the milk city of india,birth place of amul the taste of india, anand is situated about two hours journey from ahmedabad and about 12 long hours from my home town bhuj. if somehow you missed the rail reservation, the bus route from bhuj to anand was very bad.it could break all your bones and could tear your muscles apart!on top of it,after arriving at anand you needed to catch a rikshaw or something to reach to psmc campus, gokul nagar,karamsad. still about 10 kms from anand. karamsad is famous as the birth place of iron man of india and my hero, sardar patel.
when i started from anand to karamsad in a rikshaw, i saw a big statue of sardar just at the entrance of karamsad village, touching main highway.the campus was roughly 3 kms away from karamsad so my journey continued further on the highway. on the way, first, i noticed a a typical ugly slum on my left side followed by a pond with dirty water( presently, there is sardar patel memorial at the place of the pond).
the wall of the campus started after the pond.soon apartments of the campus were visible. there were two big gates for entry. there was an official bus stop at the gate typically surrounded by tea-laaris and bhajia-wala stalls. there were few small shops on the other side of the highway selling things like paan and biscuits. when i entered the campus, wow, it was a huge one! just after the entry i could see a big four storied cement colored shree krishna hospital right in front of me. there was a small poorly maintained garden just in front of the entry of the hospital(presently, there is shree h.m. patel memorial at this garden).the hospital entry was marked by a big life size statue of lord shree krishna typically holding flute with both of his hands, touching his lips. the hospital was so named because, as someone told me, the donor wanted to keep himself anonymous.donating keeping your name anonymous is considered of highest virtue in hinduism.
by heart beats increased as my rikshaw entered the campus.since i was the only student from kachchh to get admission in psmc, all the batch mates were alien to me.even amongst the seniors, i knew only a few names. one name was setu, originally a nagar from bhuj whose parents lived in our neighborhood when i was 3-4 yr old. the other name i knew was viren, son of iconic pediatrician of kachchh, dr jagdish mehta. that was all.to put it in simple words, it was a whole new world for me. how would i get friends? how would i get adjusted to new environment? i had left a whole world of loving friends in bhuj- shanti, divyang, suresh, mitesh, nilesh to mention a few. how could i forget my first love kalpesh? i loved him so much.in fact, whatever i read in my 12 std, i did it in hope of getting a rank near him and to be with him in the college years! but that could not happen. he got admission somewhere else in some other branch. i really missed him so much.
and what about girls? can you believe this,apart from my early childhood play mates, i never had any girl friend in bhuj! i studied in boys' school throughout except up to 4th std. so practically girls in the class was something causing mixed feelings of apprehension and excitement for me.how would i talk with them? would i be able to win some good girl friends? a question that can perspire any young boy!
would we freshers be ragged? some one told me ragging was more common in medical colleges.what kind of ragging would be? a thought of it passed through my spine. was something horrible to happen with me? i hated ragging like almost all freshers. what would i do when i was all alone? was a hell waiting for me out there?
my father believed i was very fussy for food.i had strong likes and dislikes.what kind of mess would i have? i hoped at least it to be reasonably clean. i was like, if i wanted to live and to study, i had to eat whatever was available.i never was in search of heaven.
my thoughts were interrupted as the riksaw progressed in. after about half a kilometer, i could see a big building still under construction. that was supposedly the college building.the rikshaw passed by the building. the campus was green.a big play ground was seen on the way to the boys' hostel.the road was passing between the college building and the playground.there were lots of mango trees marking the periphery of the ground. the college building was very big. i was thrilled. it was my dream college! how could it be unrecognized by the MCI?
some one told me psmc had good teachers.when you are from a small town like bhuj, you automatically become a pet student of your teachers if you are a bit brighter than your counter parts! the status is suddenly lost when you enter a medical college.my situation same way, became up side down as naturally all my co students had scored more than me in 12th std and so i was second last to get admission in whole of my new class. what would happen to my academics?would it be possible for me to pass mbbs? i heard of some prof shrivastav headed the deptt of anatomy and was very strict.
