I just learnt last week that I am a xennial, a word that my computer still feels is a typing mistake. The purple-costumed crime-fighter, created by American author Lee Falk, was seen in syndicated comic strips in India since the late 1930s. But the first Phantom comic (Phantom’s Belt) released here in 1964.
Alok Bhuvan And Chitra Started A Business Alokrsquos Investment Is 2 Times Of Bhuvanrsquos Investment And Bhuvanrsquos Investment Is 5 Times Of. Nevertheless Alok liked Udupi because this house was a huge one in the middle of a small town. The atmosphere was calm. Nature was in its purest form; tranquil and serene. The sea was close to the house. He could walk to the seashore in the evenings. The next evening Alok and his father-in-law were seated outside, in the lawn in two chairs.
He became a rage with readers, was rechristened Vetal in Hindi and Oronyo Deb in Bengali. He had a trained wolf, Devil, and his horse was called Hero.But there was another revolution waiting to happen. The late Anant Pai, who died in 2011, and is widely regarded as the father of Indian comics, worked in the publishing industry, and always dreamt about making Indian comics with stories drawn from Indian history and culture, drawn by Indian artists. During a visit to Delhi in 1967, he saw a TV quiz show, where none of the young contestants knew the name of Ram’s mother though they could answer questions about Greek gods. This made Pai all the more determined to implement his dream.
He met GL Mirchandani and HG Mirchandani of the publishing house, IBH, and though they were a bit cautious, they gave him the go-ahead. Pai began hunting for an artist to work on the first Indian Amar Chitra Katha, a comic based on the adventures of Krishna.He found cartoonist Ram Waeerkar, who showed Pai some pages drawn by him in the Indian ornamental style that Pai had in mind. Waeerkar, who died in 2003, did the maximum Amar Chitra Katha Titles.
The first Indian Amar Chitra Katha was based on the adventures of Krishna. A big hit, it has sold over five million copies.Indrajal too was ready to launch its first Indian comic book hero. They contacted Aabid Surti who had already created Inspector Azaad, a popular character, to create a new comic book hero. “Dacoits were a big nuisance in the ’70s, especially in central and northern India, so I based my hero in Chambal.
I wanted to make him a progressive Indian, so we made him wear a kurta with a pair of jeans,” says Surti of Bahadur, who went on to become one of India’s most-loved comic book heroes. The first Bahadur story The Red Brick House (Laal Haveli Ka Rahasya in Hindi) released in December 1976 and was a massive success. Indrajal later tried coming up with other Indian heroes like Aditya and Dara in the late ’80s but none of them proved to be as successful as Bahadur. Meanwhile, a silent revolution was taking place in the north of India. Inspired by the popularity of American comics, a bunch of artists was ready to storm the comics scene.
One of them was cartoonist Pran Kumar Sharma.Pran’s comic strips, notably featuring Chacha Chaudhary stayed away from direct violence. They were about a utopian world where an old man Chacha Chaudhary would fight crime using his wit and at times a bamboo stick, He was an unlikely superhero, an antithesis to the very idea of square-jawed western superheroes. “I had seen western comics and I wanted to change the perception of muscular, good-looking superheroes like Phantom, Superman, and Batman. So I thought, ‘What if I break the stereotype?’ I thought of an old man, short, bald and a little frail, but I based him on Chanakya and gave him the power of wit. This is how Chacha Chaudhary was conceived,” said Pran in a 2009 interview. Chacha Chaudhary was a roaring success, and started as a syndicated strip in 1969. He entered the world of comic books with Chacha Chaudhary Antariksh Mein, published by Diamond Comics in 1980.
Chacha Chaudhary, created by Pran, was an unlikely superhero - an old man who fought crime using his wit and at times a bamboo stick. He was a complete antithesis to the very idea of square-jawed western superheroes, but Pran based him on Chanakya and gave him the power of wit.Cartoonist Pran, who was born to a policeman father in Kasoor district (now in Pakistan), saw so much bloodshed when his family moved from Pakistan to India in 1948, that all his life, he tried to stay away from showing blood in his comics. Even when he created the eponymous baddie Raka in Chacha Chaudhary Aur Raka, where he had to draw blood, it always had a tinge of tar, a blackness to it.
Aversion to drawing blood is something that was true of several other comic book creators too who were products of Partition. Such as Gulab Kapoor, the publisher of humour comic magazine Madhu Muskan. Even when he started publishing the whodunnit detective comic series Babloo, where every now and then there was a murder, artist Husain Zamin was asked to avoid colouring blood. All the stories had white blood.The Indian SuperheroesStarted in 1978, Diamond Comics published Faulaadi Singh, one of the very first Indian sci-fi superheroes, and added kid detectives Rajan-Iqbal to their roster of heroes. The names Rajan Iqbal were already popular, thanks to the best-selling children’s novels written by SC Bedi. The success of Rajan Iqbal kickstarted the buddy-detective genre in Indian comics.
To bring about a sense of national integration, most of these duos had one Hindu and one Muslim character - Rajan Iqbal, Ram Rahim, Sagar Salim and many others.By the mid 1980s, Indian comics had reached their golden age, with more than 20 publishers publishing a vivid range of comics.But India was changing, India’s problems were changing and Indian comics had to change with the times. The assassination of Indira Gandhi made terrorism a household topic. Two years later, the newly-launched Raj Comics announced its flagship character Nagraj, whose mission was to fight terrorism, using the mythical powers of the snakes he possessed. By the ’80s, terrorism had come to India. In 1986 the newly-launched Raj Comics introduced their flagship character, Nagraj, who fought terrorists with the mythical power of the snakes that he possessed (he could shoot snakes from his wrists).
