Real Nehru
Soon after 15th August 1947, I was in my office at the Prime Minister’s residence working on a press round-up for the Prime Minister, Nehru. It was about 11-30 in the morning
.My phone rang. I said ‘ hello’
Somebody on the other end said “This is Nehru…
I cut in and said sharply “Nehru! who?” Many jokers used to ring up pretending to be a Nehru.
There was a slight pause on the other end and then some one said ‘Jwaharlal Nehru, Prime Minster; will you call Hari”
Oh God he is the real Nehru !
I went running to call Hari, his personal valet.
Soon Hari sent a tin of marcopolo cigarettes [Panditji’s brand] to his office.
Friday, March 27, 2009
Thursday, March 26, 2009
Mera Desh Mahan
We have a chip on our shoulder. We think our philosophy{meta physics} is great and our forefathers gave a lot of wisdom to the world. After all the concept of zero is our contribution.Also we were among the first people who talked about the changing universe, the stars and satellites.
Yes, this and a lot more is true but what is the situation today. We have forgotten what the Father of the Nation, Mahatma Gandhi taught us. Nehru's efforts to set up healthy conventions have been rejected. We have a democracy in place which is functional but corruption,nepotism,casteism,and communalism have tarnished our life. We have now an array of 'hate crazy' men like Varun Gandhi, Pogolia, and Narindar Modi.
It is time something is done to stem this rot. People with some ideology and vision are sidelined as the election campaigns are run by musclemen and almost every rule in the book is violated.Political parties give tickets to those who can raise funds,control mobs and influence vote banks. Nobody is concerned about the future of the country or the people. Politics has become the game of power and Kusi[chair] by means fair or foul.
Yes, this and a lot more is true but what is the situation today. We have forgotten what the Father of the Nation, Mahatma Gandhi taught us. Nehru's efforts to set up healthy conventions have been rejected. We have a democracy in place which is functional but corruption,nepotism,casteism,and communalism have tarnished our life. We have now an array of 'hate crazy' men like Varun Gandhi, Pogolia, and Narindar Modi.
It is time something is done to stem this rot. People with some ideology and vision are sidelined as the election campaigns are run by musclemen and almost every rule in the book is violated.Political parties give tickets to those who can raise funds,control mobs and influence vote banks. Nobody is concerned about the future of the country or the people. Politics has become the game of power and Kusi[chair] by means fair or foul.
Wednesday, March 25, 2009
Childhood Memories
My childhood memories are a bit hazy as I made a conscious effort to forget my past. My mother died when I was just ten years old. My father, who was not very old, married a village belle within six months. I was very bitter to some one taking the place of the ‘malkan’[my mother] of the household.
The new malkan turned the house up side down and changed every thing. She would not cook like my mother. A very good cook, Pandit Shivram was hired and he produced savory dishes which all of us liked very much. Those days I had to leave home at 8am for the school. He used to give me a couple of parathas with dal before I left for school. One day he served me plain roti and dal. I asked him for the usual paratha but he said” sorry baba the malkan has told me to serve you only roti and no paratha. She says ghee is expensive.” This was a great shock for a ten year old who had been pampered and cajoled to eat tasty food in the past. I didn’t know how to react. I went into my room and cried in silence for along time.
One day in my school I saw a group of boys ragging a youngster who was crying. I could not bear his misery and drove the boys away. We became very close friends for life.
Earlier In Chakwal, a small town in the Gujerat district of west Punjab, now in Pakistan I learned to fight for survival. I was the nursery class. One day I had a tiff with a class fellow. He threatened to bring his elder brother who was in class five to beat me. It was lunch break and we were standing in the compound. My other class mates advised me “ run away, his brother is very vicious and he will beat hell out of you”
I hesitated wondering what to do when I heard some one saying “ SHOW HIM I WILL CUT HIM WITH MY KNIFE “ I LOOKED UP AND SAW A BIG BOY ADVANCING MENACINGLY HOLDING A KNIFE.
I had a wooden plank in my hand. I held it with both the hands and struck him on his shoulder with all the strength that I had. He cried “ oh mar suthuia” and fell down. All the boys standing there cheered me and I became a hero. I had broken his collar bone.
