28,29,30 and 31

My father and grandsons

Below i narrate three episodes of my late father with his grandsons : After seeing Pilku at the age of 14/15 he told me that he was also like him at that age: lean thin and tall. One day his history teacher (an Englishman) equated him to a Marathi warrior who was lean, thin and tall and later became a strong person by regular exercises,proper food. My father told me how he took to wrestling and became captain of the team of the DAV College Kanpur from where he graduated and took law degree....One day he took Silku to the weekly market at Fatehpur. He was then about 10 year old. My father bought a bundle of 'Badh',used for repairing the ‘Charpais’.As  he was finding difficult to carry it by hands, so he kept it on his head and was walking happily . My father stopped to have a word with Munimji,a neighbor. He saw Silku carrying load of 'Badh' on his head. He asked him,'Don't you feel shy of carrying the load on you head ? You are son of a DIG.' Silku replied that he was son of the DIG but not the DIG.So why he should feel shy.  My father was very happy with his answer to Munimji.......He was very keen that one of  his grandsons should settle down at Fatehpur and look after ancestral property. He also thought of opening a clinic where one could,after medical degree, practice. He thought that Babloo,being the youngest, could keep his wishes.  Babloo happened to visit his grandfather when he was about ten. My father asked him to settle down at Fatehpur and his entire plan for him. Babloo told my father that he would do as he wished. My father was quite happy. He told me about it. But after talking to his grandfather he went and told cousin sisters living with my father that he won't stay at Fatehpur, that he had told the grandfather that he would stay at Fathehpur so that he did not feel bad. My father was disappointed. I assured him that i would come and stay at Fatehpur after retirement from service . But he did not believe me as he had come to know, i now had a flat in Delhi. I told him that i would let out Delhi flat. He did not believe. Keeping my promise to him i renovated/rebuilt the ancestral house after his death. I went there twice in a year and lived at least for ten days each time for about 30 years. The house was maintained as it was during his time. When travelling became a problem for us, i sold out the property

Quotable Quotes :"Forgiveness is the key to action and freedom."Hannah Arendt 

 21,22,23,24,25,26 and 27th

Grand kid moments

 I sometime remember those 'grand' moments with children. I thought i could share and put them down. Some are given below. I am giving details of only two of 'grand'moments of each kid. There are many more. They will follow in groups of two of each in due course.

Alaynah(10)...One day i was narrating a story of my visit to the Char areas of Brahmaputra river in Goalpara district of Assam to Alaynah. I told her how 25 to 30 members of a family lived in small cramped  thatched sheds. I further told her that it took me two to three days to visit all of them,that how i lived in the motorboat where a cook prepared food for me and that i also slept in it overnight. She listened me with full attention. She said how so many people could live together when she found difficulty in living with one sister........(2) Perhaps it was her 5th birthday. Cake had been cut. Happy birthday sung. All of us were having snacks. We noticed that the birthday-girl was missing. We saw that she was standing in one corner facing towards its walls. We heard a feeble voice addressing,"Mausi, you have not wished me". Pat came singing of another bout of chorus of happy birthday by  Mausi,Nani and joined by all of us. Alaynah who  had recused herself from celebration smiled and was happy to have had her way.....Akshat (14) He was 3 year old. I told him to come and stay with us. He said,'But who will clean my potty.' I said,'I will.' He started laughing and said,'You will clean me. You won't.' I could not convince him.....(2) At the same age, once his father went to Finland on work for few days. One day his Nani asked him,'Do you miss your Papa.' He said,'Yes,a bit bit'.....Amolikaa(16). She was about 4 year old. One day I put on Pilku's walking shoes. Amolikaa was nearby. Objecting she said,'These are Papa's shoes.’On intervention of her maid she allowed to me use Pilku's shoes. She objected the same way when i took Pilku's gloves.... (2) Once i could not accompany her to school. 'Why  did Dadaji not come to school with me today ? Is he angry ?' She asked her maid. It's not only i,she too was equally attached to me.   Abhishree (19). She was 3 year old. I got ready to go for evening walk. Sky was overcast with clouds. Abhishree was going up the stairs to her room in the first floor (duplex house). She about-turned on the last stair and said  in an authoritative tone,' Don't you see it may rain any moment ? Take an umbrella.'... (2)She was about 6 year old. She said that she wanted to go shopping with me. I said 'Fine',come with me. I took her to nearby South-field market. I was on foot. She was on bike. We entered a General store. I told her to buy any thing she liked. Jokingly she said,' Could i by the entire store.' I said,' Yes.'She went up and down the store for 10 minutes. Ultimately she picked up an ester egg....Khyati . She will be 20 on 10th October. First moment happened when she was not even two day old.When we came to know of her birth, we had strong yearning to see our first grand child. We were told that we should not come to the hospital and come home after mother and child shifted there. They were not sure when they would shift her to home. We told our son that we could not wait.  We gatecrashed into the Holy Angels hospital,Vasant Vihar on 11th October about 3 pm. She was born at 12.10 pm on 10th October. We got the information of her birth on 11th in the forenoon. We visited her and the mother with flowers and sweets. Khyati had been watching the drama. When we were about to leave,she raised her both the hands over the shoulders/head and said, 'Thank you Dadi Dada' .To hear her say that you needed her 'sense and sensibility'. We heard her clearly.....(2) Second episode happened when she was about 3 year old. She came to our house when we were residing at Vikaspuri. After a visit to the toilet she came out rushing and sat cross legged in Lotus position or Padmasana (Sanskrit: पद्मासन)and said,'Could you sit in this posture ?' I said that i could sit in Siddhasan,that is,only one leg up the other. She was elated with her one-upmanship. 