Larger-than-life villains and adventures across the globe made Nagraj a fan favourite. Drawn powerfully by Pratap Mulick and written by Sanjay Gupta, Nagraj became such a rage, all publishers wanted a costumed superhero.“We wanted to create a superhero who had his base in Indian mythology and there was nothing better than introducing a superhero who had the powers of a naag,” says Sanjay Gupta, the co-creator of Nagraj. The covers of Nagraj comics were aesthetically painted and had a James Bond movie feel to them. Over-the-top villains and adventures spread across the globe made Nagraj a fan favourite. Drawn by Pratap Mulik and written by Sanjay Gupta, Nagraj became a trendsetter in many ways. Now every publisher wanted costumed superheroes in their comics.
SupremoAnant Pai was successfully editing Tinkle, a magazine he had launched in 1980. Tinkle stands out as one of the best-selling kids’ magazines even now and its characters like Suppandi, Kaalia The Crow, Shikari Shambhu etc. Are huge favourites, even after more than three decades.But the flavour of the day remained superheroes. Nagraj aur Bughaku, a double-sized comic book starring Raj Comics’ flagship characters Nagraj and Super Commando Dhruv published in 1991, sold more than 900,000 copies within the first three months of its release, a record that still remains unmatched. Raj Comics expanded its superhero universe by introducing Super Commando Dhruv, who tackled criminals in the fictional city of Rajnagar. He had no superpowers, but his intellect and strength were enough to defeat his enemies.
He wore a yellow and blue costume and a belt with a star-shaped buckle.What followed next was a wave of Indian superheroes published by old and new publishers alike. Raj Comics expanded its superhero universe; their most interesting creation was Doga, India’s first anti-hero, who wears the mask of a dog and roams around the streets of Mumbai. Around the same time, Indrajal Comics took its last breath and shut down its business. Doga, India’s first anti-hero and vigilante, wore the mask of a dog and roamed the streets of Mumbai. Doga was presented by Raj Comics and was one of their most interesting characters. He was created by Tarun Kumar Wahi, Sanjay Gupta and artist Manu in 1992.While the comic book villains could never defeat these heroes, the advent of cable and video games did.
By the late ’90s most of the publishers had to shut shop and by the early 2000s there were only two big players left in the market, Raj Comics and Diamond Comics.It would take almost a decade and a handful of new publishers to revive comic book culture in India. With the launch of Virgin Comics in 2006, Indian comics not only got a new lease of life, but also inspired new entrepreneurs to enter the market and try their hand in creating new content for a new generation. The late 2000s saw a revival in the comic book market - older readers began returning to their favourite imaginary friends and buying the books they drooled over at lending libraries. New readers were also ready to sample these titles.
Technology helped characters like Chacha Chaudhary, Nagraj, Dhruv and Doga to leap out of comic book pages and land on our smartphones. Publishers like Raj Comics and Diamond Comics are reprinting their old titles. Things are looking up.Alok Sharma is a writer-filmmaker, whose upcoming documentary, Chitrakatha, traces the history of Indian comic books.First Published:Dec 16, 2017 19:01 IST.
Account of My TimesI was born on 15 th august1946 at Bikaner.My maternal grandmother, ie Nani, used to work here as the Principal ofMaharani Girls School. I have no recollection of that time.The earliest recollection of mychildhood is that of Nainital, Uttarpradesh (now Uttaranchal), where my fatherworked as a lecturer in the Birla Vidya Mandir. He used to teach Physics. Mymother was a housewife. I remember theMall, the descent of hills, the presence of horses. I also somewhat rememberthe sound of rain on the corrugated sheets which formed the roof of our house.I remember the NainiLake with beautiful sailboats moving on its placid surface.
Riding my farourite horse 'Toutou'The salary was about 550/- permonth. We had to pay about 150/- for the food every month. A black “Band GalaSuit” had to be purchased for formal dinners. I think I spent about 400/- forit.
I was a diffident person. I shuddered at the thought of having to speak inthe class.
On occassions when some guest speaker would address us one of the probationers had to introduce himto the audience. There were I think about 20 such occassions. I escaped thetask which I dreaded at the time.The probationers with whom I wasmoving around wereG P Shukal,Nand lalBB SharmaVinaya BansalKumud BansalIndira MishraI was lacking in confidence. I was still not my own.The Director of the Academy was Mr DD Sathe.
He never took any classes. He would however join sometimes for bridge with his wife. He usedto smoke a pipe and drink.
The joint directorwas Mr T N Chaturvedi. He had mastered the art of addressing every one by hisname. Once when I was invited to his house for dinner he welcomed me by myname. Some of the other faculty members were Mr Mongia, Mr Bagchi, Mr Dhanoa,Mr D C Tiwari, Mr Kohli.
Mr Gaikwad was our teacher for Marathi language. Hewas also teaching PT.I was allotted to the Maharashtra state. Every morning we were having Marathiclasses.Occasionally we would go in a groupto the market and eat the food there. I never liked the idea of eating out when food wasavailable in the Academy. Just outside the gate of the compound of the nationalacademy there was a general store known as Hari’s Canteen.
In addition toselling things of general use he used to give tasty food when informed inadvance. I think I was quite frugal in my living. On Sundays there wouldgenerally be a film shown to us in the main hall.Occasionally when some VIP visitedthe Academy there would be a formal dinner. At this time we had to put onbuttoned up Jodhpursuits of black colour. Before the start of the dinner there would be a speechfrom the Director. Then there would be a toast to the President.