This incident taught me to fight for my survival, a lesson which came handy to me all my life. I had to go to a new school every three years as my father was posted in distant places like Chakwal in Panjab, Mardan in North West Frontier Province, Campbellpore in Panjab, Jammu in Jammu and Kashmir and Dharamsala in Himachl. Whenever I joined the school, the boys would try to rag me and I would catch hold of the most vociferous of them and beat him with all the might I had. Next we would be friends and others would leave me alone. Interestingly I had to take recourse to the same technique early in my career in the newsroom of all India Radio where one of the senior editors tried to bully me.
The new malkan turned the house up side down and changed every thing. She would not cook like my mother. A very good cook, Pandit Shivram was hired and he produced savory dishes which all of us liked very much. Those days I had to leave home at 8am for the school. He used to give me a couple of parathas with dal before I left for school. One day he served me plain roti and dal. I asked him for the usual paratha but he said” sorry baba the malkan has told me to serve you only roti and no paratha. She says ghee is expensive.” This was a great shock for a ten year old who had been pampered and cajoled to eat tasty food in the past. I didn’t know how to react. I went into my room and cried in silence for along time.
One day in my school I saw a group of boys ragging a youngster who was crying. I could not bear his misery and drove the boys away. We became very close friends for life.
Earlier In Chakwal, a small town in the Gujerat district of west Punjab, now in Pakistan I learned to fight for survival. I was the nursery class. One day I had a tiff with a class fellow. He threatened to bring his elder brother who was in class five to beat me. It was lunch break and we were standing in the compound. My other class mates advised me “ run away, his brother is very vicious and he will beat hell out of you”
I hesitated wondering what to do when I heard some one saying “ SHOW HIM I WILL CUT HIM WITH MY KNIFE “ I LOOKED UP AND SAW A BIG BOY ADVANCING MENACINGLY HOLDING A KNIFE.
I had a wooden plank in my hand. I held it with both the hands and struck him on his shoulder with all the strength that I had. He cried “ oh mar suthuia” and fell down. All the boys standing there cheered me and I became a hero. I had broken his collar bone.
This incident taught me to fight for my survival, a lesson which came handy to me all my life. I had to go to a new school every three years as my father was posted in distant places like Chakwal in Panjab, Mardan in North West Frontier Province, Campbellpore in Panjab, Jammu in Jammu and Kashmir and Dharamsala in Himachl. Whenever I joined the school, the boys would try to rag me and I would catch hold of the most vociferous of them and beat him with all the might I had. Next we would be friends and others would leave me alone. Interestingly I had to take recourse to the same technique early in my career in the newsroom of all India Radio where one of the senior editors tried to bully me.
Tuesday, March 17, 2009
80+ Baby
How Old are you?
80+baby
How come?
Well babies need looking after.?
So?
At 80 and beyond you need looking after. Most of your limbs are not as strong as they used to be.
Well.
We are looked after by our children, who take very good care of us. Sometimes I think we might be a drag on them but they don’t think that way. They wish to keep us with them so that they keep watch on us. Lucky they take so much care of us. This puts us under certain constraints. How can we respond to their love?
So?
We have to adjust to their style of living as we are in their house. It is a nice home with most of the creature comforts available. More important: a lot of love and affection is showered on us. But our friends and relations are too far away and we miss them. We cannot entertain them as they are not here but several thousand miles away
So?
On the whole it is not hard. We are happy being looked after, safe from trouble and illness. The attitude is ‘ have fun while it lasts ‘ My children take on our small problems, finding the right care, the doctors for us, even finding compatible people to mix with. God be praised.
80+baby
How come?
Well babies need looking after.?
So?
At 80 and beyond you need looking after. Most of your limbs are not as strong as they used to be.
Well.
We are looked after by our children, who take very good care of us. Sometimes I think we might be a drag on them but they don’t think that way. They wish to keep us with them so that they keep watch on us. Lucky they take so much care of us. This puts us under certain constraints. How can we respond to their love?
So?
We have to adjust to their style of living as we are in their house. It is a nice home with most of the creature comforts available. More important: a lot of love and affection is showered on us. But our friends and relations are too far away and we miss them. We cannot entertain them as they are not here but several thousand miles away
So?
On the whole it is not hard. We are happy being looked after, safe from trouble and illness. The attitude is ‘ have fun while it lasts ‘ My children take on our small problems, finding the right care, the doctors for us, even finding compatible people to mix with. God be praised.