Quotable Quotes :"The unexamined life is not worth living."Socrates

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 18,19 and 20th

No honeymoon for us

After marriage i could not get approval of 45 day's earned leave and had to leave my newly married wife at Fatehpur on new posting in Assam. While i was given 15 days' leave post haste, nobody tried to to get additional leave so that two strangers could be together to know each other to start new life.I contacted the Commandant of 4th Bn where i was posted as Assistant Commandant. He said that i could avail of the leave in anticipation of approval but he won't give it in writing. My father-in-law who had suffered in service due to such slips advised me to go and come back when leave was granted. Marriage had not brought cheers in the family. Their was atmosphere of despondency. The Commandant wanted me to work as Adjutant of the Battalion. I preferred a field posting.I left for Baladhan to take over as Wing Commander of the area. I was in charge of three Border  Posts in NC Hills district of Assam. These were connected by foot tracks. One could visit them by day long trek at high altitudes. Nagas hostile to Govt too reportedly moved in the area. We were quite alert about their  movement to thwart any attack by them. My father-in-law was quite worried about my safety. He was instrumental in getting my posting as SDPO Sibsagar. I spent three long months at Baladhan. Venita and i used to exchange long letters. Whatever i wrote to her  and she to me was read by IB officers at base camp, Mahur. We were operating in an Operational area.I got her open letters. She also got my open letters. This did not deter us from writing 6/7 paged letters to each other more or less on daily basis . In the letters i invariably mentioned about  the growth of a wild plant, named by me as Vini (short form of Venita's name). It was known and called as such by all in the only Jemi Naga village of Baladhan and all Border Posts of Baldhan Wing. When not patrolling, i used to spend some time playing rummy with post Commander and the Unit pharmacist,of course,without stakes.....One day a Jemy lady (about 20) came to meet me. The Post commander told that she had been selected as Miss Baladhan last year. She told me her sordid story. My predecessor,a Muslim officer had promised to marry her and lived with her in the post for three months but was not responding to her after going back to BN headquarters. I reported the matter to the Commandant. I felt bad for the lady. But could not do much. I told her that i will pursue the matter at the BN headquarters....I was given a touching farewell by the local villagers (including Miss Baladhan ) and the post. At the BN the Commandant told that he could not do anything except reporting the matter to the IGP. I did try to pursue the matter in the office of the IGP. But none was bothered about it.......In the meantime approval of my leave came. I was allowed to avail of it. I was keen to go back to Venita and left for Fatehpur as soon i got reservation which was not difficult for us to get. In a conservative family like ours there was no scope for honeymoon. We cerebrated togetherness in the scorching heat of May and June at Fatehpur and left for Sibsagar at the end of 45 days on posting as the Sub-divisional police officer.