For this wehad to raise a beautiful wine glass containing a little water, say ‘to thepresident’, and drink the same in a gulp.The dinner would be a sit downdinner. When the dinner is over there could be an after dinner joke by theDirector. No one understood the joke but when it ended we had to laugh merrilyto show that the joke was understood and appreciated. On one occasion I noticedMr Kohli, one of our professors, giving a signal to start laughing, as no onewas really able to understand what itmeant.I was still quite thin and I wouldgenerally suffer from stomach disorders. I think I was a bit lacking inconfidence and therefore would generally be in a group.
Occasionally we alsoplayed bridge. Bridge players were Vinaya Bansal, MPAHakeem, BBSharma, NandLal.Smoking cigrettes was still in fashion and there fore the more forward typeswere seen smoking.There were occasional outings liketo Haradwar. I some how never very much felt at ease on these outings.In December 69 we went to Nagpur for the CivilDefence training.Then sometime in December 69 welanded at Bombay for a month long training at theAdministrative Staff College,housed in a building at the WaudbyRoad, near the Victoria Termius. Here we had ourattachment with the Secretariat.
We called on the Chief Secretary, BBPaymaster. We also called on Mr Paranjape, who later became the Chief Secretary.We also visited Pune, Satara(Pratapgarh Fort), Koyna dam etc. I remember at Pune we had met Ravi Misra, MrsShashi Mishra, Mr Mahana. Unfortunately Mahana and Ravi Misra both are now nomore.At Pune we also underwent a monthscourse for the Marathi Language at the Deccan College.This stay was most enjoyable. Our teacher Jayashree Joshi was very helpful anda pleasing person. The Head of the Department was one Mr Kalelkar. We playedbridge furiously during this period.
Nand Lal, BB Sharma, Hakeem, Vinay Bansal, Asha Singh and myself were the usual players.KolhapurI landed up in Kolhapur sometime towards the end of December69. The collector K B Srinivasan, had not arranged any accommodation for me.One Ashok Mahan Caire who was one year senior to me was occupying some rooms inthe collectors bunglow. I therefore joined with GSS of 67 batch sharing a housewith him in Raja Ram Puri area. There was one bed room and I converted averandah to another room and used for sleeping. G S S and I adjusted to eachother but I never felt comfortable with him. He was a good drinker.
One MrMushtaq, a police officer, used to visit him quite often. And they would enjoythe evening over a drink.
I shared the house rent with him and I gave him atthe rate of Rs 5/- a day for food. Thus if I ate with him for the whole month Iwould give him Rs 150/.
In those days this was a good sum amounting to onefourth of our salary.The feeling,that to share a house with someone should beavoided, took root in me since then. AMC was a person having a superioritycomplex and so I never felt comfortable with him too. His wife Rajat wasdistantly related to me through Tau Ji. I have lost all contact with them.
Theother officers in the district were Mr Mundale the CEO of ZP, Mr Kasbekar wasthe SP,Mr throat was the DIG.A word about Mr K. Hewas a thin short person, with sharp eyes, and an intelligent look. He used tosmoke a pipe. He would generally be seen in chappals rather than shoes. Hiswife was, according to me extremely beautiful.
They had two daughters. Hehowever appeared to be a bit reserved-as it should be-perhaps. I remember thatonce when Balasaheb Desai, the then Revenue Minister had come to the district,he sat with him for a Tahsildars Conference and was smoking a cigrettethroughout. Those were the days when smoking was still considered a sign ofintellectualism and scholarship. Most of the film heroes smoked.The life at Kolhapur was enjoyable.
I was attached todifferent offices for training like the Collectors Office, the Prant Office,the Tahsil Office, the District Court. For the training in revenue matters atthe village level I was sent to Gadhinglaj where I learned how to inspect thedafter of patwari/talathi and the Circle Officer. Here the Prant officer wasNavjeevan Lakhanpal and later D N Vaidya. For the BDO Training I went toPanhala for a period of two months.
I stayed in what is known as the Tabak Garden.One Mrs Nejjur who was dealing with the Applied Nutrition Programme was quitehelpful to me.A few glimpses of the Kolhapur life are stillfresh in my mind. A play by Dada Kondake-Vichha Majhi Puri Kara.
We alsoenjoyed a few musical programmes organised open air at taluka places. The filmmusic of Indiais a greatly enjoyed thing in the rural masses. The local artists are verygood. It is therefore a great unifying force.I may say a word about one policeofficer R B Sharma.
He was also a probationer at that time but being from thearmy he was much older than me. He was from Haryana. A good person but hadelements of recklessness and brutish force. At time he could be vulgar andunmannerly. Once I went to Goa with RB Sharma.We stayed in the Panjim Circuit house.
He explained to me that as per All IndiaRules one is on duty while on casual leave and therefore one could pay theofficial tariff for the circuit house. Goa’sCalangute beach was beautiful.
The town is clean and simple.I made my first trip to Adyar inDecember 1970 from Kolhapur.Attended the International Convention. If I recollect correctly Mr N Sriram wasthe President. Radha Burnier was the Recording Secretary. I loved the peacefulcompound of the Theosophical Society. The banyan tree and the open air meetingswith minimum furniture were enjoyable.I once travelled from Kolhapur to Bombay whenRanjana was going to Bruxells via Bombay.I took the night luxuary bus. Reached Bombayin the morning.
I went to the airport and had no idea how I would reachRanjana. I had the impression that one could go right near the aircraft,as inhindi movies, to receive the passangers.
So I was moving in the generaldirection of the runway and had almost reached the same when some officer toldme that I would be in trouble if I went on the runway and that I should waitoutside. I then quietly retraced mysteps and waited outside.
Pradeep Saxena was also waiting. Ranjana came withSuman.
