picked up his bag and entered the house dialling some number on his mobile phone. His mother asked him, “ now the matter is resolved now whom you are dialling ?” Manpreet replied quickly with a smile on his face and mischief in his eyes, “ To congratulate Manpreet and her parents on this grand success.”