17 York Road
17 York Road was an interesting place. Pt. Jawaharlal Nehru, the first Prime Minister lived there. He occupied the house much before independence on becoming the vice-chairman of the Viceroy’s executive council. This was the first step towards India’s freedom and gaining the dominion status on August 15th 1947.
I joined as an Assistant to the VC, as Nehru was called in the bureaucratic files, on May 12 1947.I was selected for the assignment by Mrs. Vijay Laxmi Pandit, Nehru’s sister as he was busy on the day when I came in for a “meeting”.
It was a double storey house with a big entrance hall, a passage that led to a big dinning room, a kitchen and a pantry. On the first floor there were three bed rooms, one of which had a small office room attached to it. This was used by Nehru who worked late at night. Nehru gave dictation to Mathai at night which was transcribed by Mathai in the small office room. Rest of us worked in the hall on the ground floor. I prepared the news file that comprised all that the English press said about Nehru and other topics of interest to him: mainly contemporary politics. I could not finish my work till late in the evening. Because of this receiving important guests for the evening fell to my lot.
During my stint with Nehru some interesting people came to visit him, Dr. Homi Bhaba, Sir Chandulal Trivedy ,who was a governor, the prime minister of Nepal and Sheikh Abdullah on being released from jail. Hyderabad and Kashmir were hot topics even when negotiations were being held with Mountbatten about India’s future. In Srinagar, the Maharaja Hari Singh, did not meet any Indian leader and decide the states future till the end and in Hyderabad the Nizam had indicated his intention of remaining out of the Indian union He sent a British lawyer, Sir Monckton, QC to argue his case. Both these Princes were loath to join the Indian Union as they felt that they could survive as independent rulers after the British left. I had a chance to ask Ram Chand Kak, the last Prime Minister of the Maharaja, why did they not join the Union of India before Pakistan invaded Kashmir. His answer surprised me. He said who could believe before August 15th, 1947 hat the British would relinquish power in reality. The elite thought that the British would retain their influence in some form or the other in the new dispensation. Most of the Princes thought that they could be the third force in independent India. In the Princes Chamber the Nawab of Bhopal was working to that end with the active connivance of Mohammad Ali Jinnah who was very keen to build a “corridor” to link two separated parts of Pakistan, a distance of about 1600 Kilometres.
The government of Nehru faced some of the toughest problems of Independent India within months of its taking over the reigns of power. Within forty five days of independence it had to face an invasion from Pakistani hordes backed by the Pakistani army, get 600 and odd princes to join the mainstream union of India, try to rehabilitate four million refugees who were destitute, procure food to meet a shortage of about ten million tons. There was no foreign aid available then.
I joined as an Assistant to the VC, as Nehru was called in the bureaucratic files, on May 12 1947.I was selected for the assignment by Mrs. Vijay Laxmi Pandit, Nehru’s sister as he was busy on the day when I came in for a “meeting”.
It was a double storey house with a big entrance hall, a passage that led to a big dinning room, a kitchen and a pantry. On the first floor there were three bed rooms, one of which had a small office room attached to it. This was used by Nehru who worked late at night. Nehru gave dictation to Mathai at night which was transcribed by Mathai in the small office room. Rest of us worked in the hall on the ground floor. I prepared the news file that comprised all that the English press said about Nehru and other topics of interest to him: mainly contemporary politics. I could not finish my work till late in the evening. Because of this receiving important guests for the evening fell to my lot.
During my stint with Nehru some interesting people came to visit him, Dr. Homi Bhaba, Sir Chandulal Trivedy ,who was a governor, the prime minister of Nepal and Sheikh Abdullah on being released from jail. Hyderabad and Kashmir were hot topics even when negotiations were being held with Mountbatten about India’s future. In Srinagar, the Maharaja Hari Singh, did not meet any Indian leader and decide the states future till the end and in Hyderabad the Nizam had indicated his intention of remaining out of the Indian union He sent a British lawyer, Sir Monckton, QC to argue his case. Both these Princes were loath to join the Indian Union as they felt that they could survive as independent rulers after the British left. I had a chance to ask Ram Chand Kak, the last Prime Minister of the Maharaja, why did they not join the Union of India before Pakistan invaded Kashmir. His answer surprised me. He said who could believe before August 15th, 1947 hat the British would relinquish power in reality. The elite thought that the British would retain their influence in some form or the other in the new dispensation. Most of the Princes thought that they could be the third force in independent India. In the Princes Chamber the Nawab of Bhopal was working to that end with the active connivance of Mohammad Ali Jinnah who was very keen to build a “corridor” to link two separated parts of Pakistan, a distance of about 1600 Kilometres.