I had a brief meeting with her and then I came back.I also remember the Ramayana playorganised by the Kolhapur Sugar Mills.Once I had attended the CollectorsConference at Panhala. Mr Madhu Dev was the Commissioner.
He was veryflamboyant in my assessment. I still remember that he had told me that I shouldmarry only when I become a collector. He wore half sleeved shirt, ate rice withhand and not spoon, and ate a pan after the lunch was over.
I remember thatthere was some discussion that all should pay their contribution to thetahsildar. A M Caire and myself were there as probationers getting theirtraining. I met Mr Palande and Mr Jambunathan their for the first time.I was attached to different officersfor getting the on the job experience of different areas of administration. Iwent to Gadinglaj for attachement with the Talathi and the Circle Officer.
Thelocal officers were very helpful. My food bill used to come to about Rs 45/-per month. Then I went to Panahala for working for about two months as BDO.Then I worked as Tahsildar Karvir for about a fortnight. And finally I wasposted as Prant officer Karvir. I watched GSS hearing chapter cases, where inthe person accused would be brought in by the police for a hearing. The hearingwould be brief.
And the decision would be mainly on the intuitive assessementof the Prant Officer.Duringthis time I had a good rapport with AS through letters. She would writeregulary to me and vice versa. Towards the middle of the district training wewent for another spell of secretariat training. When I was coming to Mumbai forthis purpose I was quite excited and agog with the idea of meeting AS. When Ireached the administrative staff college I found her to be rather aloof andalmost taking no notice of me and was being rather too pally with RKZ. AS wasquite aloof.
She had become too close to RKZ and the entire worldseemed to know about it. I was quite clear in my mind that I would not go anyfurther with her and I think women being shrewd she must have sensed that therewould be no point wasting time on me. It was a good meeting of all thefriends. I learned to be more worldly wise.Mussorie again forBharat Darshan and Military AttachmentSome time towards the beginning of 1971 we all, ie all the probationersof the 1969, assembled again at Mussorie. I feel as a result of the districttraining I had gained some confidence. I had slightly improved in health andgained some weight.
I had also grown a full beard perhaps inspired by AKS whoclaimed that he had never used the safety razor. I feel I enjoyed this secondspell more as I had gained some self reliance. I could be on my own. I haddeveloped some view and personality of my own. I specially used to enjoy theSunday movies shown in the academy.
One lady probationer who impressed meparticularly was MK (Manijay Kherawala). She was very silent and reserved andhad a serene face. She was in the income tax service.The entire batchwas divided into four groups which went to different directions of India.
Ourgroup went toward North East. Mr Arun Bagchi was incharge from the faculty for our Group. K SSwaminathan was the group leader.
I may add that unfortunately Swaminathan isno more. He died about 15 years back. He was involved in some kind of scandalinvolving export of carpetsWe went to Madras and then moved towards Calcutta along the sea coast by train. We sawCuttak. And the SunTemple of Konark. I thinkour Calcuttastay was short. I do not remember the officer we met there.
Then we went to Darjeeling and stayedthere for a day or two I think. It was quite cold and hotels were cheaplyavailable. I remember we helped the ladies in the group by lifting theirluggage.
They invited us for some snacks. I felt that I was hanging aroundunnecessary. The girls were interested mainly in AKS.
This place I learned thelesson one should not rush to a place where the invitation is half hearted orreluctant.From Calcutta we went to Assam,Kamakshi Temple was visited. Then Nagaland andManipur. At Manipur we visited the place, turned into a memorial, from whereNetaji Subhash Chandra Bose lauched the armed attack against the British army.What I remember of Nagaland now is that it had lot of natural beauty of thelandscape. The people were also beautiful and healthy.
The thing whichimpressed me most was that each family could spin and weave the colourfulskirts which they wear in Nagaland. Theygave us some beer prepared out of rice.
We chewed some of the local “supari” whichproduced an intoxing effect. Same were the capabilities of women in Manipur.Manipur is a fully Hindu state, women are seen manning the shops and each housecan spin its cloth. We visited the famous Govind Temple.We also attended a dance presentation at a well known theatre.Our returnjourney was to Delhi from Calcuttavia Bihar. At Jamshedpur we saw the Tatanagar Steel Plant.At Ranchi wesaw the Bharat Heavy Electricals Limited plant.We were all in afirst class compartment which was made available exclusively for us. At therailway station of our halt the compartmet used to be disconnected from thetrain and used to wait for us.
At RanchiI think we stayed in some school building. Two of my brand new shirts werestolen. I was quite disturbed about it. K S Swaminathan was quite sympatheticto my difficulty but we could not do anything.Our halt at Delhi was for two orthree days. We called on the President of India in the Ashoka Hall of theRashtrapati Bhavan. I also went to meet Saxena Saheb at Karolbagh. Madhuri jiwas also there.
I remember that on one occasion I went for a movie alone. Onemovie I think I saw with Chitra Kinra and some other friends.As far as I canremember some of the friends who were with our group were Bobby Misra, AdarshMishra, Dharmendra Deo, Adarsh Kishore, Rupan Deol, Palti Menon, Suman Swarup,Mohammad Shafi, Swaminathan, Joshi (TN).For the ArmyAttachment the entire batch was divided into about four groups. Our group wentto Srinagar and from there we were taken toRajouri in Jammuand Kashmere. We were attached to the 21 st Division, which was under the command of Maj General Kundan Singh who had a impressivepersonality. For three weeks we lived with the officers and soldiers and wentto the forward areas. The highlight was our stay in a picket on the line ofcontrol for one complete night during which we could hear the sound of rifleshots being exchanged across the border.
We were also taught how to handle therifle and the sten gun. The operations of light machine gun were alsoexplained.
