The Return Author : Dr. K.S. Kang

 

I

The first clear recollection of my life was my first day in the school, which was an occasion for celebration in an average Indian family. After the auspicious adieu from my home with a spoon of sweet curd in my mouth, I was taken to the school by my uncles and cousins, as my father was away on the day and repented for missing this historical occasion badly. At the school my first experience was far from pleasant because going to school for children of my age implied curbing of liberties that a child enjoys at his home. Moreover the separation from my family members, especially my mother, even though for a couple of hours made this experience more bitter though my cousin had promised that he would come and take him from the school earlier that day. At the tender age of 4 years on that day I learnt that all promises are not to be believed even if they have been given by your nearest and the dearest ones. I was promised tender treatment by the teacher at the school but what I saw was that as soon as we entered the school the door of a room opened and my cousin handed me over to a teacher and I found myself among the crying children of my age and door of the room was shut at once. Every child was crying whenever new child entered the room the other children, including the new child started crying. Even the teacher was also on the verge of crying seeing all of us crying in unison. The best part of the school routine was the recess when I was allowed to finish my favourite snacks from my tiffin box that my mother had prepared for me for this occasion. After the meals were over I got opportunity to make new friends and play with them till the bell announced that it was time to go back to the classes, as was the routine of the school of a town of average size in the country. That day as per promise my cousin came to take me at the appointed time and school authorities let us go earlier than usual as it was our first day in the school. At home I got hero’s welcome as if I have returned back from the battlefield after winning the battle and trouncing the foe successfully. My house was in the middle of the town that was considered as the best area of the town. Just like the traditional pattern of native town the most respectable section of society, enjoying high respect and dignity, dwelled in the centre of the town and as the settlement moved to periphery the status of the colonies and people living in it declined. It was not without reason as traditionally natives believed it as duty to protect the think tank intellectuals of the society from the attacks of enemy that is why they were given central place in the town.

With time my intimacy with the surroundings of my home town including my school grew and my bond with the town and the school grew strong like a good adhesive. I was getting more attached and glued to my home town and its surroundings that were now familiar to me. As I was getting older I was getting greater freedom of movement. In the beginning I was allowed to move in my house only, as everybody became apprehensive the moment I stepped even to the outer courtyard of the house. But with time I was permitted to move to the end of our colony where we resided and then to the little school that I attended for a few days, situated at the end of the street. But still I was not given license to move in the busy main street of the town fearing that I will become the victim of merciless, senseless heavy traffic of the town. In my family I was the youngest of the siblings. I had two elder daughters. As I was the only male child of my parents so I was rather a spoiled child in childhood as my every demand was fulfilled while even the genuine demand of my sisters were ignored. It was due to two reasons, one was the preference given to male child in a middle class Indian family and secondly I was the only child in my family. I was also a blue eyed child of my grandparents- both maternal and paternal- as well.

During my school days I enjoyed best of the life and facilities that my parents could afford and certainly they did not leave any stone unturned in providing me the best that the town could provide. I was given a specially constructed four wheeler for children while most of other children had to be contented with tricycles only. I was not very demanding child except in food, as I had a limited choice and wore whatever was provided by my parent though they always ensured that I got the best and the latest thing. Perhaps I was the first child to get little bicycle also and I rode it with pride in the colony while other children ran behind me to get a chance to touch it. It was difficult to restrain me in the house in the evenings though I was always accompanied by my mother lest I may cause some injury to other child and thus become source of trouble and embarrassment for my parents. I loved playing outdoor games like Football, Hockey, Basketball, Badminton, Tennis and of course Cricket though I also like indoor games like Table-Tennis, Chess and Carrom.

After the completion of my primary education I was put in a residential English medium school. However as I son of a faculty member of the school so I was allowed to come home in the evening. In this school besides playing games and trying new games like Basdball, I was quite active in co-curricular and extra curricular activities of the school. In this arena I commenced my career by participating in Poetry Recitation Competitive. I was given a fairly long poem by Alfred Tennyson that was to be memorised and recited on the stage with appropriate gestures and expressions. With time I became a debater too and by the time I entered into the portals of higher education I became an expert in Extempore speech too. In cultural activities I made my appearance with a solo song but soon my career here ended after I led a group of students in a nursery rhyme show. We were given blue and white striped sleeping suit- Payjamas and shirt- and our face beneath the nose was painted red like that of a monkey.

So I had a fairly nice life and pleasant memories of this school as this provided the best of the educational facilities in the country as it was modelled on the famous public residential schools of Europe- Harrow and Eton- about whom it is said that the battle of Waterloo was fought on the playgrounds of Harrow and Eton. Though here equal stress was given on physical growth and development of the child also so there was a regular hour of PT Exercises in the morning and one hour of compulsory games in the evening. Though due to short stature, weak lungs, drooping shoulders and short stamina I could not excel in this field yet I envied my fellow being who excelled in this field and brought laurels to the school by winning trophies and medals.

/Cultural shows were mostly held in the evenings in the school auditorium- which was a large hall with 500 seating capacity. There used to be regular magic shows, Puppet shows- both string as well as glove puppet, motivational talks, dance and music concerts, painting workshop, sculpture shows, Japanese paper cutting shows,photo journalism shows and the like. Such shows were held to inspire creative, artistic and aesthetic instincts in the inmates. Besides this there used to be regular Cultural Variety Programs organized by the different classes every month under the guidance of their able class teachers and other faculty. These shows were held almost every month were primarily held to entertain the learners and inculcate organizational skills in them.

The atmosphere of my house was also equally academic and intellectual inclined as my parents were well educated too. So there used to be rational, passionate, objective discussions on literature, films, music and of course other contemporary issues over tea and during all the meals- breakfast, lunch and dinner, at the dinning table. As my father was also a teacher whose school timings were from 9.00 a.m in the morning to 2.00 p.m in the afternoon, so from very beginning my family had developed the tradition of having three meals that is breakfast at 8.30 a.m, Lunch at 2.00 p.m and dinner at 8.30 p.m. Mostly News accompanied the dinner, on radio in earlier days and on television later on.

Our school’s motive was to give first hand knowledge experience of the external world besides classroom teaching to students. So there used to be frequent outings, picnics, excursions, cycle tours and educational tours to some place of historical or geographical significance during the vacations. I still recollect the educational tour to the lone hill station of the state. This tour is special to me due to this reason also that for the first time I went without any family member accompanying him. I clearly remember the first night that I spent outside without my family in the ruins of an ancient temple where our teachers decided to stop on the way to the hill station. As it was month of October so I moved ahead without caring to take bath, as I neither had courage, as it was fairly cool in the morning in the month of October near a hill station nor I had time to do so as I had overslept due to tiredness of earlier day’s journey. After a journey of couple of hours we reached the highest point between the Himalayas and Nilgiris where we took packed breakfast. From this point we could view the couple of mountains surrounding a breathtaking lush green valley with its winding road reaching towards the summit and vehicles like miniature toys inching their way towards their destination. While climbing down from this point many of us threw out due to hill sickness as a result of overeating breakfast though the view of the tall mountains and deep green valleys with winding streams and rivers was simply indescribable. At an ancient fortress we took our lunch and spent the afternoon and early evening in sight seeing in seeing a large metal idol of Lord Shiva and a palace in total ruin and a famous shrine of a saint. Only this shrine was inhabited by devotees and priests even stayed during the night while the imposing palaces were in total ruin were abode of bats, owls and other birds. As the darkness of the evening descended we reached an inn where we were to stay for the night. It was situated at the bank of a beautiful lake with clear blue water reflecting the image of hills surrounding it. All of use went to see the lake to spend some time sitting on its bank for some time and enjoy the serene evening with moon rising behind a mountain. Though there were boats also and provision of boating too but my parents and our teachers accompanying us on this tour had forbidden us to boat on this lake for the fear of some mishap as none of us knew swimming. During the night I was given privilege of sleeping in the room where our teachers and their families were sleeping, as I was son of faculty member. Nest day after breakfast we went for shopping with a warning from our teachers to come early as we have to start our return journey just after lunch. All of us wanted to buy some suitable memento for our family members and younger brothers and sisters that can remind us of this tour later on. There was a sort of competition between us as who can get the best deal from the businessmen who were known for their trading acumen. The only thing that allured me in the whole market was a small metal statue of deity and as the shopkeeper also belonged to my faith so I gave whatever he had asked for it, though my friends, teachers and even Principal thought that I have given more money for it and asked that why I did not bargain with the shopkeeper. My simple reply was that firstly ‘God is priceless.’ Secondly as shopkeeper also belonged to my faith so how could he have taken more from the person of the same faith for the same deity that were common to him and me. My Principal was quite impressed with my reply and he gave it as a precedence also at a number of places afterwards. After a heavy lunch we were so much tired that on our return journey we started falling on each other and by the time we reached home, almost all of us were sleeping. My father again accorded a hero’s welcome to me as I had gone out for the first time in my life. He was quite apprehensive about my health and hesitated in sending me on this trip but apart from some journey sickness I was fit and fine. However I had slept soundly during the tour.

Our school was also reputed for imparting pragmatic social training through organizations like National Cadet Corps, Baden Powell Scouts and the like. All the students of the school had to opt for one of these programs and I went for National Cadet Corps that was created as a second line of defence by imparting weapon training and other training related to warfare to school, college and university students that can prove useful in the times of emergency and crisis. It had proved its worth by taking over the relief work in the times of disaster like floods and earthquakes. This organization was supervised by regular officers of the Indian Army while it also involved the teachers-school, college and university as part time officers while training of every unit was controlled by a regular JCO or NCO or equivalent rank of Navy and Air Force. It had three divisions – A Certificate for students of school, and B and C Certificates for the students of college and university level. This training had three basic components – Drill, Map Reading and Weapon Training. The outfit of a cadet of this organization was Khaki Half sleeves shirt with shoulder flaps and closed pockets, khaki short or pant, brown shoes with khaki woollen socks and a Khaki beret cap with NCC circular metallic emblem and a red flower known as Pomp pomp in it. Similarly a metallic badge with words NCC was put on the flaps of the both the shoulders and a leather or web belt to hold the pant or shorts. The metal parts of the uniform were to be cleaned with a brown liquid known as Brasso and web belt was to be polished with grey circular soap known as Blanco. So the term brassoed and blancoed came into existence at least once a week as great emphasis was given on proper turn out of the cadet at the biweekly ceremonial parades on the levelled but stony hard parade ground.

Most of us were quite enthusiastic about the weapon training as learning about weapons even about a rifle gave us sense of power and achievement. Mostly the weapon used for it in the Junior Division was .22 Rifle or Air Gun. Every cadet was given ten rounds to be fired at a target in lying position in two sessions of five rounds each. For firing practice we were taken to a firing range situated in the local College situated outside the town. As this was our first experience with a weapon so most of us, students of eight standard were barely able to balance and lift the rifle off the ground. So hitting the target was simply out of question for us. So we were hitting every where except the target even on the other’s targets. After the firing we were to report with our target to NCO and JCO. Both of them were confused when they found seven bullet marks on the target of my neighbour while he was given only five rounds to fire. That simply meant somebody else’s bullet had hit his target. As far as my condition was concerned there was only one bullet mark in my target while others had hit the bushes surrounding the targets making weird noises. That day also I got hero’s welcome as I had become first child in my family to handle a weapon, particularly my father was so much impressed by it that he ordered my mother to give me extra diet of food to me as I had done something that day of which my father could feel proud of.