The government of Nehru faced some of the toughest problems of Independent India within months of its taking over the reigns of power. Within forty five days of independence it had to face an invasion from Pakistani hordes backed by the Pakistani army, get 600 and odd princes to join the mainstream union of India, try to rehabilitate four million refugees who were destitute, procure food to meet a shortage of about ten million tons. There was no foreign aid available then.
Tuesday, March 3, 2009
Bhanot not here
The year was 1950 and we were junior editors in the news room of All India Radio. Our boss, Mr. Bhanot, a veteran journalist, was a bit of a bully who was fond of shouting at the juniors. He would go through our copy and point out mistakes in not very civil language. We were all afraid of him and avoided him as best as we could and he enjoyed being a bit of scare. Bhatacharya, a Bengali editor, who was not very bright, used to come in for special attention from Mr. Bhanot.
One day there was a ring in the newsroom. Bhanot wanted to speak to Bhatachrya. A colleague handed the phone to Bhatacharya saying “your phone.”
Bhatachrya took the phone and said “Hello.”
The caller said “Bhanot here, why ….”
Bhatachrya said “ Bhanot not here” and hung up.
After a couple minutes the phone again rang again. This time Bhatacharya picked up and said ”hello.”
Bhanot who was fuming shouted, “I told you Bhanot here.”
Without a ripple Bhatacharya said, “But I told you Bhanot not here” and hung up.
One day there was a ring in the newsroom. Bhanot wanted to speak to Bhatachrya. A colleague handed the phone to Bhatacharya saying “your phone.”
Bhatachrya took the phone and said “Hello.”
The caller said “Bhanot here, why ….”
Bhatachrya said “ Bhanot not here” and hung up.
After a couple minutes the phone again rang again. This time Bhatacharya picked up and said ”hello.”
Bhanot who was fuming shouted, “I told you Bhanot here.”
Without a ripple Bhatacharya said, “But I told you Bhanot not here” and hung up.
My father, my guru
My father, who was a scholar of English and Vedanta, taught me English grammar and a bit of metaphysics. Even when I was quite young [perhaps 12 years] he taught me the use of auxiliary verb and the three forms of verb; present, past and past participle and how and when to use these forms of verb. After that I never looked back and did well in English tests, at times standing first in my class. My father told me never to cram anything, a principle which I observed meticulously.
In time I joined a small English daily of Lahore [Punjab, now in Pakistan]. Within tree months I started writing for the edit page. When our editor went on long leave, he called me in and asked me to write main editorials during his absence from the paper. As I was the youngest member of the staff it created a lot of heart burn among the senior members.
After partition, I joined the All India Radio as an assistant editor and retire as the head of the News Services of the organization, which was broadcasting in more than twenty languages from forty two centres and had a world-wide coverage.
After leaving the Indian Information Service I went on to teach media skills to youngsters in the Indian Institute of Mass Communication, a period of my life that I enjoyed very much.
Two years ago my daughter put me to reading the Gita and I was surprised to feel that I was ready to receive the message in it. Today I am at peace and ready to face whatever comes my way.
In time I joined a small English daily of Lahore [Punjab, now in Pakistan]. Within tree months I started writing for the edit page. When our editor went on long leave, he called me in and asked me to write main editorials during his absence from the paper. As I was the youngest member of the staff it created a lot of heart burn among the senior members.
After partition, I joined the All India Radio as an assistant editor and retire as the head of the News Services of the organization, which was broadcasting in more than twenty languages from forty two centres and had a world-wide coverage.
After leaving the Indian Information Service I went on to teach media skills to youngsters in the Indian Institute of Mass Communication, a period of my life that I enjoyed very much.
Two years ago my daughter put me to reading the Gita and I was surprised to feel that I was ready to receive the message in it. Today I am at peace and ready to face whatever comes my way.
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