How the artillery is used and how the maps of survey of India are usedfor accuracy of the attack. On the whole it was a very interesting exposure. For one week theentire batch halted at Nagpur for receievingtraining at the Collegeof Civil Defence. Thistoo was an interesting and useful experience.Thus it would beseen that the training imparted to the probationers of the IndianAdministrative Service was quite comprehensive—about six to seven months studyof Public Admistration, Law, History, International Relations, Economics,Marathi; then the district training where on the job experience was given; anintroduction to the State Secretariat, attachment with Army, a bit of trainingof Civil Defence, Bharat Darshan, a courtesy call on the President of India. Inaddition one learnt some games and horse Riding and had an opportunity ofmeeting with highly motivated and brilliant boys and girls of India whoproved their merit in a public examination.Sangamner,Ahmednagar (july 1971 to july 1973)My first postingwas as Assistant Collector of a sub division called Sangamner in the districtof Ahmednagar.
Sangamner is about 60 km from the district head quarters. Mr V SGopalakrishnan (1962) was the collector. He was very amiable and approachable.I stayed in a rented accommodation as my predecessor Sri S D Patil wasoccupying the traditional rental house near the office.
The office was also arented building outside the town on theroad leading to Akola Taluka across a small river called Mhalungi. The rentedhouse which I occupied was also outside the town on the road going toAhmednagar. I was a bachelor- so no difficulty on the house front.
The housenear the office became available to me after about six months.There are fourtaluka’s in Sangamner Subdivision – Sangamner, Kopargaon, Srirampur and Akola. My work consistedmainly of revenue and land matters. In addition I dealt with the chapter casesunder the criminal procedure code. During my tenure however the main work whichcame up was combating the scarcity conditions which had hit the entire districtin 1971-72. The crops had failed due to scanty rains.
People had to be givenwork so that they could earn their lively hood. The employment guarantee schemewas not existing then and the starting of works was regulated under theprovisions of a scarcity manual.
The works were started mostly in the shape ofa percolation tank, well, soil conservation work or a road. It had to bechiefly earth work. I remember that the daily wages aimed at in those days wasabout Rs 5 a day.
At the peak of scarcity the number of people on scarcityworks was of the order of 140000 in my subdivision. One of my chief duties wasto visit the scarcity works and see that their management was in accordancewith the government orders.
During this period Ranjana,Narendra Ji, Suman and Sruti visited Paris. They stayed withus for about 7 days I think. It was good fun. We visited the usual places ofinterest like the Eiffel tower, the Louvre.
On one Sunday we had all gone tothe Louvre. After visiting a part of the museum when all of us got a bit tiredwe wanted to go to the bathrooms. Richa, only about three and a half yearsold, heard this and strayed away to the toilets the location of which she knew,without any of us noticing her movement.
After a little while when we realisedthat Richa is not with us we started searching her only to find no trace of herany where near us. We started getting panicky. Then some one called us to thetoilets where Richa was quietly standing.
The lady incharge of the toilets wasa bit angry with us telling us that we were not taking adequate care about her.We said sorry to the lady and all of us were greatly relieved and slowly cameout of that nerve chilling experience.I must record another interestingexperience in France.In Residence de Antony where we lived we had a neighbour from Algeria. Hetold us that just like him I too was entitled to receive some social securityallowance for Richa.
One day therefore I went to the social security office.There were about 250 persons waiting there. I thought at first that my turnwould come after considerable time. But there were a large no-aboutforty-counters manned by ladies where one was called for scrutiny of papers andthe request. I got a coupon with a number and was told to wait for theannouncement of the number. A lady in the centre of the hall was calling thenumbers one by one. My turn came in less than ten minutes.
My papers wereexamined and I was told to bring some other certificates on the next date. Thenext date, I came as before. Some thing wonderful happened here that I mustmention. As usual I got my token number and was waiting. A thought came in mymind that too much delay was being caused.
Suddenly I discovered that a newtable counter was being set up to deal with the expanding crowd and I was thefirst to be called on this new counter. There was a middle aged lady who dealtwith me very kindly.
She was aware of the visit of the French president whichhad taken place a few days ago. Her attitude was very favourable. She told meafter examining the papers that they were in order and said that I should hearfrom them in one month. About a month later I received by post a mandate fromthem indicating that Lata would be getting Fr 400 per month for Richa.
Thus ona foreign soil god gave us a little extra money for Richa during our stay. Thelast instalment of the amount came on our return from France at Delhi.MarsaillesTowards the end of my course at theIIPA we were to goto Marsailles for a month for studying the port city. It isthe biggest portof France.
At first I wasreluctant to go but the authorities of the institute arranged two rooms for usat a hostel so that I could take Richa and Lata with me. We covered thedistance from Paristo Marsailles by train. Lata travelled at half the price of a ticket because ofa promotional scheme to encourage families to travel together. Richa travelledfree.
The train journey was very enjoyable. The train moved at greatspeed-definitely more than 150 km per hour. The compartments were airconditioned. At stations very little eatables were available which kept thestations clean.
The Mediterranean sea was veryblue. Once or twice that we took a boating trip in it we enjoyed thoroughly. Itwas not an uncommon site to see women bathing topless on the beaches.
A littleinside the sea about 5 km from the shore there is an island here where count ofMonte Cristo is fabled to have lived. Richa Lata and I also visited here afamous church on top of a hill from where the entire city can be seen. The viewof ships and boats moving slowly on the water was peaceful and charming.Rome and MonteCarloOn a week end we decided to go to Rome from Marsailles. Thevisas were obtained from the Italian consulate at Marsailles. We travelled to Rome by train. Thelandscape and the sea as seen from the train was most beautiful.