In the drill we were taught to swag in a rhythm and obey the commands simultaneously like Left Turn, Right Turn, About Turn, Right Dress, General Salute, Salute with a message and of course march past or parade. During one such training session I recollect a humourous incident of one of our class fellow. Instructor was teaching us Salute Right eyes that required eyes to be turned right for six steps and then they are to be straightened automatically without any command. This fellow was perhaps taking a nap while the Instructor was giving instructions for it and perhaps he had observed him dozing off. Instructed pointed his finger towards him and asked him to get up and to demonstrate it for the benefit of others. After he got command he turned his eyes right but he forgot it to straighten them after six steps and he continued walking on the road and when the road ended he continued marching looking right jumping over the stones and bushes and ultimately came to halt as he came against a wall that would neither permit him to move forward nor to climb over it. To make the matters worse he moved right on his own and continued his march but still his eyes were turned right and he came before the instructor who slapped him so soundly that his eyes remained in that position for a couple of days more.

One of the requirement to be fulfilled in order to become eligible to appear for A Certificate Exam was to attend atleast one camp. Though there were a number of camps organized by the organization like Army Attachment Camp, Advance Leadership Camp, Mountaineering Camp,Rock climbing Camp and the like. As I was a boy of short stature and weak lungs so the only option before me was to attend Annual Training Camp for Sainik Schools in the year 1978 which was held in Khrew in Jammu and Kashmir. After my matriculation exam I decided to go for this camp as school authorities too had no option but to select me for that. I was given the intimation and asked to report at NCC office of the school to get NCC uniform and Khakee Pagree, as I was a Sikh with long unshorn hair at that time and other necessary articles like blankets and sheets. Since the camp was to be held in the hilly state of Kashmir, where nights are really chilly even in the month of May and June so we were given at least two blankets though some of my friends got four blankets but as I had reported at NCC office at the eleventh hour so I had to remain content with two blankets only.

We started for the camp in the uniform which was a strange outfit to startle fellow passengers on the train. And it was equally strange outfit for an outing. Though our train was at sometime past midnight but we were brought to the station bag and baggage right in the evening. So we had to spend a few hours at the platform moving idly on the platform. The train that we boarded at midnight took us to a place after a journey of four hours to a place where we had to change the train that was to take us to National Capital via Provincial Capital. After reaching the national capital we had to wait for couple of hours more for the train. As soon as the train came we threw our baggage and some cadets through the open windows of the coach and wrote on the coach with a white chalk in bold letters ‘FOR NCC CADETS ONLY’. After the overnight journey this train took us to a place situated at the foot of the hills which was the beginning point of this hilly state where camp was to be held. From here we were to proceed to the camp site by road in the buses owned by State Transport Department. But before that we were asked to take some food at the railway station. As I had seen Chola and Bhaturas for the first time so I took an entire plate of it. After the breakfast we were packed into the buses and as soon as we were inside the buses, parked outside the railway station, our journey towards the camp site began at once. This was another arduous journey on the serpentine zig-zag roads of the mountainous terrain for a long period of nine hours. As this was first experience of a hilly journey to most of us and nobody had advised us to take light food, so most of us were vomiting from the windows of the bus as soon as the bus started the sharp ascent of the hill. When the buses stopped for a break we decided to have some snacks and a cup of tea. Some of my friends saw two buns in a glass container. They asked the rate of the longer bun, but shopkeeper either cunningly or innocently told the price of smaller bun. They took a couple of buns along with tea and ordered another couple of buns to be packed for further use. But when they asked for the bill they were stunned to find that they had spent more than they had money in their pockets. However, our accompanying teacher intervened and the shopkeeper also apologized for this misunderstanding.

Ultimately we reached the camp site in the stark darkness of the night and our accompanying teacher reported our arrival to the Camp Commandant. After a hurried dinner we were put in a large square tent. It was spacious but not spacious enough to accommodate us as a result of which one of our friend had to keep his legs outside the tent for the whole night in the chill of the night. Even after taking two blankets and keeping our woollen Khaki jersey of the uniform on we were shivering terribly during the night. In the morning we came to know that after breakfast we have to put up tents in the area provided to us with the help of a wooden hammer, pegs and ropes and of course a central pole. We had to complete this task before evening and by afternoon camp started taking shape. In each tent ten cadets were put up -five in a row facing each other. Bedding was cleanly put with blankets folded at one end and pillow at the other. And our utensils like plate, spoon, mug were put on the side. We also came to know that five contingents from different Sainik Schools of the country were participating in this camp- Sainik School Kunjpura (Haryana), Sainik School Ghorakhal ( that time U.P), Sainik School Rewa (Madhya Pradesh) Sainik School Kazakootam (Kerala) and our school Sainik School Chittorgarh (Rajasthan). Our tents were pitched in a semi-circle with Officer’s Tent and CO’s tent in the beginning facing the tent of Quarter Guard. Nearly 500 cadets were participating in this camp which was managed by Camp Commandant, officer of the rank of Lieutenant Colonel, Deputy Camp Commandant, officer of the rank of Major and an Adjutant, officer of the rank of Captain, other NCC ANO’s who mostly were teachers accompanying the contingents and JCO’ s and NCO’s. Quarter Guard Tent had treasury of the camp so it was guarded round the clock by four armed cadets. Then there were tents of Canteen, Dispensary, and of course Mess. Camp was given two three ton trucks to bring provisions from the nearby town for the mess. So the first day of the camp was mostly spent in pitching up tents both of triangular pyramidical shape and quadrangular pyramidical shape.

The actual routine of the camp commenced from the second day when we were to get up at four o’clock in the morning and fetch tea in tumblers(mugs) from the camp mess and after cleaning them we had to wear white uniform with white canvas shoes and report for the P.T roll call. In roll call our troop commander reported to NCO incharge’s then senior most NCO reported to JCO and senior most JCO reported the attendance to Subedar Major and he reported it to Adjutant and if Camp Commandant was present on the camp, then Adjutant reported the attendance to Camp Commandant. This ritual was followed at least thrice a day. After P.T. roll call we were sent for jogging around the ground and simple physical exercises. After P.T we were let off for half an hour during which we had to take bath, run to mess to take hurried breakfast, change into Khaki uniform and report back for ceremonial parade and morning assembly. After it there used to be various activities like fire-fighting demonstration classes, first-aid demonstration classes, route march, firing practice and the like. After that lunch was announced and after the rest for an hour we again had to assemble in the main ground for the games. After the games some people used to wash and change while others simply waited for the dinner time in front of mess looking at a black board, which used to be main attraction for many of us as menu of the day used to be written on that board. So the first thing that we used to do was to go before the mess tent in the morning to get the glimpse of the menu of the meals that we are going to get that day. Between dinner and games there used to be rehearsals for cultural show that was to be held on the last day of the camp by every contingent. One day we were taken on a long route march to an artillery unit where we were shown artillery charge during a battle and various other weapons, signal bombs and missiles that were normally used by army during the war and various canons and guns and ammunitions used in them like mortars, etc. Another day we were taken for outing to the beautiful scenic capital of the state that had a number of gardens, a large lake and a historical shrine. We were put in a bus, hired for this purpose and taken for outing for one day. During this trip I had nearly missed a bus as I went to take water and by the time I returned I found to my surprise that the bus had disappeared. Driver and conductor did not care to see whether everybody has returned or not. Fortunately the bus of other troop was still there so I reported to the officer and told him that I am with them and I have missed my bus. So they took me along with them and I joined my troop at the next site that we were to visit that day.

One day was reserved for firing practice and we were taken to a valley for it and asked to fire five rounds each from .22 rifle in lying position, of course at the targets placed against a mud wall. After the first round I was given duty of patrolling the area so that any cattle or person may not come in the firing area and get injured. I was to hold a red flag in the hand but I was so tired that I placed the flag on a rock and in no time I was sleeping soundly. Only the cracking loud voice of NCO brought me out of sleep. One day we were again ordered for the route march of about 10-12 kms in a hilly terrain. I opted out of it by offering myself for Quarter Guard Duty which was treasury and heart of the camp and had to be guarded round the clock. There were sixteen cadets and each batch of four cadets was replaced after the duty of four hours. One daily ritual of the camp, that I have forgotten to mention was march past in which all contingents marched around the rectangular parade ground and saluting Camp Commandant or Adjutant standing at a dais placed in the centre of one of the edge of the parade ground. During the camp there was a strong rumour that some fox comes daily to one or the other tent and some cadets have also complained that it has taken the blanket that was found later on in the ditch at some distance from the tent. So everyday before sleeping we used to ensure that tent was tightly closed from all the corners and the lantern on the central pole burnt the whole night. On the last day of the camp was a variety cultural show that was popularly known as Camp Fire. Our contingent also gave the presentation of folk songs and dances of Rajasthan.

On the morning of next day we started our journey back first by bus and then by train. But before that we were given packed breakfast of bread and four boiled eggs. During the camp our faces and noses were disfigured by snow bites and we had grown so much darker that by the time we reached home we were nearly unrecognizable. Even my sister who visited me at a railway station where we were to change the train did not recognize me at once. My parent also gave the same reaction. This camp totally transformed my attitude towards life as it taught me that life was not a bed of roses, always catering to your wishes but rather a bed of thorns and challenges that are to be faced and encountered in life. It showed me that all that mattered was survival and till you survive everything has meaning and existence for you.

I completed my school education a couple of years after the life transforming experience of this camp. After matriculation there was no option in my school but to take science stream at + 2 level. During the last year of my study I even had to attend extra classes and finish my practicals- particularly in Biology-even during the night and that too in the winters which was quite difficult for the girl students as their parents would not allow them to leave the house after the darkness of the evening set in. In Biology we had dissection of animals in our syllabus. In XI class we did the dissection of frog while in XII standard we dissected white rat. Now the dissection has been banned in most of the school due to organization that are against cruelty to animals like People for Animals. Now mostly the schools are using plastic models to demonstrate the anatomy and inner viscera of different animals to the learners. I remember clearly that we were afraid of the skeleton of a human being hanging on the one of the walls of the laboratory. Even the bravest of our class fellow was scared to step into the lab alone in the evening and put on the light. We were also given the knowledge of plant world and we were requited to make TS( Traverse Section) and LS ( Longitudenal Section) of the stem of a plant during the practical which was to be cut very finely by razor. One of our class fellows cut his finger with razor instead of the stem of the plant and when the section of plant was dyed red in his blood and placed it on the glass slide and putting it under microscope reported to our teacher that the slide has red hue in the plant stem. Similarly one short sighted student wearing glasses traced his own eye as he could not focus microsope properly and was scolded squarely by the teacher. During chemistry practicals, I recollect, that some student created an explosion in a test tube after he mixed a few chemicals at will. Some student created mischief by putting the long funnel of the water bottle in the pocket of Half-pant of the neigbouring student. Once he could not differentiate students from Lab boy who was also wearing a pant of the same colour as students and he drenched his pocket and even the currency notes in it. In Physics we had several experiments with Tongs, Pendulums, Post Box Telegraph, Ammetres, Galvanometres and Voltometres and of Diode and Triode Valves. Though I was quite clumsy with handling the equipment in the practicals but in the final practicals of XII standard I nearly got full marks. Even the practical examiner who came from the neighbouring state remarked that with a heavy heart he has to cut one mark as he does not give full marks to anybody in practicals in his life. But it was quite difficult for him to cut one mark as the results of the experiments were simply perfect and flawless.