Quotable Quotes :"The learner always begins by finding fault, but the scholar sees the positive merit in everything."Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel

16 and 17th 

Granted leave without request 

In my blog of 7,8 and 9th i stated that i took Venita to Assam in 1967 after marriage. There were some interesting  development just before marriage. I was then posted as the Assistant Superintendent of police, Jorhat. One day my Superintandant of Police, an uncanny Bengali from Sylhet, of Jorhat, was informed by the then IGP,Assam that i had been granted 15 days casual leave to get married and that i should proceed to Fatehpur immediately. My father had not informed me about the sudden development. In fact he came to know after i informed him about it. My father-in-law had contacted the then DIGP Shri Lala Dey. He had come to know of him during his posting in Assam in early 60s. He was instrumental in getting me leave. In fact  Venita's Phufaji, then a Chief Engineer, CPWD had also spoken to IGP,BK Barua for my leave. I was not asked by IGP about leave. My position was worse than that of unassuming illiterate woman of India who were married without seeing their would-be life partner.....On arrival at Fatehpur i came to know that my sanguine sisters had  already done 'muh dekhai' of Venita and the first ceremony 'Bariksha' had been done. I saw Venita's  photograph. Before i could say anything about her, they said that she was quite thin and that her younger sister was better. But now nothing could be done. My father-in-law wanted me to visit his family. I told him that my family won't like it before marriage. I wish i could have mustered courage and met the family before marriage. Perhaps we were not destined for that..... At  Jorhat i was seen off by Jhinganarn family and some police officers. Shri Jhingran was the Principal of the local Central School. I remember that their 8 year old daughter was crying bitterly and telling,'Uncle, don't get married so early'......After all the above, marriage was a fait accompli.

Quotable Quotes :"Silence is one of the hardest arguments to refute."Josh Billings

14 & 15th July : Two gems

Our two gems.

 (1)Khyati(19)is now Student Doctor at Sheffield.                                                                                                                   (2)Amolikaa(16) in Central court at Wimbledon, our two Gems.               

 

 12 and 13th

Visit to Kajiranga

After completion of a course at the then Central Police Training College,Mount Abu, I joined as the Assistant Superintendent of Police,Jorhat,Assam in December 1965 for field training of one year. During this period, i was attached to Bokakhat police station. Kaziranga,the abode of famous single horned rhinoceros,is situated in Bokhakhat PS area. I visited Kaziranga National Park for the first time on one fine early morning over an huge elephant. Our first encounter there was with a couple fawns (baby deer).They came and stood in front of the elephant. The elephant tried to scare them by its trunk. They smiled and disappeared in the bushes for a while. The elephant moved a bit. They again appeared.This game continued for about half an hour. Later i noticed that the elephant ignored them and started moving on its track. The SHO who on an other elephant along with a couple of armed escort constables said smilingly that perhaps the animals wanted to have good look at their new IPS officer. We saw a number of rinos,buffalo and wild pigs in the park.On way back i was looking for those two little fawns in the bushes and around.Ultimately i located them. From inside the bushes they were looking up and twitched their eyelids. I waived,they smiled and disappeared. This episode reminded me of two young Tibetan girls twitching their eyes and calling me to them in Darjeeling.They also disappeared thereafter.I was then a student (20) of LL.B in Allahabad University and had accompanied the Photography proficiency diploma group of the University for photography practicals there.There is astounding similarity in human and animal behavior.