On arrival at Rome we were able to geta room in a hotel for a modest sum. We spent one night and saw Fontana de Traviand the Vatican.Rome isfull of ancient ruins reminding one of the ancient Rome of the Ceasers. The paintings and thestatues in and around the churches in the Vatican were beautiful and artisticfrom which devotion and true genuine effort was exuding and that made theseworks so valuable for the humanity.On the return journey we got down at Monaco which was on the way. Wespent about four or five hours there. The Casino was visited.
We tried our handat the gambling machines and lost a few francs. The view of the sea wasbeautiful from this town. Lot of constructionhas taken place near the sea but absolute cleanliness could be seen.
There wereonly three bus routes in this town. We took a bus pass which entitled unlimitedtravel on the bus for a day and covered all the three routes in about one and ahalf hour. This completed a very good tour of the town.
We took the train forthe return journey again the same evening and reached Marsailles.GenevaWhile returning from Marsailles toParis when we reach somewhere near Lyon we discovered that if we wanted wecould go to Geneva and come back again to resume our journey for Paris. Itherefore contacted the ticket checker in the train and got our ticket dulychanged. And some time in the morning of the next day reached Geneva. There was no question of checking inany hotel. We made use of a pay toilet at the railway station and all the threeused it one by one paying the fare only for one person. We walked the mainmarket on foot.
Saw the lake and the water jet in the middle. Visited someclock shops and purchased two wooden cuckoo clocks. We took the return trainfor Paris sometime the same evening. We could thus say that we have visited Geneva.On the whole therefore the trip to Rome, Monte Carlo and Geneva was quitesuccessful and trouble free.LondonTowards the end of my stay at Paris we were required to go to London for a month to complete the attachmentwith the French embassy there. I was looking forward to this visit to see thecountry whose kings and administrators ruled India for two centuries.The problem was where to stay withLata and Richa during this time. I laid my hands on a guide to London and found 11 addresses where cheap accommodationcould be available. These were hostel kind of places meant for students.
Iwrote to all the 11 for booking some place and confirming to me for thearrangements. Only one of these places replied under signatures of the warden.It was not clear from the telegram that what the address was. Therefore Iconfirmed to at least three addresses where wardens could have been inchargethanking them for the response. Quickly the reply came from the two oddaddresses who had not responded saying that they had not written to me. Byelimination therefore I knew the addresses.
It was Jerome House, SW 14, London. Narendra Ji wasby chance in Parisstaying with us. He knew some one in Londonwho confirmed with this hostel about our coming and staying with them.We decided to cover the distancebetween Paris and London by the Hoverlloyed service. It took usfrom Paris to Calais by a luxury bus.
On the way the busstopped at a road side restaurant for tea. AtCalaiswe boarded a big hovercraft which could accommodate about three hundred personsand several cars. The distance of the channel ie between Calaisand Dover wascovered in about 45 minutes. The ride was fast and bumpy but much moreinteresting than a flight for we could get a true feel of the sea and the goodview of the channel.
Lata was feeling nausea but some how we reached. Richa wasas usual sucking her thumb.
The hostess-a young beautiful woman-tried to helpus and said that when she was small she too used to such her thumb. She hadbeautiful teeth and smile.
Such acts of kindness remain in your memory forlong-perhaps forever.From Doverto London againthe journey was covered by bus. From the bus terminus we took a taxi to JeromeHouse. The taxi driver was an old gentleman speaking impeccable English. Heseemed to know the roads very well and one was sure that he would not swindleyou by taking a circuitous route. He looked most sincere and honest. He reachedus to the correct spot.
The bill was about 3.5 Pounds. He himself unloaded theluggage and accepted the payment in a most respectful fashion. The lady at theJerome house accepted us in the hostel and we heaved a sigh of relief. In aforeign land if you get a nice place to live half the problems areautomatically solved. The price of the apartment which consisted of a livingroom, drawing room and a kitchen, was 45 pounds a week. The kitchen had a hotplate, a fridge, some crockery and the dish washer.
To reach HydePark one had to go via Kensigton and Harrods, by a 15 minutes walk. One Dr(Mrs)Goyal staying in the hostel became good friend of ours. There was a pianoin the common room as well as a television. The French embassy was located onthe road running along the eastern side of the Hyde Parktaking you to Marble Arch.
I purchased two London Bus Passes and we were quitemobile. Richa being less than three years was travelling free.During the one month in London we saw the usualtourist attractions. The changing of the guards at the Buckingham Palace,Madame Toussaud’s Museaum, the Tower of London, Oxford street, the LondonBridge, the Westminister etc. I did not make any plan for tourism but we sawwhat came our way. The crown jewels were beautiful.
One diamond called the“Star of Africa”, said to be the biggest diamond of the world looked beautiful.The tower of Londonserved as prison for the persons of the royal families of England. Hereexecutions of the members of the royal families were carried out. Whatimpressed me most in Londonwas the dignified air with which most of the people carried themselves and theimpeccable English that they spoke. Another thought that came to my mind afterseeing a bit of Londonwas that these people have tried to find out the perfect way of doing a thing.The palace guards were dressed in a particular fashion and they drilled in aperfect fashion.
Even they spoke to the people in a perfect fashion. Themounted guards have already become a tourist attraction in UK.We visited the Pettycoat Markettoo. This is a market on the footpaths, where people hawk their goods. Thewomen on the stalls were particularly informal. Many times they would addressyou as “darling” or “sweetheart” whiletalking to you. As compared to Pariswe found the town less spic and span. The price of vegetables was more.