So I was fortunate that in my early life I got the best possible education of the times with the best possible infrastructure and nearly perfect teaching staff. It was due to this congenial environment of the school education that I always had an edge over others in every field and at every time in my profession that was to begin soon after the completion of my formal education at the school level. After the successful completion of school education I entered the portals of higher education in the local college enrolling myself in a graduation programme. Almost everything was different in the college in comparison with the school routine. There was hardly any regularity in the classes and both most of the students and faculty members were not serious about the completion of syllabus in the class room. In fact most of them were not interested in class room teaching. Even many of the students also wanted to be excused from the classes as they were working elsewhere as insurance agents or as helping hands in shops and malls in order to augment the income of their family. In the first year of my study I watched the complacent environment and attitude of higher education with horror and sometimes disgust also. There was hardly any planning , punctuality, and organization. Flattery and nepotism was at its prime. However due to my regular studies whether classes were held or not and due to my discipline habits I was able to score first class marks in the annual exams. Next year due to good academic performance I was nominated as Organizing Secretary of one association of subject while Vice President of another one. I was given responsibility to hold academic and literary activities like Extension lectures by prominent academicians from the state, Debate competitions, Paper Reading Sessions every Saturday. One year I even organized Picnic of my batch to a nearby dam in which even the girls of the class participated with great enthusiasm. At one of the extension lecture I, with the help of my class fellows even organized lunch in the college in which Principal, Guest Speaker and faculty members of the department were invited. Due to my regular life, discipline and punctuality I did not excel in literary activities like Debates, Extempore speeches and Essay competitions but I even excelled in sports to some extent as I was member of Cricket Team and Football Team of the faculty and member of Hockey Team of the college. Every day used to be busy day as planning an event, finalising guests, printing invitations, bring out notice for the faculty and students to attend it and finally to organize it by making arrangements of light,mike and photographer and to arrange for tea and snacks after the event. However in the final year also, despite being busy in the activities I managed to get good marks and even secured a place in the merit list of the state that made me eligible for two years scholarship if I pursued studies in Masters Program.

So in order to avail the facility of scholarship I decided to enrol myself for Post Graduate Studies. It occurred to me that these two years are going to play a prominent role in shaping my career and future life, so I got busy with the studies though I continued to participate in literary and academic activities of the college regularly and continued to organize the activities of PG Association as well like Paper Reading Sessions, and Extension Lectures as on the basis of merit I was nominated as Secretary of the Association in the first year and Vice President in the final year of Post Graduate Studies. I cleared my exams with a fair success and stood second in the class. So I spent nearly five years in completing my higher education. While I was doing my PG my parents retired and I earned something by taking Tuitions so as to meet the expenses of my books and exam fees to some extent. That year though our Hockey coach had promised that college team would participate in Inter-Collegiate Tournament of the University but due to some reason these tournaments could not be held that year, but still our college hockey team went to play a the nearest place in the neighbouring state to play a friendly match. Though I did not play in the match but unfortunately our team lost though in the beginning we were looking favourites. After the match we went to see the town and movie at the local picture hall and returned back to our place. Similarly our picnic was also one day long. We started from home town early in the morning and reached the picnic site by early noon. We had snacks and tea, and then while some of us got busy in preparing lunch others went to have a round of the area near the waterfall. Our teachers had strictly forbidden us to enter the pool as it was quite dangerous near the place where water fell directly from a rock jutting out in space. As a student we preferred to travel by Railways as it was easy to get concession in railways and besides ticket was cheaper in railways than in the bus. However, for the picnic we had to hire a bus as there was no direct rail connection to the place that we wanted to visit Besides we had a number of utensils also that was difficult to carry it on the railway platform. In the annual prize distribution function I was centre of attraction for the faculty members and even object of envy for my class fellows as I bagged a number of prizes and certificates. Besides I was also conducting the program and thanked everybody from the innermost core of my heart for their cooperation and support to make my tenure successful. Principal of the college on this occasion without taking my name mentioned proudly that the aim of higher education had been realised as even one parent has also recognized the contribution of higher education by transforming the introvert personality of an individual to an extrovert one. Perhaps that day was the best day in my entire education career.

Part-II

It was due to quality education that I got at the school and college level that helped me in securing good job. Here I must acknowledge that even at the Higher Education Level in the college I was fortunate to have some of the best faculty available in the state. I am still indebted to the faculty members and would remain indebted till the last moment of my life both at the school and college level for making me what I am today. I would feel honoured and privileged if I get any opportunity to serve my alma maters in any way. Due to my job I had to leave my home town. I was so much absorbed in my professional life that I nearly forgot my home town nearly for three decades of life except for a few days during my wedding. That time the town had not changed much as much time had not elapsed since my leaving the town. After my wedding since I had a good job with a sufficiently good salary so I did not get time to visit my home town. I could grab a good job, due to proficiency in the international language that I had acquired during my school and college days-thanks chiefly to the excellent teachers and the environment of my educational institutions where I got my education as a result of which I had a place of prominence in the town as I had a job with good salary, perks and other facilities. There was only one drawback of this job that there was a great dearth of leaves and it required attention all the years round. To get a leave even for two days you have to give sound convincing reasons to the authorities. When it occurred to me that this job required 24x7 attention, I bought a two room flat near my workplace on instalments after accepting the advise of an elder colleague who believed that even after paying rent in a rented accommodation you cannot become its owner while after paying instalments for ten years you can own the house. With time I shifted by newly wed wife to this place and we had two lovely sons who had all the privileges and benefits of living in a metro town including good public school education. As my salary was good so I faced little difficulty in admitting them to a good public school affiliated to a leading board of the country. Under the supervision of good tutors that money could easily buy they were doing well in academics and other fields and I was contented with their progress and hoped that they too would have bright future despite growing competition. Though I had limited vacations too but my wife insisted on utilising them by going to some tourist place- historical or scenic- to break the monotony of the daily life. And that was good as I too could get some time to spend with my family. Then Kids were in that formative phase of their life that would prove to be a blessing, if well utilised, in moulding their career and bright future. A couple of years hard work in the right direction could decide the future course of their life. As my Kid’s teacher often told them, “ Work hard now, and enjoy lifelong” or “ Enjoy now and repent life long.” The choice is up to you, you have to decide the path that you want to take in life. Though every body knows it but the attractions in young age are so strong that they like a magnet attracts the will of working hard and everybody says that today I will enjoy and start working hard from tomorrow but that tomorrow never comes. Though I could not get time in my working life of three decades to visit my home town but still I cherished it and its easy and comfortable and carefree life and longed for it again in my dreams. Somewhere deep in my heart I was nurturing a desire to go away from the crowded and polluted life of the city after retirement on a long vacation and live there to my heart’s content.

My day here began at 5.30 a.m in the morning. While waiting for a cup of tea in morning lazily my kids used to turn up to greet me followed by their mother with a steaming hot cup of tea. After tea and other rituals I used to visit a club to have my daily dose of Tennis with my friends, that I learnt to play during my school days. Mostly people came to clubs to keep themselves fit and to maintain contacts with leading personalities of the town that helped me to grow and develop in their professions. After returning to the club I used to escort my kids up to the bus point where they used to board the bus to go to school. After the wash and hurried breakfast I used to rush to my office so as to reach my office by 9.55 a.m. As my working place was quite near my residence so I had privilege of getting hot and fresh home made lunch daily during the break. After lunch as the work decreased so I used to enjoy a siesta of about 15 to 20 minutes as I had read somewhere that Prime Minister of Britain during World War II Mr. Winston Churchill had written that the afternoon siesta of 20 minutes facilitated him to work till midnight easily. After 3 p.m work in the office escalated as everybody tried to reach the target given to them by 4.30 p.m positively so that they can reach their home early in the evening as soon as the office closed at 5 p.m. After the evening tea and snacks with my wife and kids I used to refresh myself with live concert or some cultural activity or watched such activity on Television. After dinner I used to go on a stroll for fifteen minutes before retiring for the night. I was fortunate that my wife, though she was not in job, she constantly supervised and monitored the academic and intellectual growth of my kids so well that I had no worries on that front.

I had fully established myself in the literary and cultural circles of this town. I used to attend the weekly meeting of such organizations concerned with literary-cultural activities. So I was invited for every concert, and literary- cultural activities like Kavi Durbar or Poetry Reading Sessions, Qawali concerts, and concerts of instrumental and classical music. As most of these concerts were held in the premises of some educational institution, so head of every educational institution of the town became acquainted with me. So every weekend some or the other school invited me to give motivational talk to their students. They even invited me as subject expert to help them in the recruitment of faculty and other staff particularly related to music, dancing, drawing and painting.

During my school days I had learnt to play the game of tennis and continued to play it in order to keep myself fit. I had joined the The Officer’s Club as official member and played Tennis in the mornings at the neatly constructed synthetic Tennis courts. When I had learnt playing Tennis it was the age of wooden racquets that had to be kept in wooden frames, specially during the rains so as to prevent them from bending due to moisture. Later on steel racquets came and then graphite ones which were much more durable and lighter in weight. It was nearly impossible to hold a racquet firmly with one hand at the growing age of 12 or 13 years particularly while hitting backhand shots. As the ball hit the racquet normally it used to bend sending ball out of the courts or into the net. Though this club was primarily meant for the government officials but there was provision for the people belonging to private sector to become its members and slowly the private members outnumbered the official member as most of the officials came only for a tenure to three to five years so they did not show much interest in taking the membership of the club. Only those official who were fond of playing Tennis, Badminton, Table Tennis and Billiards took its membership and visited it regularly either in the morning or evening as it suited them. While non-official members stayed even for years and even generations. So they had better know of things and used to get their thing done in one or the other way. Most of the non-official members were businessmen and contractors who had to remain in constant touch with government officials to achieve their ends, so they considered membership of the Club as an investment that was bound to give return sooner or later. Though mostly I played Tennis in the morning and sometimes in the evening too but I also participated in its other activities like Annual Picnics and Annual Dinner. Mostly picnics were held at some spot of natural beauty and historical significance. I remembered to have attended a picnic that was held at a place nearly 30 kms from District Headquarters. It was a waterfall surrounded by mesmerising rocks, mountains and tall multi canopied trees. Even some of the path to it was unmetalled. Besides snack, tea and lunch a number of activities were organized to entertain the members and in most of the activities luck played a significant part but I emerged winner in Quiz Contest. In fact I shared this honour with a gentleman who had also answered the questions correctly. Picnics and Dinners were good occasions for get- together as I cam to know about a number of members and their family who do not visit the club regularly. As mostly I used to go to club to play Tennis so I had close intimacy only with the members who played Tennis or some other game at the club regularly. Besides this on one occasion Club also organized a Music concert of famous Ghazal Singers who were invited from the state capital at the behest of Police Chief of the District who was very much interested in literary and cultural activities. To my knowledge he was the only Police officer who organized a music concert in Police Lines for the benefit of the Sepoys.

