21st to 31st May

The treatment of Venita continued. A number of diagnostic tests have been done & some are yet to be done. Blood tests so far have not indicated much except that she is highly diabetic. Neha came. On 22nd came to know about the death of Venita's mother at about 1100 hours. She had been in the hospital for over two weeks now.She was taken home for a couple of days in between but had to be rushed back to the hospital as she felt uncomfortable in breathing. She was over 85 years. She lived a full life with even most of her grand-children getting married. She also had a number of great grand-children. Venita was quite upset.I talked to Dr.Varshney to release Venita from the hospital so that we could go to Allahabad for funeral of her mother. But the only flight to Allahabad had already gone at about 1pm & by train we would not have reached the funeral. We had to be satisfied by prayers for peace to the departed soul. I have not come across a lady who was so accomplished and had love for all and malice towards none as my mother -in-law. She was loving and caring, always spoke good of all. I never heard her talking ill of anyone. She had milk of human kindness for all. We decided to attend the ceremonies on the 13th day. In fact Venita had stayed with her mother from 6th May to 14th May for 8 days. She had gone to Allahabad on 6th when we got the information about her mother's illness early morning. She would have continued to stay there but for her sickness from 11th onwards. She had fever all these days & on return from there had to be admitted in RML hospital on 20th to 24th May.
On 23rd had a conference at Sainik Farms in connection with Frigoglass case. The mother of Mr. Mathur,IAS(Retired), is putting up in the adjacent room of the nursing home for treatment. He is a 1971 batch officer of J&k cadre. Neha came. In fact she is coming everyday to visit us. Subhash came. On 24th after release of Venita from the RML hospital,went to Chandigarh in connection with Frigoglass case. Attended the High Court of Punjab & Haryana on 25th.The case is adjourned to 27th July.Bought tickets on 26th to go to Allahabad on 2nd June and return on 3rd June after attending 13th day ceremonies of Late mother-in-law.
It is Buddha Purnima on 27th. The Buddha was born, enlightened and attained Nirvan on this day.
All the days between 21st to 31st May have been hectic,depressing & trying. We have put up with the stress & have now to pursue further investigation of Venita in AIIMS for Mitotic Leision in her right breast.The two chest experts who examined her right breast at RML hospital, told my daughter-in-law,Neha, that there was nothing much to worry. They further suggested that we should get her examined in AIIMS also. Venita brushed aside their observation on the ground that they were quite young and could not be relied upon in view of cet scan and mamography of the chest reports which pointed to existence of some suspicious growth. We therefore cannot be reticent and have to get Venita thoroughly examined in AIIMS. However there is no hurry and we can do it as soon as possible after ascertaining the name of most qualified Consultant in the area.
Received a mail on 28th from Barun regarding surrender of .38 revolver of his late father to the Kote of Alwar on the orders of DM. I felt quite bad about it. I got intrigued in late 70s when Barun got the order for transfer of the weapon to him against a license issued by the DM Alwar. The thought came into my mind as to how Barun could get a prohibited bore weapon transferred to himself. But as he got a license for it I had no alternative but to give it to him. After over 30 years the DM realized his mistake and rejected his prayer for extension of license anymore and directed him to deposit the same. Had he got a regular license for the weapon, even if it was of prohibited bore or subsequently became prohibited, the DM could not refuse extension of the license as per the existing rules.But as the permission to hold a prohibited bore weapon against a license for non prohibited bore was irregular since inception, it could not be extended further after it was noticed by the DM Alwar.The mistake was of his predecessor which could not be continued anymore. I wrote the following letter to Sh.Barun Verma in reply to his aforesaid letter.

"Dear Barun,
It is good you have deposited the weapon. I had a premonition as late as when I gave the weapon to you in late 70s. It had come to my mind that you could not hold it as it was a prohibited bore weapon. But then I saw you very sanguine to own it. I had thought that if I disagreed to its transfer to you, I would be misunderstood as if I was refusing to give your late father's weapon to you. Hence I agreed to its transfer to you.
I took up the renewal of your license of .38 revolver with Rajasthan Govt. through the DGP. I succeeded in it & the DM Alwar was directed to renew it.But as the permission to hold a prohibited bore weapon against a non prohibited bore license by the DM was void abinitio, it could not be renewed. The irregularity was detected quite late and there was no alternative for the DM but to withdraw the license and direct you to deposit it as you were not entitled to hold it.I fought a long battle and won it too. But ultimately had to surrender as I lost the moral ground.
Anyway all is well, that ends well. Althouth it will be tough to get it back to Delhi Police musuem in memory of your late father, but I will try to retrieve it as best as I can.I will keep you informed about the progress in this effort."

The lesson, learnt from the above episode is that we should not try to obtain things to which we are not entitled to. The cat is out of the bag invariably one day or the other and there is no way to bring it back. Although I will still try to bring the weapon to the Delhi Police museum so that it is exhibited there,but it is going to be tough job.As I have pursued tough tasks in my life, let there be one more.
The weapon belonged to late SC Varma,IPS,my father-in-law and Barun's father,held by him against a valid license.I could get it transferred to my name after his death with the concurrence of all his legal heirs as I was then an IPS officer and could hold it validly.None of his children could take it as it was a prohibited bore weapon and only Police officers and Armed forces officers could take it or others could also take if they could get a valid license from the MHA,Govt. of India. Generally the license for prohibited bore weapons are not given to members of the public unless there is a reasonable justification for the same.
On 29th after a good deal of effort got the appointment with Dr.AK Agarwal of RML Hospital on 31st May. On 30th Geeta came along with her husband and son. Munna had come on 28th. We had lunch together. All of them left in the evening.
On 31st May met Dr.AK Agarwal at 10.30 am. He prescribed some medicines. We are impressed by the pragmatic approach of Dr.Agarwal in eliciting information from the patient. He would like the patient to narrate her/his problems. He would not like him/her to beat about a bush and then prescribe the medicines. He cured Venita of diabetic diarrhea in December 2009. After that she developed heavy levels of blood sugar. We took the treatment of Dr. BB Gupta of the same hospital. We showed his prescription as well as the prescription of Dr. Godpyle of nursing home of RML hospital. After perusing both the prescriptions as well as his prescription given after release from RML hospital in Dec.09, he gave a new prescription. Quite often I face a problem of getting prescribed medicines from CGHS dispensary. Instead I am given their substitutes. Sometime the CGHS dispensary combines 2 prescribed medicines and gives only one medicine in lieu thereof. I mentioned this problem to Dr. AK Agarwal. He told me to tell the Dr. concerned to talk to him in this connection. I will do the same.Talked to Abhishree. She told me that after a long time her house was empty. For over a month she had a cousin sister of her mother and Mishty staying with her. Nobody wants emptiness. How can little grand-daughter like it? Human nature is peculiar. When there are people around, we feel sometimes as to when they will leave. But when they are gone we feel their absence. Even otherwise we feel empty inside unless we have learnt the technique of keeping our equilibrium and constant awareness. Vipassana helps us in this.