Quotable Quotes :"The Christian ideal has not been tried and found wanting; it has been found difficult and left untried."Gilbert K. Chesterton

11th

Image of a close relation

Kamrup district of Assam had 3 Sub Divisions : Barpeta,Nalbari and Guawahati. While posted there i used to go for night checks there once a week alternately. It was an overnight work. Absentees policemen were censored. During one such check, i noticed a young woman one night standing on roadside signalling us to stop at about 4 am near Maligaon,headquarters of the NF Railways in Guawhati. I told the driver to stop the vehicle. I looked at the woman. She must be about 5 and half feet tall,fair,putting on white sari with sharp features speaking in English. She looked liked a close relation. After seeing us she started crying. She told us that she had been thrown down the bus after robbing her night'earnings of Rs. 300/- by the driver and handyman and that they  drove away towards Noonmati side. I told the police officer escorting us to follow the Noonmati route in search of the bus,its driver and handyman. After an hour long chase/search we located the bus,driver and handyman at the Noonmati bus stand. The woman recognized them. We brought them to police station. They accepted the crime and returned the amount. We allowed the woman to go with the amount and kept the driver and handyman for legal action. It was by now about 7 am on a cold morning. All the time i was thinking as to why i took so much interest in such case. It could have been handled at the Thana level. Whether the image of that close relation which i saw in the woman motivated me to take action at my level ? I cannot say.

 Quotable Quotes :"You are remembered for the rules you break."Dougl MacArthur.

 10th

A journey from Titabor to Shillong and back with Varun and Tarun

Varun and Tarun came to visit us at Titabar some time in 1970 when i was posted there as the then Commandant of 3rd Assam Police Battalion. They wished to visit Shillong. I took permission from the then I.G. of Police Assam. We went there by jeep.Then we had no car. It was over 6 hour long journey. On way we had lunch at Gauwahati. By the time we reached Shillong,we were all very tired. We had early dinner and retired to sleep.... Shri Lala B.K.Dey was the I.G.of Police(Then there was no DGP. IGP was Head of Police). He invited us for breakfast. He had a sprawling Piano. He asked Barun and Tarun if they could play the piano. As my father-in-law knew him he was especially taking care of us. We spent the remaining day in sight seeing at Shillong. Next day we left for Titabar...On way we had breakfast at Barapni lakeside in the outskirts of Shillong and lunch at Gauwahati Police guest house. We left Gauwahati at about 4 pm. About 2 hours away from our home, our jeep developed combustion problem. The driver parked the vehicle on the left of AT road. He was trying to rectify the problem. He had switched on headlights as now it was quite dark. His idea was to warn the vehicles coming from the opposite direction so that they did not dash against it leaving the space on the left to drive through. All the opposite side traffic went through smoothly. Then came a State transport bus from the same direction as we had come thinking that our vehicle was on its right side(with headlights on) and tried to pass though our left and as there was no road it plunged into the sidelines with a thump. The driver of the vehicle bought it up dexterously maneuvering it . Tarun was dumbfounded. He simply said,"Jijaji nothing will happen  to you ". Varun too was shaken and was speechless for quite some time.They had reservation to go back to Allahabad by Assam mail next day. 

Quotable Quotes :"He is happiest, be he king or peasant, who finds peace in his home."Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

 7,8, and 9th

 The most beautiful wife of Assam police

I took Venita to Assam after our marriage in 1967. I was then posted as the Subdivisional Police Officer, Sibasar. We attended the State police duty-cum-sports Meet at Dergaon in November. I introduced Venita to the families of Assam Police for the first time. In a formal dinner,the senior most officer,(late Subramaniam),declared that Venita had replaced another lady as the most beautiful wife of Assam police.The other lady had ruled for many years as the most beautiful wife. She now had to her give the crown to Venita. All endorsed it. Of course there there was no formal crowning. It was all informal. Those were the days when we had best of relations among ourselves. 

Quotable Quotes :"People only see what they are prepared to see."Ralph Waldo Emerson

 6th

That pit called BPRD

I was deputed for the Intermediate Command course at Bramshill Police Collage UK for a three month course from from Jan to March,1980. I was quite happy about it. So was the DGP Assam. The then IGP intelligence told me about it. On return from London i was promoted and posted as DIG Assam Nagaland Border and Central Range with headquarters at Nowgong. When i called on the then Governor of Assam and Meghalaya,late LP Singh, he said as to why i was going to that 'Pit' called the Bureau of Research and Development on deputation. I called on the DGP and informed what the Governor said. The DGP said that he won't release me for the deputation that i would have to work in Assam police and that immediately i would have to supervise a number of rape cases registered in Mukalmua ps area. It showed that he wanted a pliant and preferably an Assamese officer at Gauwhati and that he won't mind me in any other place.