I observed that playing regularly with the same set of individuals for a long time has developed a sort of camaraderie, friendship and even life long relationship with them. Club organized Intra club Matches and then selected a team of the Club who represented it at other Inter-Club tourneys as well as at other tournaments at District, Division and even State level. Sometimes teams from other clubs used to visit our club for playing while at other times our team went to play at their place. Once our Club organized State Level Civil Services Tennis and Table Tennis Tournament at the initiative of Additional District Magistrate of the town who was quite interested in playing games and adventure activities particularly Tennis. Everything from venue to logistics, food catering and stay was handled by the Government Departments and officials. I also got a chance to play in the tournament as there was no civil servant in 50 plus category who could play Tennis. Though I was in no shape to play, as I was out of practice for a long time due to ill health but still I was put up as a member of a team to complete it and save the team of our district from getting disqualified. Though I did not win a single match in the tournament yet due to the ingenuity of the Captain of our team and lucky and intelligent planning of the Captain we reached the finals of this tournament and lost to the State Capital team in the finals. In the closing ceremony we were given runners up trophy and even individual trophies- the replicas of the same. The Chief Guest at the closing ceremony were District Collector and Police Chief of the district who handed us trophies to us.

I was also quite active in the literary and cultural activities of the town. I had joined an organization that was primarily a youth organization aiming at preservation of rich classical culture and heritage of country amongst the youth of the country through classical music, dance and folk literature, folk music and folk dance. Since the target audience of this organization was youth so most of its concerts and programmes were held in the premises of schools, colleges and universities. There used to be vocal and instrumental music and dance concerts by accomplished artistes, sometimes presentation by folk artistes like Puppet show and talks by literary personalities and authors to young students of the school, college and universities. It was very difficult to make the young citizens of the country sit still even for an hour as they are full of energy and bubbling with action. This organization so as to create cadre of volunteers and workers established chapters in prominent schools, colleges and universities and held a monthly meeting to celebrate the birth or death anniversary of some intellectual stalwart, literary giant of the country or the world. Whenever the concert was allotted to the school, college or university department. These volunteers used to get active under the supervision of a teacher who used to be incharge of these activities. They took over the responsibility of looking after logistic arrangement of the artistes, ensuring to make their stay pleasant and comfortable and then after the concert to see them off to next destination. Normally there used to be two activities during an year Lec-Dem Series ( Lecture-Demonstration ) from July to December and then Fest series from January to March as students used to get busy with exams in the month of April. Normally the institution hosting these activities had to pay for the transport or taxi of the artistes which was normally shared by the chapters where the artistes performed. I had observed that residential educational institution were proving to be useful and apt for these type of the programmes as these organizations had their own guest house where artistes stayed and took meals in their mess.

This organization held two conventions at state level and one international convention annually. I had opportunity to attend three state level conventions in which the financial situation of the organization was discussed and ways to create funds were meditated upon. Also the circuits of the artistes was drawn up. The effect of this organization on me was that atleast I had learnt to recognize a few names in classical music world, name of prominent authors and folk artists and also the name of instruments like Mrindang, Rudra Veena, Mohan Veena, Santoor, Pakahawaj and Rawan Hatha. In the international convention the day started at 4.00 a.m in the morning when you had to join some activity like Hath Yoga, Dance Yoga and Nada Yoga that continued till 7 a.m. As I saw that there was minimal physical activity in Nada Yoga so I joined it as there was only incantation of the sargam for continuously for two and a half hours. After wash and change we had to report for breakfast at the mess of the institution hosting the convention. I had even seen people had to skip their breakfast and had to go to workshop directly for reporting late and there was no eating joint for atleast four kilometres from the campus of the hosting institution. After the breakfast it was mandatory for every body to join some workshop on dancing, painting, sculpture,pottery, Molela art, calligraphy, and creative writing. I joined the workshop on creative writing which was handled over by a Marathi author who also taught English at a college in Maharashtra. These workshops continued till lunch. After lunch we were asked to assemble at the auditorium of the hosting institute where the concerts and presentation by the leading artistes of the country were staged . This activity continued till 6. p.m when we moved for early dinner and after dinner the concerts again continued till midnight every day and on the last day these concerts continued for the whole night till the first ray of the Sun in the morning. As it was a voluntary organization so you cannot order anybody to do some work but you have to keep a volunteer so much committed and motivated that he will not allow the program of the organization fail and let the organization down. I was working actively for this organization from more than one decade in various capacities starting as a volunteer and ending as Chairperson and Senior Advisor of the Chapter through the offices of Secretary, Coordinator, Treasurer and Vice Chairperson. It appeared as if we were running race against time throughout the year. Beginning with publicity and invitations for the concert to the payment of the bills for taxi,photography, music, light and tent system it appeared as endless race and often sponsorers promised but did not pay as much as they had promised on various reasons that this season our factory is running in loss, our owner had died and the like. Sometimes we had to pay even from our pockets and by the time all the bills of a concert were cleared we were right in the middle of next concert. Sometimes there was too much overlapping that it was confusing that which bill was related to which concert.

During an inservice training program sponsored by the University we felt a need for our professional organization at the State Level so as to enhance the professional competence of the individuals by updation of the latest trends in the field. Quickly we passed the resolution and formed a working executive and decided to hold one annual conference of the body at some suitable place in the state and to bring out one annual journal containing the research papers of the papers related to different avenues of our field, particularly from young academicians and research scholars so as to motivate them to the field of research. Almost all the participants of this training program became the members of the organization and I also made it a point of my life that come what may I will try to attend its every annual conference and not only that I will also try to contribute to the academic annual journal of the organization. That will keep me updated about the latest developments taking place in the field of my interest. Mostly these conference were a two days or three days affair. Though it was allowed to bring your family members to the conference and many members brought their family whenever the conference was held at a place of some tourist interest but the fact was that family members felt bored in Seminar Sessions. These sessions consisted of one or two plenary sessions by subject experts and three paper presentation sessions known as technical sessions each day including the inaugural and valedictory session. In the evening the organizers arranged a cultural show for the entertainment of the members or outing to some spot of tourist significance. Sometimes cultural shows were presented by the staff and students of the hosting organization.

I was also member of Guild of my profession. In my country almost every profession of both organized and unorganized sector can boast of their Guild association and trade union. They too have elections for the office functionaries and annual General body meetings. These guilds and trade unions were heavily loaded in favour of their rights and rarely any union talked about their duties towards their employer, society and nation. Most of them complained of poor wages and uncongenial working conditions and they constantly opposed their employers for poor salary, long working hours and retirement and social security benefits like health facilities. They seldom pondered over their contribution to improve human society by doing their duties honestly. Though I was a member of such a union throughout my life but I seldom worked actively in it as they talked only about their benefits. Though they published a bi-annual newsletter reiterating their demands that looked so similar that the only difference between these letters were only date and year ofits publication. I was fortunate to attend some of the their annual conferences which were normally inaugurated by a politician, minister or a bureaucrat belonging to the same profession. Mostly these type of people were invited and felicitated as they were in position to benefit atleast the functionaries of the trade union if not its members. Most of these functionaries wanted to remain in the good books of these people so that they are not disturbed or tormented by their employers.. It was strange that in such meetings the number of people doubled at the times of meals and refreshments than in the inaugural or closing sessions as if most of the participants came to taste the food and hospitality of the organizers. Rarely any academician or intellectual was invited to these functions who can really give some points to ponder to the members of the guild. I stopped attending these meets after some time as I observed that though the faces in the Executive changed but their agenda almost remained the same like their lousy newsletter. Their only interest was to maintain their position as long as possible and they did not care a bit for the interests of the common member. My only purpose in attending these conferences was to meet my old friends and colleagues with whom I had worked in the past. With time due to connivance between employers and bureaucrats the union was split damaging the movement further as establishment succeeded in dividing the movements so as to weaken it.

Normally I attended these meets by going to these places by rails and road and sometimes we colleagues used to hire a cab or some other vehicle and normally used to return with them after the end of the convention. Once I went with my colleagues but returned by train with my senior colleague who belonged to the same town and who was a bit handicapped. So we booked first class ticket in a train as he used to get connection for being a physical handicap and we had to change the train at some place to get another train bound for our home town. Unfortunately we could not get first class reservation in linking train and Ticket conductor adjusted us in Sleeper Class. As soon as we got berth we slept so soundly that it did not occur to us when train reached our home town. When the train started for another station and I opened my eyes to find the world famous fort of my home town sliding southwards, I got a feeling that the train has left but my senior colleague was still confident that train was still shunting the coaches but it gathered speed and left the platform and now it was impossible to get down and that too with handicapped colleague who was in advanced middle age. So we got down when it stopped at the next station nearly 50 kms from my home town and we got back by bus, nearly three hours behind the schedule.

This incident has reminded me of a similar event when I went to attend wedding of one of my friend at Dehradun along with my teacher, who belonged to that area. From Delhi we got into a packed train whose half of the coaches were to go upto Dehradun while the other half were to be detached from the train at a station named Najibabad and proceed to Kotdwar. As my teacher belonged to this area so I was completely relying on me. As we did not get a sleeping place in the coach so my teacher started playing a game of cards along with the passengers. So he could get sleep only in the early hours of the morning as a result of which he was sleeping soundly at Najibabad when the one half of the train detached from the train and proceeded towards Dehradun but without us as we were sleeping peacefully in that part of the train that was to go to Kotdwar. When my teacher woke up train for Dehradun had already departed and we got out of the train quickly as this train was also almost ready to proceed towards Kotdwar. We waited for another hour on the platform before the next train came and we reached Dehradun. We did not get even time to pack our baggages so we nearly jumped out of the coaches taking our sheets and bedding on our heads and then kept it under us on the cement benches and my companion again began to doze off but however he got up when the next train moved into the platform. Though we attended all the ceremonies of the wedding but it caused inconvenience to our hosts as we could not intimate them about the delay in our arrival and they had sent people to receive us at the station.

