The Story of SKILL Foundation — 9

Continued………

Prem Verma
Sep 1, 2018 · 6 min read

This story of SKILL Foundation is intertwined with the story of my life. Writing a story about other characters and and about one self are two different propositions. It’s never easy to write truthfully about oneself and it’s nothing short of meditation. The credit for helping me reach this stage lies wholly to SKILL Foundation , it’s students and it’s friends. Over more than a decade, while teaching English I have been talking to my students with many examples, events and situations that actually occurred in my life. Now I’m just putting them in the form of a long story. Thanks to all for following and boosting my morale.

Two momentous events of my life took place one after another in a very short span of time. Results for the Civil Services written exams declaring me successful came in the papers in the first week of February 1971. I was engaged on the 14th February and married off within four days on the 18th February! Add to this the critical illness of my mother as also the adverse working and living conditions at Bokaro. And I really had a situation at hand. I was less than 24 years old. How did I cope with all these, given my impulsive and somewhat rash nature?

That I have an impulsive nature, I have no doubt. I had acquired this nature due to the way of life and friends adopted by me during my days at BIT Sindri and Bokaro. Was it not rash on my part to undertake that fateful 48 hour journey from IIT Mumbai to Patna, which led to my missing out on the IIT. I kept on changing Engineering colleges like shirts. I left IIT Mumbai because I did not like the food cooked in coconut oil. I quit Bihar College of Engineering, Patna because I wanted to live in a hostel away from home. I ran away from, Indian School of Mines Dhanbad because I did not want to spend my entire professional career in a coal mine.

During my later days in The Indian Revenue Service as also thereafter, I would opt for changes in postings and places on mere whims. During my working career I lived at Bokaro, Nagpur, Darjeeling, Jamshedpur, Hazaribagh, Dhanbad, Patna, Delhi and Mumbai. I enjoyed each of these postings and places. Even after my superannuation I opted for starting my new innings with SKILL Foundation at Patna. I moved to Patna which then was going through a difficult phase, inspite of saner advice from friends. My son who had just landed with a very well paid job in Mumbai was most vociferous. He wanted me to stay with him and relax. Yet, I did not hesitate to leave the glamorous world of Mumbai.

I can say for sure that all these changes enriched my experience and my capacity to adapt to any condition in life. It is to the credit of my wife and children that we made the most of our stay in such diverse places. Without any previous hint, I would return from office and inform them that we are moving over to another place. One of my superior officers in the IRS once remarked to his Headquarter officer that I was a good officer but at times tended to be rash. I have taken it as a compliment. I believe that the factors governing our life are so diverse that one cannot control them by applying logic and reasoning. That is why at SKILL Foundation I advise my students to always listen to their heart and not brains — ‘ dil jo kahega manenge ham’. I point to them that all the heroes whom they like so much in the Indian movies act through ‘dil’ and not ‘dimag’. Don’t we see the villains racking their brains out with their associates while planning their misdeeds? Life has taught me the lesson that ‘the solution to problems lies in not thinking about them but in forgetting them’ and sticking to the work at hand.

Coming back to the narrative, I got a call for the Personality Test for the Civil Services to be held at Allahabad in the first week of April. On the other hand I had to return to Bokaro forthwith to save my temporary job. I reported for duty quite unwillingly. Who would like to leave the company of a newly-wed wife! My dreary days at Bokaro had a great redeeming factor. Apart from personal congratulations from friends for my marriage, I was looked up with awe by one and all, for competing in Civil Services Examination. I would contrive various pretexts of my mother’s illness or preparation for the Personality test to get leave more often leave without pay. I would often run away without leave especially on weekends to be near my wife. My family members would welcome me, but I and my wife would observe with embarrassment the mild smiles on their faces at my frequent unannounced visits often at odd hours. Sometimes remembering that I have taken leave on the pretext of my mother’s illness I would feel pangs of remorse. But the happiness reflected in my mother’s eyes trying to conceal the pain discernible on her face gave me satisfaction.

Those were the days without mobiles or internet. Very lucky few had Land line connection and phone calls were costly. The only means of communication with my wife was postal letters. My address at Bokaro used to change so much that the only way to receive the letters was to go personally to the Post Office. I couldn’t trust my mischievous friends to get them for me. I was often embarrassed by being spotted by friends loitering near the local Post Office for her letters. Often my friends would tease me for keeping awake in the night writing long letters to my wife. The frequent horse play to snatch the letters among my friends was so entertaining. One of my friends had a friend working in local telephone exchange at Bokaro. We would often go there and he would connect me with my wife without any charge for long durations. At times my friend and the operators would eavesdrop on our communication and I could often overhear their uncontrolled laughter! My wife often chided me for such indiscretions but I can say that I enjoyed them all.

At this time of my life I came in contact with a character Jamuna Thakur whose association I always recall with fondness. Jamuna was a childhood friend of my mother and a boy servant with my Nana. My nana was a police sub-inspector — what is commonly called a ‘daroga’. My mother was the eldest child out of half a dozen children. So Jamuna had become a natural companion of my mother. I could see that he exercised a lot of authority over my parents.

Jamuna was a barber by caste. He had run away from my mother’s home and joined as a barber in the Army during the Second World War. Though completely uneducated, he had picked up certain English words from the British officers whom he attended to. He had adopted a cheerful and humorous disposition. He would use English words like gentleman, front, rifle, lieutenant, captain and many others freely while describing his experience in the army. No one could discern where all he had been in the army, except that I was sure he had done a term in Iraq. He would walk in our bedroom frequently with tea or eatables and regale me and my wife with innumerable anecdotes of his army life. Whenever he saw me or my wife in a sombre mood he would chide my wife to smile and keep me entertained.

I had no idea nor was there any one to guide me, what the Personality Test would be like. I mistakenly thought that in the interview they will test my general knowledge. So I bought a book of general knowledge and would pretend to be preparing for the test. My wife would repeatedly remind me for preparing seriously which I seldom heeded. The consequence was that the Test at Allahabad was a complete fiasco for me. When I did not find my name in the list of successful candidates published in the newspapers in June’71, my dream world crashed. From a position of high ground of bliss and ecstasy, I felt as if I was thrown down suddenly to the ground. It was an emotional catharsis, aptly extolled by Aristotle in his classical definition of a Tragedy in Literature……

More in my next post.

The only photo of late Jamuna Thakur with his hair cutting saloon in a small steel box in his hand. Doesn’t he remind you of Johnny Walker in his famous song ‘champi tel maalish’!

Prem Verma

SKILL Foundation is a charitable educational Trust. It develops skills of underprivileged children by engaging with them in innovative ways.

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