Quotable Quotes :"Laws are like sausages, it is better not to see them being made."Otto von Bismarck

 3,4 and 5

The smile of a rhinoceros 

WhatsApp chat on 4th (Sunday) continued for over one hour and about 15 minutes. Pilku/Ruchi/Babloo/Neha/Abhishree/Amolikaa and Akhat participated. Venita dominated the conversation. Discussions centered round Covid and its Delta plus variant. Pilku invoked us to go out taking precautions as all of us had taken both the vaccine doses. In UK use of masks is made optional as a large chunk population is already vaccinated.

We were travelling by jeep from Silchar to Dergaon (headquarters of Assam Armed police training institutions near Jorhat) to join in Annual State Sports-cum-Police Duty meet in 1969. As we were crossing AT road near the Kaziranga single horned rhinoceros sanctuary, we noticed a pregnant rhinoceros crossing it. Driver was a local Bengali from Silchar. He shouted,"Sir  can i kill the rino by dashing the vehicle against it for its meat?" We said an emphatic, "No." He reluctantly slowed down the vehicle. The rino trudged on and crossed the road. I told the driver to stop the vehicle. After crossing the road, the rino had stopped on the sidelines. When we looked towards it, it was looking towards us. For a while we looked towards each other. There was an expression of gratitude on its face. It smiled and went inside the forest. I have not been able to forget its smile even after over 30 years.

Quotable Quotes :"Courage is knowing what not to fear."Plato .

 2nd

Face to face with a leopard

After early dinner we left Lumding, District Nowgong,Assam by forest road sometime in May,1980 for Half long, headquarters of North Cachar District. Pilku(12) and Silku(10) had accompanied. It was an arduous drive for the driver over zig-zag hilly terrain. We halted at a place on the way at about 10 pm. It was a place where birds came from far off areas and fell in the valley below as if they were pulled by some unseen magnetic force and died. The phenomenon was described by local populace as suicide by them. Children were asleep. I did not wake them up as nothing of the kind happened and no birds were seen falling. After half an hour we continued our journey. Later i checked with forest officers and they confirmed such incidents.... We had hardly traveled for about half an hour when we saw sudden appearance of a fully grown leopard making a jump from hillside of the car over to the gorge side.We directed our search lights to locate the animal. We could not locate it. By now children were fully awake and following the search lights....We arrived at Half long at about midnight. Dinner had been laid out. We had dinner. Children ate little.They were in a hurry to sleep.......It has been a practice with me to travel late after finishing office work, get up early and start the day's work from 8 am after parade so on so forth.... The SP North Cachar Hills took leave. He said he had to get ready for the inspection by 7.30 am. It was already 1 AM. 

Quotable Quotes :"It has been my experience that folks who have no vices have very few virtues."Abraham Lincoln

 1st July

A move to transfer

A proposal was submitted for my transfer from SP Kamrup Guwahati to Silchar as SP by the then DGP sometime in 1978. My name was put in the middle of the chain of transfer of about 15 officers.It was taken to the then Chief Minister by the then Chief Secretary,Additional Chief Secretary,Home Secretory,the DGP and the then Secretary to CM. The CM saw it and said that proposal was approved except in respect Shrivastava. The DGP was unhappy as my transfer was not agreed to... In the evening i was surprised to receive the Chief Secretary and the Secretary to the Chief Minister at my bungalow . They told me entire episode of transfer and said that  the CM was happy with my work and that we should celebrate it. They wanted drinks.  Among the two of them, half a bottle black label scotch whisky was finished...... I thought over the matter but could not find an ostensible reason for the move to transfer me.

Quotable Quotes:"The best way to cheer yourself up is to try to cheer up somebody else."Mark Twain