As I had studied in a residential public school for a period of about eight years so I had developed a unique kind of life long relationship with my alma mater, class fellows and hostel companions. Though school invited us every year at the Alumni Meet and school founder day but being busy in the family I could not find time to attend it despite planning it every year as some or the other problem would crop up in the nick of time. However I made it a point to attend the silver jubilee reunion of my batch in the school. Earlier I used to contend and console myself with the news of growth and development in the campus from the annual newsletter of the school and from my friends who attended these meets regularly, particularly those who were local. A number of my friends who had settled at the same place where they had studied had formed a local chapter of Alumni Union. I became its life member at once and even conducted the proceedings of the annual meeting of the Union at some conspicuous place of the town. Mostly the responsibility of organizing these meets is given to fresh pass out students who were studying in the college and universities. One clear cut advantage of giving the management to them was that they had the latest knowledge about the staff members of the institute and other developments in the school. An Executive body of this organization was also formed almost unanimously as it was a thankless job. Normally the boys who had studied in our school was strange assortment of bureaucrats, technocrats, diplomats, teachers, doctors, scientists, service and police officers and of course a large number of businessmen. The oldest member of the organization was elected unanimously as its President, similarly Executive was also elected unanimously. At its annual meets retired and current teachers, Principals, Headmasters, Adm Officers were invited and felicitated. In it Principal apprised the members about the developments and achievements made by the school in the different fields. It was followed by Tea and Snacks with the staff and photographic session in which normally the boys attending the meet along with their families posed for the group photograph with the school faculty and administration. It was followed by business meet in which members discussed the needs and problems of the institution and suggested steps to solve them even by volunteering their services and money. Before that secretary used to read out the minutes of the last meet and apprise the members about the steps taken to solve the issues taken up in the last meet. Treasures apprised the members briefly about the financial situation of the organization and Principal in his address used to update the members about the latest developments and achievements of the school throughout the session.

School also celebrated Annual Day Meet or Founder’s Day that began with special assembly in which some old students of the school who had settled well in life and is enjoying a reputed place in society addresses students in order to motivate and inspire them to progress and do well in life despite a number of problems and difficulties and uncertainties of life. After the tea and photo session old boys used to visit their hostels where they had spent five to six years of their life. It was followed by lunch with the students of the school in school mess . After the lunch there used to be a basket ball or volleyball match between the old students and school team or teachers team. It was followed by evening team with Adm Staff again in school canteen; and it was followed by cultural evening which normally used to be presented by the students of the school and some cultural items used to be given by old boys who had come to celebrate the function. Every chapter of the association set up in the different cities of the province and the nation and even abroad celebrated Annual Union Meet of the Old Boys Association.

Different chapters of Association also organized sight seeing tours and picnics at the place of historical significance or natural landscape. Usually these picnics used to be one day affair that used to be at some natural secluded place full of greenery and water either in the form of a lake or pond, river or waterfall or a dam managed by the Irrigation Department of the State. Normally such picnics used to commence at mid day with tea and snacks along with party games like chess, Chinese Checkers, Carom, Lotto Housie, and even Badminton. While people are busy in chatting or playing games or wandering and exploring the area volunteers used to prepare the lunch. After the lunch there used to be some cultural program in which every member contributed by giving some song or joke or mimicry and mono acting. Meanwhile it was time for tea and pack up and by the time of dusk we used to return back to the town but we used to get so much tired that hardly anybody cared for dinner that day.

I also remembered going on a tour with two to three families to a place of natural beauty or nicknamed The Queen of Hills of course on contributory basis. We had hired a Tempo Traveller Bus which was bulky in size so it moved at a slower pace particularly on the hilly and mountainous zig-zag roads. In fact we had arranged this tour due to the fact some of our friends who belonged to that hill station and had agreed to arrange our board and lodging at of course payment basis. So we took a couple of hours more than any other vehicle would have taken to cover this distance. We reached at our destination at 11 p.m but even at that unearthly hour our hosts were waiting eagerly for us with their families in attendance. We regretted that we were later partly due to our late start and partly due to slow pace of the vehicle that we had hired on the windy roads of the mountains and we regretted for the inconvenience caused to them due to our late arrival. But as we were meeting after a long time of two decades so we had a good dinner together at the resort of course which was arranged by our host friends. After the dinner we retired for the rest of the night. In the morning our hosts were ready before us and accompanied us to the hall where complimentary breakfast of the resort was laid. After enjoying the complimentary hospitality of the resort our hosts took us to see the museums of the institution where they were working. Then we visited Natural Science Museum where my children were overjoyed to see the solid compressed air in a jar that was amber in colour. Everybody was excited to see the wonders of science exhibited there like Electric Man sitting on an iron chair holding a tube light. If you touched the other end of the tubelight it twinkled and if you touched the man, you get a mild shock. Then there was a man from Mars who had only head and neck and every other part of his body was disappeared due to reflection and refraction techniques by placing the mirrors at a particular angle. In the evening we were taken to the museum of historical and architectural artefacts of the past which was housed in the place of the ex-ruler of that place and who had donated this palace to archaeological department of the State. This palace had one room dedicated to different artefacts of the past- coins, arms, sculpture, statues, paintings, pottery, clocks, crockery of glass and china clay, watches to keep time, wooden carvings and stone sculpture. In its courtyard were vintage buggies and cars used by different rulers of the state. It nearly took us nearly three hours to see this museum cursorily at the cantering speed. Other wise it is nearly impossible to see every object in detail even in a day. By the time we returned to our resort lights of the town were already twinkling like stars in the sky. Our hosts had another surprise waiting for us in the form of cultural evening. We were so much tired that we were already nearly snoring by the time the cultural evening ended.

Next day our hosts took us to a place 25 kms away from that place which was a place where snow can be seen on the mountain tops even in the Summers. It was my first experience to walk ona glacier and glide on white fleece like snowy surface. The spot where they had taken us was simply alluring and mesmerising with its natural unique beauty. In the evening we did some shopping in the local market buying handicrafts as mementoes of this grand visit. So this was my life in the town that had kept me so busy that I had nearly forgotten about my home town and its school that had transformed a semi-literate brat into a skilled, sound and successful professional. I hoped that after superannuation perhaps I would get some time to visit my home town again.

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Part-III

I was leading quite a contented and fulfilling life in this town that had given me respect, dignity, livelihood, money and name and fame. I was so much lost and engrossed in the life of this town that I had nearly forgotten even about the locations of my home town. I would have continued to spend my life in this town had I not got nearly a SOS from my parents who were facing difficulty due to their growing age that was encumbering in maintaining and looking after their ancestral property which they were not ready to sell at any cost. So the first step that I took was to look for my old phone diaries from my almirah that contained the phone numbers and addresses of my old friends, relatives and acquaintances of my home whom I have not seen since I had left my school and come to work in this town. But in this ever changing dynamic era almost every body had changed his number according to the convenient and economical service provider. However, I did not relent and kept on trying. Ultimately I succeeded in getting the phone number of an employee of my old school buddy who had perhaps given his old phone to the employee with an aim to trace his movement and whereabouts. He promised me that he will get me connected with his boss the moment he reaches the shop that was their business site.

This employee whose name was Hari Prasad proved to be man of words and promise and as soon as his master reached the shop he asked him to talk to me on a number that appeared strange to him. However he rang me and I picked it up quickly and introduced myself to him. He took some time to recognize and locate me as we were conversing after a gap of nearly three decades. After the exchange of pleasantries he got increasingly informal as our conversation progressed. We nearly talked for half an hour enquiring about the whereabouts of our common friends and buddies at the school. I was so much engrossed in the conversation that I had nearly forgotten the real motive to call my friend of bygone years. After education while I came to this town this friend whose name was Prabhjyot took on his father’s settled business. I took his latest phone number and promised him to meet in near future. He had built a house for himself in one of the outer lying colonies of the town where he was living with his child, however this colony was the posh area of the town. He assured me of every help and even meeting my parents and helping them in sorting out the property matters as he had good contacts with the local authorities of the town. I thanked him for his positive and encouraging reply and promised him to meet him as I was planning to visit the town in near future as it was my belief that these matters cannot be sorted out without one’s continuous and consistent efforts.

So I drew up a plan to visit my home town despite protests from my wife and children. I applied for one week’s leave and hoped that the problem would be solved easily in this period and if need by the leave can be extended by one another week. So after returning from the office I started packing my bags for the journey. As I had decided to go alone so I took a small leather bag and put some clothes in it that would be sufficient to last one week and if need be clothes can be washed according to the need and requirement. As I was going by bus so I had planned to take early morning bus so that I would reach my destination well before the darkness and lights of evening that glittered like stars in heaven. Next morning I don’t know why I overslept and could only get up when the Sun had already risen. Taking the bath and breakfast hurriedly I moved quickly towards the local bus stand of the town but every vehicle seemed to be moving in the opposite direction and they even invited me to join but as moving in that direction did not fall in line with my plan so I had no option but to wait for the conveyance. At last he found one three wheeler going in his desired direction and though it was full driver agreed to give me a place beside him on his driving seat as in my neat clothes I appeared a cultured and educated gentleman to the semi-literate driver. As I rushed into the enquiry window of the bus stand directly from the three wheeler I was disappointed to find that the fast service bus to my home town had just left five minutes ago. So now there was no option but to take a local bus and that too after waiting for atleast half an hour. So I sat on the newly constructed cement bench with the name of the donor written boldly over it in both in the local language as well as in English. I watched a few people who had clustered at the magazine shop and tea joints and even a man was selling a glass of chilled water for one rupee. As the bus took its position on the platform, driver and conductor came out of it lazily as if they were in no hurry to leave the bus stand even after twenty minutes scheduled stay and even when the bus was fairly full of passengers. It appeared as if the slow pace of the local bus has percolated into the actions of the driver and conductor also. Even after coming out of the bus stand they were stopping it frequently to take every potential passenger into it. They even stopped it for a person who was waiting to cross the road and driver expecting him to get him into the bus stopped it respectfully for him and moved it only when the person crossed the road taking his own time and entered his hut situated on the other side of the road. Driver applied top gear of the bus only when it was well out of the town on the open road passing through the trees of the forest lining the road. Still driver slowed the bus at ever shade of the tree hoping that some passenger would hop from behind the tree. It stopped at every village, hamlet and stop to the driver’s content. Driver and conductor simply did not care for the passengers who had to catch a connecting bus or train to other places. Passengers were sweating profusely in the stifling and humid environment of the bus. Ultimately I reached my destination when it was already midnight and I got immediate relief as soon as I got out of bus in the fresh cool air of my home town at midnight and took a three wheeler instantly to reach my home where my mother was waiting anxiously for me as I was already late by atleast by four hours and though the time was well past midnight but still my mother was ready with a warm and fresh dinner and delicious and my favourite dessert rice pudding(kheer) for me. As I was tired after a day long journey the suffocating, stifling and sweating environment of the bus in the hot month of June so I slept instantly as soon as my head touched the pillow after a hearty dinner, on the fresh and new sheets provided by my mother to me. In the morning I got up early and went for the morning walk to a nearby college ground where I hoped to find some friend or acquaintance from my school days. As I had come to the town after a long time so I observed a number of changes in the town like a new railway overbridge had come up that had changed the landscape of the town and made the famous railway crossing nearly defunct. As this railway crossing was frequently closed due to heavy railway traffic leading to long queue of road traffic so it was a famous and popular saying that poor man’s luck and this gate opens rarely. Then broad gauge had come to the town with faster rails and new look to the railway station. Though in recent years town has become a cement hub but recently new metal plant had also come up in the town changing the map of the town further. Roads too had improved in the last few years. During the walk to my utter disappointment I could not find anybody moving around in the track of the college. Only I could spot two fellows who appeared to be known to me from their gait but both of them had preferred to remain unmarried in their life. Most of my friends it seemed were engrossed so much in their lives that they were totally neglecting their health needs altogether.