Thebuses were not as clean as at Paris.The underground trains also looked somewhat old as compared to those of Paris.The “Marks and Spencer’s” and othersimilar stores were visited by us. We purchased a few things for every one athome. When you return home from the first trip abroad it is customary in ourcountry to bring some souvenir for every one at home. I purchased a stretchablepair of trousers which have lasted for more than twenty years.From a travel agent, where some MrPadhani was incharge, located at the end of oxford street I finalised thepurchase of the air tickets in Air Franceform London to Paris. The cost was of the order of sixthousand rupees for Richa and Lata. Only the flight had to be boarded at London.
There was apossibility that we could board from Paristoo, but strictly speaking it would be illegal. The gentleman appearedtrustworthy and I decided to go in for that. I had to visit him three times tocollect the tickets because the date was entered wrongly. If I remembercorrectly the name of the lady at this office was Ashiana.Our return journey to Paris was again by theHoverlloyed Service.
As smooth as before. I would say that our one month tripto London wasmost satisfying.Toward the end of July we returnedto Paris.
Thecourse has come to an end. There was a farewell function at the instituted. Iplayed the mouth organ.
There were lot of photographs etc.Let me also narrate here that I wasin considerable tension because of the fact that the air ticket that Ipurchased required us to board the plane from London. This meant that we have to go to London by hovercraft and then fly back to Parischange the plane and go to Delhi.This looked foolish but the travel agent had said that the ticket was made thatway. There were two foils in the ticket—one from Londonto Paris. Andthe other from Paris to Delhi. I was all the time worrying as to whatwould happen if we tried to start the journey from Parisitself and if we were disallowed to board on the ground that the journey shouldhave commenced from Londonthen we would face a big embarrassment. I did not want to take any risk andtherefore I decided to go to London, again comeback to Paris, change the plane then and take aplane for Delhi.I had booked the hovercraft journey to Londonfor the three of us accordingly.
This would be a very inconvenient thing. Thisdifficulty was however sorted out as if by the will of god on the day when Ihad gone to see off Ramkumar I think at the airport. After Ramkumar had boardedthe plane I showed my ticket at the Air France counter where an Indian girl wassitting. She heard me patiently and understood my difficulty and thereaftervery confidently tore off the London to Paris foils of my twotickets.
She said that there would be no difficulty in my boarding the planefrom Paris for Delhi. The confidence which she exuded mademy change my plan of going to London.I quickly returned the tickets for the Londonjourney and came back home. We left for NewDelhi after a day or two I think. At the airport I wasstill a bit nervous lest we might have to face some difficulty about ourticket.
However when we checked it no one asked us any questions and we werepromptly handed over our boarding passes for the jumbo plane. All of us heaveda sigh of relief. Kamal Jaswal was with us and we celebrated the smoothchecking in by drinking coffee which was about franc 20 per cup.The journey to India wassmooth and enjoyable.
I can say that thetrip to Parisand back was generally successful was quite educative for me. I had had a goodglimpse of the west. I had learned a new language “French” which I liked.
I sawsome marked differences between the English and the French. I saw some of thefiner aspects of the French culture. The French are more artistic, more methodicaland perhaps more trusting than the English. The French women are morepredominating in the life scene of the country.
While in England it isthe men who make the scene. The spellings in French are more systematic thoughmany people who do not know French think to the contrary. It is however a pitythat French language would no longer is the first language of diplomacy asbefore.
All things must rise and wane. I met many persons who were very kind.Very few who were not. I saw many goodpeople whom I do not know, yet some how their memory lingerswith me and gives me happiness.I landed back on the 3rd of August1980 at the DelhiAirport.
Pitaji and Maawere there to receive us. They had come one or two days back at the house. J KArora had not given any help to them while leaving our house. Somewhatdifficult period was to start in my life on the office front. I reported toKamala Prasad the Joint Secretary the same morning and on his hint I gave thejoining report the same day. The food secretary was Mr Gangopadhyaya.
Herefused to see me. He thought that I am engineering to stay on in thedepartment.
He wanted to send me back to Maharashtra.I was keen to stay on at Delhi.Though in retrospect I feel that I could have come back to Maharashtraat that time too. The next two to three years I spent as if not really incontrol of things. ( who can control things – all is predestined, when onefinds the going easy one feels that he is controlling things and vice versa).Finally I was posted as DS(finance) in the department of food, vice Mahata, whowas reverting to his service. My boss was the Joint Secretary (Finance) MrShastry. Initially he sounded a good person but I think he did not like me inthe long run.
Perhaps I was not suited to the job. He was a person who used tolike dealing with numbers. He would miss the bigger picture and dabble withunnecessary details I thought.At this time I had applied to anAmerican university for a one year scholarship.
I was hoping that if the replycomes I would get another chance to go abroad and I would thus escape thetension and unpleasantness of the present job. I had shared this with Lata tooand had often ruminated with her the good that will result if this scholarshipcomes my way. On 1 st April 1981 I received a telephone from Latathat the positive reply selecting me for the scholarship has come. I was quitehappy for about half an hour. I again rang her up to enquire the exact detailsof the letter but she seemed to falter on this and then I realised that she hastried to make an April fool of me.
What a way to play this joke. I was reallyhurt. One never expects to be made a fool of oneself on a subject on which oneis very anxious and that too from some one who is very near to you. The netresult was a severe hurt which I have not forgotten till today.It was during this year ie 1981that Babuji passed away. I received the news at office. Mr Shastry gave mecasual leave with difficulty. I broke the news in the presence of Narendra jiand Ranjana to Lata who was pregnant at that time.
I went to Varanasi for a period of two days. Alka andSuhas were there. It was sad that Babuji passed away so early after retirementat the age of about 61. But who can change the destiny.Rishi was born in the Wellington hospital onthe 21 st July 1981. I remember Maa and I had gone to the hospital.The nurse was very reluctant to tell if it was a boy or a girl.
