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.