After returning from the college ground and making minute observations of the changes that have taken place in the town in the last two decades it appeared to me that most of the changes were superficial and the rhythm of the town was more or less same as it had been two decades ago when I left this town to get a job. I got ready for breakfast after a quick wash and change. My father was busy in observing rituals of daily puja while my mother was in the kitchen cooking my favourite breakfast of stuffed Paranthas which is perhaps one of the most nutritious and healthy breakfast in the entire world though it requires a few accessories like butter, chutney of mint or coriander leaves and sauce and after it of course a hot cup of tea. After the breakfast I left the house to meet my friend, so as to sort the issues, at the appointed time but mostly I found that either he had already left for some work or he hadn’t reached the appointed place yet from some previous errand. I was taken aback when I did not find him at the pre decided place and pre decided time but then it occurred to me that I had come to town after nearly two decade and this fellow who was living and had to earn his livelihood in order to rear his family, so I should not expect that he would sacrifice his daily routine just for a useless person like me who did not care to come to the town from a long period of twenty years. However, that fellow turned up after ten minutes and felt sorry that he kept me waiting. Though I had ample time of two full day to do this job but still I showed enough dignity to accept his apology gracefully. Experience during these couple of days gave me this much knowledge that a lot has changed in the town as many of the rules, many of the offices and officers have changed during this time period. My work was just to get a copy of document related to my plot from the office of Municipal Council but I ran from pillar to post in these two days to get my work done despite a number of recommendations from the influential people and constant pursuing by my friend. This led me to rethink about my decision to settle in this town after superannuation. It occurred to me that I will have to start from the beginning to cultivate the relationships and contacts if I wanted to return to this town after retirement though my children and spouse were against this decision of mine. However I thanked my friends and class fellows and other citizens of this town who had helped me in getting my work done. Still this incident made me realise that though my friends and class fellows have lost no affection for me but they have their own lives and professions to look after and their own preoccupations and I should not expect that they should respond at my every beck and call and be with me all the twenty four hours of the day and night.

I returned to my home in the evening at 5.30 p.m and while I was sipping a cup of masala tea prepared by mother I realised that howsoever early you may go to a government office most of the official work is done after lunch between 3 and 5 p.m when the staff themselves, including the clerks and officers, are also in hurry to rush back to their homes so as to be in time for evening tea with their families so that no body can blame of punctuality that they followed meticulously of atleast leaving the office if not coming to the office in the morning. I enjoyed tea and snacks prepared by mother fully that were badly needed after spending so much time in the damp, badly lighted and badly ventilated rooms of the office building. After the tea I went outside for another round of the town to some of its familiar place but this time not on foot but on scooter of my younger sibling. When I returned back after a couple of hours after visiting a local park and a lake and spending some time holding the iron railing and enjoying the cool breeze coming from the lake there was an agitated debate going on between my parents regarding the ancestral property of the village. An immediate visit to the village was direly needed in order to sort out this dispute with my uncles and cousins. My father insisted me to accompany him to the village. Though my leave was at end but I could not refuse my ageing father and hence sent a letter to my office for extension of my leave for another week.

This was my opportunity to see countryside after a long time. In childhood during the vacations we used to go to the village along with my parents. So after mailing the leave application I joined my parents on this rural safari. It was decided to go by train as the journey to our village was an overnight journey and timely intimation about our arrival would bring one of my uncles or cousins to the nearest railway station to take us to the village on his second hand Jonga Jeep, last time used during the World War II, which was a rough and tough vehicle fit for the rural roads. This vehicle originated in America as General Purpose Vehicle to overcome the uncertainties of the horses during the military operations. The berths in the train were reserved that was to leave in the evening and reach our destination in the morning after an overnight journey. Both of my parents and I reached the station well in time and occupied the seats on the arrival of the train much in peace in comparison with the others due to rush of passengers in the unreserved and general coaches of the train. We had taken our dinner from our home along with us and opened the tiffin box as soon as we boarded the train though my parents were not in mood of early dinner but I thought that after dinner they can repose on their berths and get a good rest during the night and rise up fresh before reaching the village in the morning even after a long journey of twelve hours. As the train moved on the darkness of the dusk was descending though the objects outside were still visible. After some time my parents laid down on their berths while I was still sitting on my side berth as it was a constant source of irritation for me the whole night as the passing passengers disturbed me constantly and then you have to keep constant vigil of your slippers. At midnight I felt the urge to go to the wash room but to my dismay I found that one of my slippers was missing. In the darkness of the night I discovered that it had already reached the destination I intended to visit by somebody who had dragged it unconsciously up to this place. I went barefoot to the wash room to bring back my missing slippers to its proper place. As I was about to doze off to sleep ticket conductor came to verify the identity of the passengers. The whole night passed in animated restlessness despite having the reserved berth but it was a side berth so I had to face all the vagaries attached to it.

As the light of the dawn spread in the sky the train had reached an entirely different terrain of endlessly stretched green fields extended to the edge of the railway line on which the train was running. From the window of my coach I saw that villagers were busy in their morning activities of drawing water, taking out cattle for grazing, and even washing the cattle and even themselves. Our train glided slowly on to the platform of an important garrison town of the country that was quite near the international border. As train was to stop here for nearly half an hour as the engine would change the direction so we took light breakfast along with tea as it would well be afternoon before we reached the village. Other platforms were full of carriages with military vehicles like tanks, armoured vehicles, canons and military trucks. Train moved out of the platform exactly at the appointed time and after a couple of hour’s more journey we reached the final destination though the train was late by ten minutes but it was considered nothing seeing to the history of the railways of the nation.

As the train moved into the platform I spotted out my cousin and uncle standing on the platform. Though my cousin was now fully grown up with dark moustaches but still he was recognizable. I waved to him in glee and he too along with his father waved back to me in visible joy. My father was first to get down from the coach, followed by my mother and me trailing with the bags and other luggage in my hands. My cousin moved forward to help me by taking the suitcase from my hand. My father and uncle embraced each other while I and my cousin bent down before my uncle and my father respectively to greet them and to get their blessings. All of us started moving towards the exit of the station and my cousin arranged our suitcases and other luggage at the backside of his vehicle and we started off towards the village. As we moved towards the hinterland roads became narrower and traffic thinner though the hearts of the people appeared to be getting larger and more generous. They did not care even for a piece of land lying unused while people of the city would fight tooth and nail even for a stone leave aside a piece of land.

Jeep stopped at the large entrance made of iron of a farm house. The entrance gate was large enough even to allow a tractor to pass without any inconvenience. The whole farm was surrounded by iron angels with barbed wire stretched over it keep cattle away form it so as to avoid the damage to the crop. At one end of the farmhouse there was a two storey construction of about half a dozen rooms where my uncles and cousins resided with their families. My cousin stopped the jeep at the gate of the house where the families of my uncles and cousins were waiting to welcome us while the people from neighbouring farms were peering over from other farms and waving at us as a gesture of welcome. My cousin and I took the luggage to the Central Hall, where the whole family was waiting for us with snacks and a warm cup of tea. After the tea our luggage was moved to a room which was specially vacated for the purpose of our comfortable stay in the house and we also moved to that room for a wash and change and get some rest for a couple of hours before the lunch would be announced. Though mostly villagers had the routine of a couple of meals per day but they had altered their routine to three meals a day so that we may not feel odd, strange and uncomfortable.

During both my meals the quality of milk products like butter, buttermilk and curd was par excellence and there was even a flavour and aroma in the vegetables, that were picked fresh from the back yard garden of the house that was missing in the cuisines of the towns and perhaps created synthetically in the meals served in the restaurants and hotels. After the lunch we had another bout of siesta for a couple of hours when tea was ready to be served along with the home made rustic biscuits- both sweet as well as salty. After taking tea I came out of my room and to my surprise I found that a person was putting up tent in the forecourt of the house and an electrician was putting rice lights to decorate the house and another man was installing speakers and sound system. My uncles and cousins had arranged a party and invited all the people of the village to welcome us to the village after a long time. As by 7.00 p.m evening was getting cooler people started pouring in while the light music was floating in the environment accompanied by twinkling colourful decorative lights. As I came into the tent after having bath and change I found nearly half a dozen circular tables arranged in the tent and two high neck chairs on a raised stage in the centre to welcome my parents back to the village. In one corner was dancing floor with two vertical large speakers giving out soft light music in the beginning and as the party progressed it switched to pop and folk music as per the demands of the audience. In another corner was a table laid in L pattern on which were arranged bottles of hard and soft drinks and on the other wing of the table dongas of edible things were placed. Villagers soon started enjoying both party as well as music and food and drink was being served by smartly attired waiters who were moving consistently around the tables perhaps due to fear of my cousin who had threatened then that he is not going to pay them even a penny if some guest complains or feels neglected. They were showing much concern particularly for the guests form the town that is us and other prominent people of the village. To the accompaniment of their favourite music some young boys of the village- mostly friends and class fellows of my cousins started dancing on the semi-circular floor placed in the one corner of the tent just in front of two large speakers. Everybody had nice time, nice food, nice entertainment and nice enjoyment of this pleasant morning. It was nearly midnight when every guest departed for his house though some were taken with the help of their friends and relatives.

As we had slept late in night due to celebrations so some of us slept late in the morning. However some, particularly womenfolk got up at the same time to look after the cattle as their routine cannot be changed so as to get good quality products from them. Not only their milk but even their waste matter had economic and medicinal properties. After the usual breakfast of stuffed paranthas with butter and buttermilk we were taken around the village so that we can observe the latest achievements and developments in the village. We saw village bank, village dispensary, village dairy, and village school and a youth club that had gymnasium equipped with the latest equipments and a library developed by some of the enthusiastic young educated people of the village. It was only in the late afternoon that we came back from the tour of the village. My father was overjoyed to see the familiar place of the village after a long time and to see the latest developments in the village like water and electric supply facilities and even telephone connections with a mini exchange in the village. When we returned lunch was waiting for us consisting of garden fresh vegetables and rice pilaf along with curd and buttermilk. As we had gone to the village tour on foot and as weather was hot, so naturally we were tired and after this heavy lunch it did not occur to me atleast on which cot I am lying for a couple of hours. We were shaken off from the sleep by aromatic brewing of tea leaves in the boiling water. So I got up for a steaming hot cup of tea with cookies.

After the early dinner everybody was sitting in the compound of the house when discussion on business matter commenced. My father’s contention was that the annual revenue from the land was declining consistently while the yield of the land had increased over the years by the use of high breed seeds, insecticides, pesticides and fertilizers while my uncle’s argument was that land has to be tended like a child, soil is to be turned and replaced, it has to be updated by rooting out weeds constantly and even sometimes land had to be kept fallow too so as to strengthen its vitality and fertility. My uncle and cousins rather accused us of neglecting the land and even killing it still it was nature’s miracle that land was giving something and not asking anything to be invested. My father felt that the neighbouring farmers were encroaching on their fields which was the main cause of decline in land revenue as he cannot remain in the village as he had a job to do in the town, so he was paying penalty for being the only educated working man from the village who had brought laurels to the village by getting the government job. He suspected that he was being cheated by somebody near and dear. Hardly had he uttered these words when my uncle and cousins retorted back angrily that they have cared for our land as their own, they have sweated for it and even picked up quarrels for it and now this the reward that they are getting for their efforts that they are being branded as cheats. This argument would have taken an ugly turn but for the village elders who interceded and suggested that identification and measurement of land would be right step to solve this problem and remove the doubt of encroachment if any. Somebody even suggested to take electric connection and install water pump that can enhance the rent of the land as well as its yield. But this idea did not appeal to my father as first of all there was a long waiting list for the applicants for the connection and secondly my father at this stage of life did not want to run from office to office and table to table to get the electric connection. I was unable to comprehend all these things and terms as I was nearly twice remove from reality. So before going to bed it was decided to file an application in the office of local revenue office to identify and measure the land owned by us in order to convince my father that his land was still intact and nobody had encroached upon his land.

Though next day everything was normal but still there was some tension in the air and the generosity of our host has disappeared to some extent. Even the breeze seemed to have stopped for some time. It is rightly said about Indian peasant that you can get anything from him- food, drink , hospitality till you demand the information about your land from him. The moment you ask him about your land he will turn your sworn foe even though he may be your one of the closest relative. Though the warmth of our host was reduced but still they escorted us to the village revenue office after hosting a lavish breakfast. A lone Peon was sitting on the steps of village revenue office who informed that that Village Revenue Officer ( Patwari) would only be able to come after lunch as he was busy in the tour of some Revenue Secretary in the adjoining villages as those villages were also being looked after by him as there was shortage of personnel in revenue department of the state government like other departments as the vacancies for fresh appointments were pending from a long time and with time the work load was increasing day by day. However it suited the officials well as it would facilitate them in showing their importance and taking bribes from the people even for the routine work under the cover of being too much busy. It was strange that despite being corrupt these revenue officials enjoyed great respect and reputation in the rural society even more than village teacher who was much more educated than them and people equated them even with God as they had power to harm the interests of the people. Villagers prostrated before them as if they were their masters while the truth in democracy was that public was the master our of whose taxes these officials are being paid salary. These things not only prevail but even thrive in our so called democratic society and only God knows when these things will change.

Due to persistent and constant efforts of my cousins and recommendation of village elders finally this official obliged by agreeing to visit the site day after tomorrow. At the appointed time and appointed place everybody required for the operation was present at the site. Patwari along with his peon came with his measuring tape and ranging rods came and marked the land owned by my father with wooden pegs with the help of other villagers. It was found that neighbouring farmers had encroached upon our land and though they claimed it to to be their path to the main road that they had right to but still they agreed to vacate the land as soon as the crop ripened and was reaped. Though the neighbouring farmers appeared to have accepted the verdict of the Revenue Official by nodding their head meekly but who knows what were they planning to do in future as none of us can not afford to be in village for ever. As soon as this exercise was over my uncle and cousins exclaimed in one voice to my father that now your land has been demarcated and identified, so now you free us from this responsibility and look after your land yourself and do not complain if it gets encroached upon again in future or you get less yield or rent on land. My father suddenly felt himself left out as he had no option but to leave land with my uncle and cousins and accept whatever they offer as its rent in future as he did not knew anybody in the village except close neighbours and no body in the village was ready to interfere between the matters of two brothers and that too on the issues related to land. Now tension in the family was released to a great extent though the relations were still a bit estranged. My uncle and cousin agreed to pay a certain amount to my father in return annually to till the land and get the crops. Still my father was contented that he had been able to prove the ownership of his land before the rural peasant society though he felt that income from land is surely going to decline in coming years as now he was dependent on his brother and nephews and will have to accept whatever they offered. This was the cost that he had to give for getting educated and a job in the town and for leaving the village in order to get better life for his family. My father knew that his brother and nephews would be ready with excuses like less rainfall, more rainfall, crop destroyed due to hailstorm, due to excessive cold and so on and so forth so as to get exemption in the payment of full amount. It is an unacknowledged fact that a farmer is amicable and generous till you do not touch his land and income from it. Machiavelli had rightly remarked that a King is safe till he spares the property and women of the people. So whether a man belongs to rural or urban society he is likely to become victim of greed and avarice for money and property.

So nothing more to do in the village we decided to return to the town and luckily got seats for the next day in the train. Though my father and uncle had difference of opinion still they had not quarrelled with each other. Even their families and children were quite sincere in their request to visit them again in future. Again the villagers collected in the compound of the farm house to bid adieu to us as soon as they got the news that we are leaving for the town. As the Jonga carried us out of the gate of the farm house everybody present was giving us farewell with folded hands and tears in the eyes. It did not appear in the slightest that these people were shouting and opposing each other only a couple of days back. Had it happened in the town people would not have spoken for the rest of their lives. Though, like my parents, I also agreed to visit the village again yet in the heart of my hearts even I also did not know whether I would be able to visit the village again in my life or it would be my last visit. The most admirable feature of the behaviour of the rural people was that there was no artificiality in their behaviour. They were simple hearted, yet alert people. My cousin dropped us at the station and though he was reluctant to stay till train came but as the train was late by couple of hours so we forced him to go and reach the house before the darkness of the evening descended. As train was late so very few passengers were left at the platform. Most of the local people went for buses or other modes of transport when they came to know that the train was running behind the schedule.

As usual I got the side berth and all the inconveniences associated with it. As train reached late in the morning so I could not proceed to my work place the same day. So from the station we took the cab and reached our house. My father was quite happy and contented with the support that I gave to him that enabled him to visit his native village once again and he felt that most of the motives of the visit had been realised as he had visualised to a great extent. As at home we were back after a week long absence so were welcomed quite warmly by the family members. I planned to start for my working place next day early in the morning so that I can reach the place by the time the office opens. After lunch I took a quick round of the town to thank my friends and well wishers who had helped and cooperated with me to realise the aims of my visit. After evening tea I spent most of the time with the members of my family telling them the experiences of the visit and distributing the gifts that we had brought from the village like home made organic jaggery, peanuts and village bakery’s healthy and nutritious biscuits made of milk, pure ghee, butter and sugar. My cousin’s eldest son took a whole day to get them made by taking the ingredients to the village bakery and stood at its door the hole day keeping an eye of the ingredients till they were put in the process of making biscuits as he had heard that Village Baker was a cheat and would do some mischief the moment he moved away from the bakery. His hard work, along with the skill of the baker, was being reflected in the aroma, flavour and taste of the biscuits that was entirely different from the biscuits available in the town as they were fresh, healthy, nutritious and much crispier than the biscuits of the market. I took early dinner and went to bed early as I had to get up early next morning and leave just after taking morning tea. .

Next morning I was very much on time but as it was early morning I was unable to find the conveyance to the bus stand till I had covered half the distance on foot. I was just in time to catch the first bus to my work place. Since I had woken up early today so I dozed off as soon as bus came out of town and the sweet cool fresh breeze hit my face and slept atleast for a couple of hours when nearly half of the distance was covered. I woke up when the rays of the rising Sun coming through the window panes hit my face. At a stop I took a cup of tea in order to shed off sloth and laziness from my body. After the journey of five hours I rushed straight away to my office from the bus stand and office had just opened for fifteen minutes when I made entry and straight away to my table. In office too I dozed off and on and everybody knew that I had come to office today after undertaking the journey of 200 kms so they ignored my dozing during the office hours,particularly my post lunch siesta as I had a heavy lunch that I had ordered from the office canteen. In the evening somebody got me a cup of tea and after an hour after having tea office time was over and i rushed to my residence which was a Three room flat in a multi-storied housing society on its third floor. This place was nearly 8 kms from my working place.

As I am covering the distance between office and my flat let me tell you the story of acquiring this flat in a housing society. In today’s modern era due to rising population particularly in the metro towns land was proving to be inadequate to house all the people, so some of the enterprising businessmen and builders thought to go vertical by constructing multi-storied buildings containing all the basic amenities of life like security, water and power back up, swimming pool , garden, shopping areas and a common hall of the society where functions can be held and organized besides flats for the inmates living in that particular society. Of course this process started first of all in bigger towns of the country like Delhi, Kokotta, Chennai,Mumbai and Bengaluru and later on it came to smaller towns like Jaipur, Ahmedabad, Chandigarh and Bhopal. Their idea was to build multi-storied buildings offering different flats of different sizes for sale like three bedroom flats, two bedroom flats, single bed room flat and studios for students and single strugglers. So nearly a decade ago I thought to buy a flat in order to escape the hegemony of paying rent to house owner who often threatened to keep the house neat, clean and tidy other wise look for some other accommodation and raised the rent punctually every year. With the help of my parents I somehow managed to collect the down payment and luckily I got finance from the bank easily. So I decided to buy this flat thinking that even after paying the rent life long I am not going to own that house while after paying EMI’s to the bank after a decade I will become owner of the flat. Like most of the office going salaried class I preferred to get finance from the bank as I would get rebate in Income Tax under payment of interest. So after repeated meeting with officials and submitting various documents from the office and personal record again and again and after signing a number of forms and putting finger prints on it bank officials obliged to gave me loan. They even took post dated signed cheques from me that in case I defaulted in payment of EMI they can retrieve the amount of the instalment. After submitting all the relevant documents like salary slips, promissory notes from my employer, signatures and profiles of guarantors as in these days rarely a person gives consent to become a guarantor I was sanctioned the loan by the bank officials whose repayment would begin after six months on agreed amount of EMI that would be automatically deducted from the salary account. I wonder even if such stringent paper work still the scams in the bank happened and people ran away after taking the loan of huge amounts from the bank. Surely this cannot happen without the unholy alliance connivance between the bank officials and powerful politicians. While a common man had to spend an umpteen number of tea and refreshment parties and a dinner party to the court officials, bank officials and guarantors to oblige.

After paying the down payment I was registered with the housing society and a certain space in the air was allotted in my name as my flat was on the second floor of the G+4 structure that builders had promised to build and deliver within the period of two years. However, at present it was just a piece of land in which some machines were working to dig a vast hole in it it which I was told was basement that would be used for the parking space of the vehicles of the inmates of the building. My builder was true to his promise as nearly in a couple of years his machines had transformed the barren rocky land with a lone wall at one corner into a multi-storied building with hundred flats ready to be occupied by the owners. This building had its own Gen-Set as power back up to generate electricity for the inmates in the times of power cut, its own water supply system out of the well that they had dug before starting the construction, escalators and fire alarm system with long never ending rubber pipes rolled on to the steel circular holder. I got builder’s notice to occupy the flat by getting it registered in my name as the whole amount has been paid by the bank and only maintenance amount is to be paid out of which security services, cleaning services, and services of electricians and plumbers would be met. Again the whole officialdom of green, pink and white stamp papers ensued, witnesses were being asked not only to sign the papers but also to produce their photographs and identity cards. So on the appointed day we marched into a dark, narrow , gloomy looking building at the corner of the market known as Registration Office where no t only I had to sign a number of papers but my photograph was taken by the digital camera, finger prints of both the hands were taken and even the colour of the retina of my eyes was taken along with a number of documents like UID cards, DOB Certificate, Address Proof, PAN Card, Passport and even photocopy of the account book of my salary account. I still wonder despite following all these procedures stringently how land scams happened in this country surely there is some cunning connivance and unholy alliance between corrupt government officials and power mad politicians. It nearly took the whole day to complete the formalities and stars in the sky had appeared when we left the precincts of the Registration Office and it was nearly dinner time by the time we reached home. I was so much tired in the sweaty cramped space of the government office that was badly lit and ill ventilated that I fell sound asleep as soon as my head touched the pillow after taking hurried dinner and two helpings of vanilla ice cream.

I got the papers of the ownership after a fortnight from the office of the housing society and the Manager of the society handed me over the keys of my flat. Then began the long excruciating process of furnishing the flat. Though it was not easy to procure material also like cement, sand, iron rods, sanitary fittings, electric switches and the like but much more difficult than this was to run after the technical workers like carpenters, electricians, masons, plumbers and the like and then it was nearly impossible to get it completed within the stipulated time to your satisfaction and within your budget. I am highly disappointed with the non-professional attitude of these workers in our country. First of all so as to lure you to give them the work they would begin with giving you a wrong estimate both of money and time. By the time a project is complete its cost nearly doubles which is to be borne by the poor customer. Then they, so as to ensure their steady income, take too much work on themselves than their capacity and as a result they are unable to complete the work of anybody in time. Mostly the workers are still giving finishing touches till the last second of the time of house warming ceremony. It took nearly six months, half a dozen leave and most of the mornings and evenings of this time to get the work completed so as to make it reasonably liveable. During this time I went to my home late at night and straight way moved towards bed after taking dinner and in the morning after taking tea used to rush to the flat. I was in hurry to move to the flat as I wanted to get rid of paying the rent to my landlord.

So ultimately I was able to decide the date of shifting to the flat. Though I had become master of the flat yet I had to pay besides EMI’s of the loan the maintenance amount annually to the housing society for availing security, electricity, water and common utility area facilities like park, lifts, gym, pool and the like. Housing society consisted of Park, Swimming Pool, Entertainment Room consisting of library, Table Tennis, Billiards and Carom facilities, a Common Community Hall and a Gym. This building also housed an office of the society where full time as well as part time workers were employed to make the lives of the people comfortable and pleasant. Security Guards and Cleaning Workers who cleaned the common utility areas of the building like the lobbies twice a day were permanent workers. Electricians, plumbers, carpenters and even doctors and para medic staff were part-time workers who were available on demand at a fee. Though the residents of the building had also formed a Management Committee with President, Secretary and Treasurer that held regular meetings to sort out the problems of the inmates related to water, electric supply and even parking problems that led to frequent squabbles between the residents. When I shifted to this society nearly 70 % of the flats were occupied. A few flats were being used by some family member of the owner of the flat,some were on rent and some of them were lying vacant or in the process of getting furnished. It appeared some of the people had bought flats just to invest their money as they were interest neither in living it themselves nor in giving it on rent to somebody. Some of then were living abroad or in other parts of the country and the state and merely using flats as their vacation homes.

At the house warning ceremony I invited only close members of family, relatives and my colleagues of my office. A puja was performed in the morning followed by tea and breakfast in the Common Hall of the Society and then by the lunch. Mostly my friends and colleagues from the office attended the lunch in the afternoon. Lunch was ordered from the home where I had lived as a paying guest for a few days when I began doing job. They were nice couple and their preparation of food was just like home without any excess of spice, chilly and oil. They were very much happy to know about my well being and when I went to give the order for the lunch. I made it a point to invite them too to the lunch because firstly they were one of my first acquaintance in the city and secondly that assured the good quality of the food that they are going to eat themselves.

As the cab put its brakes I was jerked into the present and I saw myself in the front entrance of the building. After paying off the cabman I was welcomed by the security guard warmly who handed me over the mail that I had received during my absence. After taking mail it occurred to me to take milk and eggs, so I moved towards the shopping complex that contained four shops of grocery, vegetables, electric and a general store. Most of the shopkeepers knew me from my face and enquired about my absence and guessed it rightly that I must have gone to my village. After buying the essential things I moved southwards passing before he Gym, Club House and Common Hall. To the north of it were children park and swimming pool. Passing before a number of flats I took the nearest lift to reach my flat that was situated at the southern tip of the building. I knocked the door of my house. Though there were stairs too in the building but people mostly used lifts and only used stairs in the times of emergencies and exigencies. It was a pleasant surprise to meet my wife and children who had just returned from their maternal grandparents in the afternoon only.

After the bath and refreshing cup of tea I was relaxing before taking dinner. After the I went for an evening walk around the building coming across a number of people both known and unknown to me. Known faces smiled at me and asked about my well being as mostly they were people living in the nearby flats while unknown faces were either new comers to the society or the guests of the owners of the flats already living in the facility. From my both he neighbours I updated myself about the latest developments in the society during my absence like the number of families who have moved into or out of the society and the squabbles, quarrels and arguments caused due to wastage of electricity, water and parking issues. Though society had allotted a parking slot to every resident but often people parked vehicle according to their convenience and hence cause inconvenience to some body.

Hardly a month had elapsed after my return from the visit to my home town and ancestral village that humanity was assaulted by a strange invisible enemy that caused a certain death if it succeeded in infecting lungs. Even people can not be identified by some symptoms as suffering from this killer disease. There was no medicine available for it and prevention was the only cure. The only mantras to confront it was isolation, using masks, using sanitisers and keeping distance . It had nearly brought the human life to a halt. Offices, schools, public places were closed at once to contain its infection. As it was caused by a virus named as COVID-19 that was spread due to air sacs ejected through man’s nose and mouth while sneezing and coughing. So every sneezing and coughing person was looked at with distrust and looked as being potential killer. Even some of the most powerful and rich people of the society were helpless before him and could do nothing but await their certain death. People had come to know of certain terms like Sanitisers. Earlier only helpers of the seriously patients had heard about it but now it was on the mouth of ever y body. Nearly 15 lac people had become its victim. Moreover a patient of this strange malady had to die in isolation as even his nearest and the dearest were afraid of going near him for the fear of being infected. Even they were afraid to come near their dead bodies. You can only watch your near and dear depart from this world from a safe distance and the patient had to face the agony of dying in loneliness when he needed the company and help of others the most. This was a very strange, unfortunate and miserable phase that the humanity had to pass through from a couple of years. Doctors and medical staff which was considered one of the most coveted profession in the society became the most vulnerable and dangerous profession of the world as doctors could not go to their homes for months for the fear of infecting their near and dear ones. Even it was also not known that this calamity was natural or man made as it had originated from a certain town in China. Wherever the infected people were found their houses were isolated, their colonies were cut off from the external world till they were pronounced negative of virus. They had to struggle a lot even to get their daily need of groceries, eggs, milk , tea and even water. Even penal steps were taken by the administration to keep people inside their houses so as to contain the infection as far as possible. People came forward for voluntary curfews so as to contain the spread of virus for many days altogether. Restrictions were put on family functions like marriage ceremonies and religious ceremonies so as to avoid the collection of people at one place.

As schools, colleges and offices were closed due to this strange malady and people were discouraged from moving outside their houses so a new concept came of work from home as these days every body was computer literate and had a laptop of his own so the employers expected a person to work for the company or firm or office from home. Earlier it appeared lucrative as one can work at his inconvenience and according to his comfortable posture or place but slowly people realised that this practice had made them servant for twenty four hours and all the days of the week as a phone from your boss even at midnight can ask you to update him on certain issue whereas boss had no sway on his employees after working from 9 a.m or 10 a.m to 5 p.m or 6 p.m but now he can ask you to work at any time even on Saturdays, Sundays and other holidays as you are destined to carry your yoke of servility around your neck in the form of your lap tops. A person is not free even on vacations and holidays. One good thing that voluntary isolation and containment had done was that people came back to roof tops in the morning and evenings to walk as they cannot go outside their houses and secondly man who had become cut off from his family members was now giving and spending more time with his family members and children. He was playing indoor games and some games like Badminton on roof tops with his children to spend his time. It led to the re emergence of family as a social institution. Even the students had to abstain themselves from attending classes in the schools and colleges and they had to attend on line lectures and classes given by their teachers. Teacher too had to update themselves technologically and professionally to come at term with the changed times and adopted online teaching methods by recording and uploading their videos for the benefit of the students. This scenario had altogether changed the attitude of man towards the life as every day appeared to be one of the last day of your life as you never know when you will be infected and who is living or walking by your side is infected or not. It has made man realise that wealth is not everything , it cannot make man immortal for ever. However with the persistent efforts of scientists and doctors who had succeeded in bringing its vaccine in a record time the spread of infection has been contained to a large extent if not annihilated altogether.

As it COVID-19 was not a enough lesson for humanity to reform another danger to humanity appeared in the form of a highly destructive war between two prominent nations of the world that has caused immense destruction of cities, buildings and caused untold innumerable miseries to suffering humanity. Even hospitals, schools, metro stations have also not been spared where civilians were taking shelter. People were killed mercilessly, even women children and psychic patients have also not been spared. In this war humanity has touched its new nadir. God knows when the sense will prevail and peace will come or this war has all the potentialities to break into a World War and annihilate the human civilisation by wiping it for ever and make this beautiful planet uninhabitable by using nuclear weapons and other weapons of mass destruction. It is not yet know that world bodies will succeed in containing this senseless mad violence which is putting humanity to shame. Daily pictures of war crimes appearing on Television and Newspapers are highly disturbing and disgusting. In this scenario it is hard to tell whether humanity will survive on the Earth or not.

It is my habit to reflect on these issues confronting human society an hour before going to bed. My own experience of life as I had seen at three places- my ancestral village, my home town and my working place. When I think of my ancestral village I get the image of large enormous farm houses with large rooms and equally large hearted simple people of the village among whom my father spent his childhood, got educated and came to work in the town. When I think of the Penthouse that my father bought in the town where he got the job and where I spent my childhood and got my education and when I think of life in the multi-storied building in the flat of a housing society where you neither own the floor nor the roof but a certain space on a certain floor of a large structure. Life everywhere had been a struggle for existence though the degrees of struggle may vary according to the circumstances and place. At every level you will find both good, average and evil people though the proportion may vary. At every level whether it is a village, town or a metro the struggle between good and evil is omnipresent and you are bound to get your share decided by your destiny in life howsoever hard you may try to avoid it. You are bound to confront evil whose only aim and pleasure is to give pain to others but this pain and sufferings will strengthen you as a human being and make you a maturer person like a piece of gold that emerges in its pure form when it is heated in fire. The best possible course for an honest decent average man is to take help and aid it in the struggle of life so as to empower it and try to avoid and even ignore the evil by bearing the pains and suffering inflicted on you quite stoically. As I tried to contemplate more sleep overpowered me and I came to the oblivious world of sweet sleep that is balm of nature.

End