We thought thata girl is born. However when I went back Maa told me that a son is born. Wewere very happy. Pitaji and Maa were both at Delhi with us at this time.
This made ourfamily very balanced. One boy and one girl is the best combination. It was apleasure to watch Richa and Rishi grow at this time. Mr shastry did not givethe 15 days leave that I wanted during this period. He said he really was notsure that I wanted the leave. Very low and cheap of him. He went down in myeyes since then.The tension at the office kept ongrowing.
Sometime around September or October of 1981 I was deputed to theSpecial Organising Committee for the IX th asian games. I was designated as theDirector of Asian Games Village. Sardar Buta Singh was the Chairman of theCommittee. The games were to be held in November the next year.
The first AsianGames were held in Indiain 1952. Since then many games and many countries were added making theorganisation more complicated. Security considerations had also changedconsiderably. Rajiv Gandhi was taking considerable interest in the organisationof the games. Arun Singh and Arun Nehru were often seen throwing their weightaround in some work or the other. The Secretary General S S Gill was a somewhatdifficult person to work.
In the initial period I was involved in severalcommittees which had to do the detailed planning for various aspects of thegame. This was a work where no precedents were available. One had to read thereports of the earlier games. The film on the organisation of Moscow OlympicGames was seen by us several times. The chairman of the Asian GamesVillage committee was AVMKapur.
He was a good man. This gave me an experience of working in a nongovernmental organisation where the usual discipline of the governmentalhierarchical tree does not prevail and each one tries to throw his weightaround to make an impression. Some other persons whom I came in contact withwere Gen Harbaksh Singh, Mr S S Gill IAS, Mr Anand Sehgal. The memories havefaded. Only I remember that on account of the overwhelmingly Punjabi atmosphereI used to feel rather cramped. Every one used to speak in Punjabi.
There wasconsiderable confusion in planning matters. It was also rumoured that somepeople were making money. Ram Niwas Mirdha was also coming off and on. Workwise I was rather feeling out of place. This was a good experience of workingin a slightly different atmosphere where there were no precedents and whereoriginal thinking had to be done all the time.As the games approached I was madeto with draw from the field and concentrate on the head office.
Towards the endI really had no work. This is good planning. Though this lessens yourimportance you are totally free and you can watch the games. I had a car tomyself and saw some of the events.
Particularly interesting was the openingceremony. The performances were really grand. The administrative arrangementswere perfect.The city of Delhi also saw many improvements on accountof the games.
Several hotels came up. Several flyovers were built. Colour TVcame to Delhifor the first time. Many roads were widened.
The facilities at the airportunderwent some improvement.Some time in the march of 1983 Ireverted back to Maharashtra. I was posted asthe Dy Secretary in the Housing and Special Assistance Department. I was towork under Mr Tinaikar, who was the then Secretary of the Housing & SplAssistance department.
My house hold goods and the ambassador car was loaded onthe railway container. It would come soon after my arrival in Bombay.Bombay Again (March 1983)The initial introduction to the Bombay life again was notso smooth I thing. We stayed for a few days at Sion with the family of ManoharMama. Then I visited one day the superintending engineer incharge of SuruchiGuest House, along with Nandlal.
The SE gave me a room in the circuit house.This time I was a little more confident as I had gained some experience. Weshifted immediately to the corner room on the first floor of the guest houseand remained there for about nine months in one room with two kids-Richa andRishi. We would remain in Bombayfor about six years in this spell.I had hoped for a posting ascollector but somehow that was not to be. I was perhaps somewhat disappointedbecause I would never work as a collector. The assignment given to me concernedUrban Land Ceiling Act implementation. This was comparatively a new subject andtherefore very interesting specially keeping in view the fact that Maharashtra is turning urban very fast. I called on MrTinaikar on the very first day.
He appeared quite tough and good. He had hadsome difficulty with Mr Antulay when he was the CM. And on account of that hehad earned a reputation of being a tough person. I had a good workingrelationship with him. The nature of work was quite sensitive as big peopleowning land in urban areas as well as builders used to approach the office fortheir cases.
Sri Vasant Dada Patil was the chief minister at this time andthere was a cabinet sub committee meeting every week for the purpose of ULC.The work load was heavy. At times I had to walk to office early in the morningat 7 am.The Hon Minister Shivaji RaoDeshmukh helped me in giving accommodation in the Suniti building which is verynear Mantralaya. This flat was very good, and on the tenth floor of thebuilding. We had a good time in this flat for the next about six years. Richawas admitted to the fort convent.
Rishi was initially admitted to the G DSomani school at the cuffe parade. Both were going by the school bus. While atthe suruchi guest house I made friends with Mr T K Chaudhary IPS. Thisfriendship has lasted till today.
Primarily because lata and mrs chaudhary aregood friends. It is the friendship between families that is more durable.CM’s Secretariat(1983-84)I remainded in the HousingDepartment for about 8 months then suddenly I was transferred to the Secretariatof the Chief Minister.
Mr Sharad Kale was at that time the Secretary to theChief Minister. I had a very good relationship with him. He never was angrywith me.
We used to take lunch together. I had shifted my office to a room onthe other side of the CMs room.
This was a bigger room with an attachedbathroom. On the pretext of having a photocopier I managed an airconditionertoo for my room.
It was thus a comfortable situation. In those days only CMsroom and the Dy CMs(Ram Rao Adik) room was air conditioned. I was also given anassigned car.
Thus life became quite comfortable. I was also attending thecabinet meetings to keep a track of the decisions.
Comments are closed.
|
Details
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |