Beginning: My father, who retired today, was born into a family of small farm labourers who later turned farmers. His father worked small-time with landowners to teach their children, do small chores, etc. His elders migrated from the Montgomery district (erstwhile Pakistan), where they used to work on wells of Muslim landlords on a revenue-sharing basis. Here, my grandfather opened a tea shop in a nearby village, like our PM and later started a Kirana shop. Despite such beginnings, my grandfather had the gods' blessings and learned multiple languages. Another good thing is that his father invested in his children's studies, at least the male ones. My father was the eldest son amongst five siblings, and he did his studies at nearby government schools and ITI in Fazilka, where his maternal family lived.
Adulting like an pro: Then he came to Ludhiana to earn a living as a Mechanic. He worked in repair shops and factories, and finally landed a job at PAU as a refrigeration mechanic. He cleared the police entrance, too, but my grandfather didn’t let him join due to the unrest period in those days. He got married in 1989 to my mother and had two sons. As usual, the elder is responsible and wiser, and the younger is meh. He lived in various rented houses for almost one and a half decades. He worked hard and supported his small family in Ludhiana and the family members back home, while the couple continued living frugally. We went to a government school near his workplace. He used to carry his whole family on his Hero Jet Cycle. My elder brother used to sit on a small seat in the front, and my mother used to sit on the carrier while carrying his younger son, utterly unaware of the fact that I used to act as if I were slipping and heavy to discourage them from holding me in such a way. We used to live in the BRS Nagar in those days, and used to have fruity ice creams in the evenings during summer. He once purchased a scooter, a second-hand one, most probably a Bajaj Chetak. His younger son redirected it towards the sky, and due to their fault, his father and brother received some injuries. There used to be frequent visits to relatives' homes, which was an entirely different world from our life in Ludhiana. When we shifted to our present residence, we used to go to the school earlier on a single cycle where my father used to carry both of us on the same cycle and later on two cycles where my brother used to drive his bicycle and I used to sit with my father. I used to play and fight a lot during my school days and often had my uniform in the worst possible condition after school. He frequently washed my shirt in the office, which used to dry early because a big AC duct passed through his room, and I would go home in relatively better condition at 5 pm. Whenever the ACs used to go bad in the office, I saw him getting his clothes dirtier than anyone I have ever seen. His work ethic was lovely. Now, he often says that I go to the office to get a feel, but in those days, the ACs used to work by an entirely different mechanism, and things were quite tricky to handle.
Some memories: He and my grandfather used to teach me stories of many different types. He used to park his bicycle outside school at 7:45 am, wait for my turn to speak in the assembly. He and my brother kept me safe from various responsibilities, which gave me sufficient time to read explore. He never sits idle. In his younger days, he used to make practical notebooks and school projects to earn quick bucks. Shamefully, I used to give him or my brother my practical notebook to draw complicated diagrams because whenever I draw Picasso wakes up from his grave and dies again. In his free time, he used to do a lot of reading, mostly spiritual ones or newspaper, and do cleaning or repair of some kind. He continues to play different sports for his passion’s sake, including athletics and field hockey.
दर असल है मखलूक की खिदमत ही इबादत
अल्लाह तो किसी चीज का मोहताज नहीं है
Something offbeat
Now there is another angle to his personality, which is mostly hidden from others. He was connected to a religious organisation engaged in social work, etc. Whenever he used to do the plantation, unlike others, he cared for the plants a lot. He, sometimes taking me along with him, used to go to the cemeteries of villages and adopted schools, not for photo ops during plantation, but to look after the plants in their first year, even in peak Punjab summer of 40-45 °C on a cycle or a scooty carrying buckets and mugs. We used to take rest and drink water at places where common folk would be afraid to go. Crazy days! With god’s grace, he helped many families out of his meagre income by arranging blood donation camps, distributing rations, etc. He did a lot of physical service, too. Once, a pressure cooker blast happened in the home of a widow who used to live in a nearby village, and the whole roof fell. So, my father and one more uncle helped to rebuild her home by their own hands. Many other incidents are there too of his extreme efforts and devotion.
I wish both him and my mother good fortune in the future.
रैनी चढ़ी रसूल की सो रंग मौला के हाथ,
जिसके कपरे रंग दिए सो धन धन वाके भाग।।
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