my medium of teaching was to change from gujarati to english all of sudden.though that was not a concern for me as i learnt spoken English well before entering the medical college by reading news papers and listening to BBc radio when i was in 11th std.my concern was, how would i read big thick books of 1st mbbs? i hated reading.
the main donor of the college was the akshar purushottam sect of shree swaminarayan sub sect of hinduism.pramukhswani was the name of the head of the sect and so the name of the college- pramukhswami medical college. although i never was a devotte, rather a critic of some of the techings of bhagwan swaminarayan, he somehow indirectly played a vital role in my education! my school in bhuj was run by the local swaminarayan mandir(and was a boys' school only) and now this was my college erected with huge sum of donation by akshar purushottam sanstha! probably i never would have been a doctor without them! it was managed by shree charuttar arogya mandal then headed by respected shree h. m.patel. he was sardar patel's right hand at the time of partition of india and pakistan. there after, he also remained finance minister in janata govt of morarjee desai. he was known for his administrative capacity and principled politics.when he was there, i was assured, we never would need to worry for the recognition of our college by the MCI.
my rikshaw headed further and i saw a big decent building at the other end of the playground.wow!that was the ladies hostel.a few tiny dolls were seen from that far! the road further entered in tall thick jungle of eukeliptus trees. lastly, we reached the boys' hostel- amidst the tall trees,it was four storied cement colored building.it was to be my new home for next four and half years at least!
i took my luggage out and paid the rikshaw wala. as i looked around, there were few bikes parked at the entrance. must be belonging to students whose parents had a lot of money. to my surprise, the entry to the hostel had no gate that could be locked! even, i did not find any chowkidaar. as i entered inside,i saw farms on the open side of c shaped hostel building.( c was closed afterwards to make present building).
the hostel room cost some hard earned 1200 bucks per month to my middle class parents. they were happy as i got my seat on my own merit and not on donation. i also believed whatever i do i should do it on my own merit and not on donation.to this expense, add my mess bill and routine expenses including costly STD phone calls to home.that was quite an amount.
i was allotted room no 15 on the ground floor.this was very first time, i met tapasvi, one of my room partners. he was a tall guy with spects and nascent mustache then! his hairs were curly.
"hello, i am neh from bhuj" i extended my hand to him "we are to be room mates.."i added as i shake hands.
"we are to be good friends.."he welcomed me with big smile showing dimples on his cheeks.
"oh sure!" and a contract was unknowingly signed for lifetime! you never know when you get best friends in your life.believe it or not, there are hardly any reasons to be best friends. it just happens so.
the hostel room was a big one about 20x14ft. there ware three cots and three study tables put alongside the cots. we had a big balcony facing the jungle of trees.we were provided with three cupboards- one for each student. the hostel was built afresh and we were probably the first occupants of the room no 15. the cleaning was done before the allotment.
the partner i met afterwards was biren. he was from gandhinagar, capital of gujarat, near ahmedabad. he was last to get the admission to our mbbs class.
our college was truly a village medical college, far away from city. the campus was very big and green, spanning roughly 4 kilometers from one end to the other.
before telling the story further, let me ask you:can you imagine a world without mobiles? we have lived in such a world then! in fact, it was era of prime minister rajeev gandhi's dream of communication revolution just growing fruits. it was because of efforts of sam pitroda, a great gujarati technocrat, we had luxury of public telephone booths allowing us to make costly long distance calls to our homes! but the nearest such booth, believe me, when i joined the college, was about 5 kms away from the hostel in karamsad village.
how weird the world was! after reaching the booth,one needed to be a part of a long queue.it was really so!
in the evening, i called on my parents from such a booth. i also called my elder sister neha, at m. p shah medical college, jamnagar. she cared a lot for me and was worried about me as i was all alone to this alien medical college from bhuj.
" so what are names of your room mates?" she asked after some routine talk.
" biren and tapasvi." i said
"tapasveee....you mean a girl is your room mate?" she almost screamed on the phone!
" no! no!" i laughed." his name is tapasvi. it might sound like a girl's name because of 'vee' but he is a boy!"
Wednesday, August 31, 2011
CHAPTER ONE: TRAIN TO PSMC
For me, it was very first chance to do everything all alone. i mean, i never had gone any where alone till that day. The challenge was not only to go but rather to stay and study MBBS at shree pramukhswami medical college for five long years ! the college was said to be a rural medical college, still to get recognized by the medical council of india. today, when i look back, it looks like a dream for me. how did i get in the MBBS?
though firstly,I never wanted to be a doctor because i hated mugging up biology as a subject. secondly, Physics always fascinated me. it was my first love.my childhood memories are full of play with magnets, lenses and paper airplanes. my dream was to be a physicist or an aeronautical engineer.can you really believe? i wanted to be part of indian space research program! but after my result of 12th std,things turned such way, i got an option of becoming a doctor. tinted with feelings of patriotism, i and my best friend shanti often had hot discussions as to what to choose and why.i remember standing on the road to our tuition class early morning spending hours in such discussions! believe it or not, my parents never even suggested as to what should i become in life.. they wanted me to choose a career whatever i liked.
from the discussions, i felt, deeper down in me, there was an urge to work directly with the people,to help them in their daily lives. i was always moved and fascinated with teachings and life of mahatma gandhi. mahatma was an unbeatable hero for me.(and he is even today). surely, he played his part to make me a doctor!
an engineer can work wonders for the people but could he ever have chance to touch the hearts of people directly? i guessed, it was only a doctor that could do so. i knew, a physicist could save and enrich lives of thousands by designing remote sensing satellite. but he would remain in office for most of the time away from the masses. so if i really wished to be helpful to the masses directly and to touch their hearts i ought to be a doctor. to be a doctor to save life was like becoming an angel.
i also remember some emotional, lonely and tearful moments thinking about people in need of medical help.there are only a few times in whole of your life when you are left alone with yourself.people say whenever you want to make any big decision of your life, follow your heart more than your brain. boys usually do not cry but imagination of people dying without medical help made me forget my gender during those moments.
thus, gradually my heart changed my mind in favor of becoming a doctor.of course, to get in the medical college was not sure for me! despite all my emotions, there was a trap. that was because, my merit number in merit list of gujarat state was near about 1000. there was no any pre medical test at that time. students, based on their merit of 12th std were given choice to choose either medical or engineering.My rank was a tricky one because total medical seats in the state were around 1000 at that time. so, it was not sure whether would i get admission in a medical college.
for admission process to be transparent,there was central admission committees- one for medical, other for engineering. students were asked to come of counseling on different dates according to their rank. after 12th std, when you know you were to get a good branch, definitely, you would feel something special.
when we reached the L D engg. college ahmedabad for counseling, there was huge crowd of parents and students. fate of all of us was to be decided that morning. we were taken to a big class room and were made to sit in front of a big black board showing details of seats already filled up and remaining in different medical and engg colleges of the state.the data was updated after each counseling.this was very helpful for all the parents and the students.
for me, as my elder sister neha studied mbbs at m p shah medical college jamnagar, it was my first choice. but damn! the college was full far before my turn! there was only one college that showed vacancy when i studied the black board - the pramukh swami medical college karamsad- a new medical college still to be recognized by medical council of india. technically, it meant, if you do mbbs from that college, you were just a medical graduate and would not be allowed to practice as a doctor out side gujarat. but who wanted to go out side gujarat? me? never. also, there was no facility of doing post graduation there. so what great difference would it make? i would remain an mbbs doctor only. fine. still, i would be a doctor at least!
my tension and heart beat increased as i saw last 2 mbbs seats remaining at psmc and some 50 odd students to go before my counseling! beat it, my dream seemed shattered! my next choice was mechanical engineering at shree birla vishvakarma maha vidyalay vallabh vidya nagar. i would at least be an enggg.i thought. there was tension.each passing minute appeared an hour to me! any of two students would choose to be doctor and the game would be over. but as the counseling progressed, those 2 magical seats remained untouched.probably no one from those 50 odd students wanted to take risk of joining a medical college that still was to be recognized by the medical council of india. if i wanted to be a doctor that was the only choice left for me.
lastly, my merit number was announced. 2 seats in psmc remained as it were before! my dream finally was to become a reality. i stood up.i was in zabba and pajamas. i was taken where the committees were sitting.I was warmly welcomed by the admission process team. the head of the committeemen was dr mankad, as some one told me. he had big spects and was looking at the list when i entered. i had not seen him before, but i could make him out because he was sitting at the centre.
"Yess young man!" he looked at me from his spects and gave me a huge smile." you are getting a medical sear at karamsad and a mech engg. seat at BVM vallabh vidya nagar. what is your choice?"
i really was so happy.without thinking for a second, i replied " medical sir!"
‘A doctor will never wear zabba pajamas..!”dr mankad smiled again.“you are getting seat at psmc karamsad is that ok?” i nodded yes. i never would forget dr mankad. any one could see love for students in his eyes.he was so caring even in that meeting of a few minutes.
soon the paper work was over and confirmation letter was given to me. bingo!i rushed outside to show it to my parents.
as I said, I was the second to board the train to medical, last was biren Gandhi…later on to be biru dada..! However I did not know, a whole batch, so called engg. Batch was to board the train after re shuffle.
So, there came the rainy day and I was stubborn enough to stop my parents to come with me to psmc as I wanted to face it all alone...
My train from bhuj to anand stuck up somewhere near nadiyad because of heavy rain. After a few hrs of disturbed journey I ultimately reached anand and karamsad.
After some clerical work, I went to doctors’ qtrs. Dr . nishith was the rector..a tall hansome military figure! He told that I had been given room in the big hostel[other than nursing] and names of my room mates were
Biren Gandhi
Tapasvi puwar..
though firstly,I never wanted to be a doctor because i hated mugging up biology as a subject. secondly, Physics always fascinated me. it was my first love.my childhood memories are full of play with magnets, lenses and paper airplanes. my dream was to be a physicist or an aeronautical engineer.can you really believe? i wanted to be part of indian space research program! but after my result of 12th std,things turned such way, i got an option of becoming a doctor. tinted with feelings of patriotism, i and my best friend shanti often had hot discussions as to what to choose and why.i remember standing on the road to our tuition class early morning spending hours in such discussions! believe it or not, my parents never even suggested as to what should i become in life.. they wanted me to choose a career whatever i liked.
from the discussions, i felt, deeper down in me, there was an urge to work directly with the people,to help them in their daily lives. i was always moved and fascinated with teachings and life of mahatma gandhi. mahatma was an unbeatable hero for me.(and he is even today). surely, he played his part to make me a doctor!
an engineer can work wonders for the people but could he ever have chance to touch the hearts of people directly? i guessed, it was only a doctor that could do so. i knew, a physicist could save and enrich lives of thousands by designing remote sensing satellite. but he would remain in office for most of the time away from the masses. so if i really wished to be helpful to the masses directly and to touch their hearts i ought to be a doctor. to be a doctor to save life was like becoming an angel.
i also remember some emotional, lonely and tearful moments thinking about people in need of medical help.there are only a few times in whole of your life when you are left alone with yourself.people say whenever you want to make any big decision of your life, follow your heart more than your brain. boys usually do not cry but imagination of people dying without medical help made me forget my gender during those moments.
thus, gradually my heart changed my mind in favor of becoming a doctor.of course, to get in the medical college was not sure for me! despite all my emotions, there was a trap. that was because, my merit number in merit list of gujarat state was near about 1000. there was no any pre medical test at that time. students, based on their merit of 12th std were given choice to choose either medical or engineering.My rank was a tricky one because total medical seats in the state were around 1000 at that time. so, it was not sure whether would i get admission in a medical college.
for admission process to be transparent,there was central admission committees- one for medical, other for engineering. students were asked to come of counseling on different dates according to their rank. after 12th std, when you know you were to get a good branch, definitely, you would feel something special.
when we reached the L D engg. college ahmedabad for counseling, there was huge crowd of parents and students. fate of all of us was to be decided that morning. we were taken to a big class room and were made to sit in front of a big black board showing details of seats already filled up and remaining in different medical and engg colleges of the state.the data was updated after each counseling.this was very helpful for all the parents and the students.
for me, as my elder sister neha studied mbbs at m p shah medical college jamnagar, it was my first choice. but damn! the college was full far before my turn! there was only one college that showed vacancy when i studied the black board - the pramukh swami medical college karamsad- a new medical college still to be recognized by medical council of india. technically, it meant, if you do mbbs from that college, you were just a medical graduate and would not be allowed to practice as a doctor out side gujarat. but who wanted to go out side gujarat? me? never. also, there was no facility of doing post graduation there. so what great difference would it make? i would remain an mbbs doctor only. fine. still, i would be a doctor at least!
my tension and heart beat increased as i saw last 2 mbbs seats remaining at psmc and some 50 odd students to go before my counseling! beat it, my dream seemed shattered! my next choice was mechanical engineering at shree birla vishvakarma maha vidyalay vallabh vidya nagar. i would at least be an enggg.i thought. there was tension.each passing minute appeared an hour to me! any of two students would choose to be doctor and the game would be over. but as the counseling progressed, those 2 magical seats remained untouched.probably no one from those 50 odd students wanted to take risk of joining a medical college that still was to be recognized by the medical council of india. if i wanted to be a doctor that was the only choice left for me.
lastly, my merit number was announced. 2 seats in psmc remained as it were before! my dream finally was to become a reality. i stood up.i was in zabba and pajamas. i was taken where the committees were sitting.I was warmly welcomed by the admission process team. the head of the committeemen was dr mankad, as some one told me. he had big spects and was looking at the list when i entered. i had not seen him before, but i could make him out because he was sitting at the centre.
"Yess young man!" he looked at me from his spects and gave me a huge smile." you are getting a medical sear at karamsad and a mech engg. seat at BVM vallabh vidya nagar. what is your choice?"
i really was so happy.without thinking for a second, i replied " medical sir!"
‘A doctor will never wear zabba pajamas..!”dr mankad smiled again.“you are getting seat at psmc karamsad is that ok?” i nodded yes. i never would forget dr mankad. any one could see love for students in his eyes.he was so caring even in that meeting of a few minutes.
soon the paper work was over and confirmation letter was given to me. bingo!i rushed outside to show it to my parents.
as I said, I was the second to board the train to medical, last was biren Gandhi…later on to be biru dada..! However I did not know, a whole batch, so called engg. Batch was to board the train after re shuffle.
So, there came the rainy day and I was stubborn enough to stop my parents to come with me to psmc as I wanted to face it all alone...
My train from bhuj to anand stuck up somewhere near nadiyad because of heavy rain. After a few hrs of disturbed journey I ultimately reached anand and karamsad.
After some clerical work, I went to doctors’ qtrs. Dr . nishith was the rector..a tall hansome military figure! He told that I had been given room in the big hostel[other than nursing] and names of my room mates were
Biren Gandhi
Tapasvi puwar..
Wednesday, June 22, 2011
CH 30 :NEHRU'S FOLLOWER IN PANCHVATI THE SLUM
For me, going to panchvati slum every week became a ritual to feed my soul with my dreams and ambition to serve the needy. Amongst all my friends, I was one of the most regular in visiting panchvati. As I described earlier, panchvati was a typical slum with all the bad and a few good qualities. to be good friends was one of such good qualities they had. As our visits became regular, people started trusting us more. many became our friends and started sharing about their life.
Most of the people of panchvati worked in the farms nearby. Some had little jobs at karamsad. Many were not employed at all.so It was nothing surprising to see some one jobless. however, those which worked, they had to work very hard to earn their bread and butter.
While most of the workers looked tired in the evening, There was one man of around 50 yrs, which looked afresh most of the times. also, he had better hut and better clothes than his counter parts. his hut was just in front of our slum clinic. i really wondered as to what he was doing to make such a living?
" hey, kaka,may i ask you a personal question? what do you do for living?" one day i asked him ultimately, when he was leisurely passing by our clinic.
" me? " he stopped.
"yes kaka. i never have seen you working. how do you make living?" i exclaimed my curiosity completly to him.
he stood still for a while. might be he was hesitant to reveal. probably he might be a retired man living on his son's income that he disliked to reveal i guessed. i felt my question was too personal and intrudive. i thought i should not have asked such a personal question.
after a few seconds he made up his mind to reveal the secret. "my son, do you know? when i was young, there was a great leader..."
-leader of his times? hey, what is he up to? would he talk about some swamiji? a bhagat? or might be ganghiji? no no. he might not even know gandhiji. his talk made me more eager.
" yes kaka.."i said trying to hide my curiosity.
" his name was javaharlal nehru.." wow! kaka knew nehru! what a blow!
"he used to tell all the indians to go back to villages and start gruh udyog (small scale business managed totally at home). this would uplift not only your family but also your village and the state and the nation ultimately..." he gestured totality with both of his hands to mark his point.
"so my son, i decided to start a gruh udyog here. that is what i do for living..." he smiled. i never knew he was such a great man! His hut was just in front of our clinic and we were totally unaware of his gruh udyog. but what exactly was he doing? should i ask him to show us? his talk gave me more confidence.
" that is simply great kaka! we never knew it! but can you allow us to see your gruh udyog?" i was eager to see and so i asked him.
Again he looked in a bit confusion. might be, he was doing some gruh udyog like making papad or khakhra that is mainly percieved as women's work and so he was again hesitant. again he needed some more time to think on my demand. probably he was making up his mind to say no.
" okay son i will show you what gruh udyog i run." he agreed.
" thanks a lot kaka! may we, i and my friend tapasvi come with you right now?" i jumped immediately.
" that will not be feasible. you can come next week when next time you come here in your clinic.you need to come in the late evening." it was difficult to wait till next visit but there was no option.
Usually, we worked at panchvati in evening. After finishing our routine clinic or some community work, we used to return to our hostel at around 7.30 pm. we could visit kaka after that time.
that evening, while returning from panchvati, curiosity about kaka's gruh udyog had studded my mind. i and tapasvi talked about the kaka on the way wondering about his gruh udyog. the man was really great as he came to his village just for following advice of our great first prime minister.
and again the day came. i and tapasvi both were eager to reach to panchvati and go to kaka's hut to see his gruh udyog. both of us started our routine work. while examining patients, suddenly we heard a big cry outside. the voice was of some old lady. both of us ran out side our hut clinic along with our other friends.the cry was from the next street. we ran in that direction.
we saw an old lady of about sixty loudly cursing her husband for something.she was standing outside her hut and her old husband was on char pai -cot- sitting loosely with dirty clothes. the grandma was shouting and her husband who appeared half asleep, was probably not listening to her at all! to our surprise nobody but it was only us who ran out for the shouting.
we all were puzzled as to what to do. a local from nearby hut came to us to solve our confusion.
" just leave them..." he gestured at the old couple." both of them are drunk and this is their daily business..." damn! what kind of people they were! drunk every evening and quarreling?As i saw them again i immediately recognized the grandma. she was none other than one which was coming to our hostel in evening to sell carrots cucumber and tomatoes.she used to sit at the big gate of our girl's hostel and was very popular amongst girls. all used to call her "masi". she was very keen in observing the boys and girls. some times her awkward comments were enough to give a spark to quarrel.it was her routine to come to our campus daily.
and here she was buying liquor daily from that money she earned from the hostels! really, such kind of people waste even something they have. it was pity she and her husband both could get the liquor. some one must be supplying the whole area. home service like milk man!
masi's shouting lessened, as she started crying.for all the neighbors, this was probably routine. no one seemed concerned about her crying. rather, some people were smiling looking at the poor old lady.
i had heard about the ill effects of liquor- physical economical and here i was witnessing social. i felt liquor must be banned. no one should be able to get it. for masi, apart from witnessing her sorrows, we were unable help. gradually her crying lessened and we went back to our work. we felt very sorry for the old couple.yes, we forgot kaka's invitation to go to see his gruh udyog because of this mess. we remembered suddenly when we were packing up our clinic.
"hey,tapasvi we almost forgot kaka's invitation today. let us go." i told tapasvi
"yes. that masi's cry made us forget even our souls! it still hurts inside.any way, let us go to kaka." said tapasvi.
kaka was sitting outside his hut on char pai in his routine clothes. he was expecting us. he stood up as he saw us coming.
" ram ram kaka." we greeted him.
"ram ram. come here with me." kaka gestured to come into his hut.
his hut was a typical one of a slum with a few steps to climb to enter a chali outside. the door was little smaller than needed for an average adult to enter. i had to bend my head but tall tapasvi needed to bend whole of his body to pass from the door!
there was small main room poorly lit with tungsten bulb. there hardly was any furniture. walls were studded with photos of different gods and goddesses. a kitchen was attached to main room that hardly could accommodate a person.there was small window in the main room.
kaka guided us further in again from a small door. the room we entered had no windows to my surprise. kaka stopped near a steel drum of about half a meter hight. the drum was kept on a chulha. fire was lit with sticks below. smoke was filling up the whole room from the burning sticks. drum was tightly closed and a pipe was coming out towards a glass bottle kept at some distance from the chulha. some clear liquid was coming out from the open end of the pipe along with some steam. a white big funnel was kept to stop spillage outside the bottle.
" now tell me boys isn't it like your laboratory in your college?" said kaka in proud voice. "when i was young, javaharlal nehru told the youth to go back to their villages and start their own gruh udyog." he went near his assembly and put his hand under the end of the pipe to get a few drops of the liquid he was making.
"see? it is pure!" he showed his hand to us.
"what is this kaka?" looking at the hand smeared with the liquid, i inquired.it was smelling bad like a hell.
"don't you know? this is liquor!" kaka opened up the damn secret! so this was his gruh udyog! it was nothing unbelievable but surely it was unexpected. tapasvi looked less surprised than me may be because he had seen mone villages than me.i really was surprised.kaka, a hero for me just before a few minutes suddenly turned villain! he might have his own excuses for staring such a devilish production center. but no excuse can be entertained for any work that can ruin lives of other poor people.
" i will show you how to check when it is perfectly ready." kaka started enjoying his show. "i learnt all this when i was young at ahmedabad." he extended a small container under the open end of the pipe to get a few drops in it. he put it on the floor and lit it with a match stick. biff! the liquid caught fire immediately.
" can you see? if it is ready and pure, it will immediately catch fire.i take utmost care for the quality." kaka explained his deep knowledge.with a blow of air from his mouth, he extinguished the fire.
" when nehru told the youth, i was wondering as to what could be done by me at my village. then i learnt this. this is my small scale business." he was as proud as any self made business man. i and tapasvi both were speechless. technically, kaka had created a wonder despite the fact that he never had seen a school. but morally, was he right? the law of land in gujarat would not permit sell or making of liquor. but what would we say if an industrialist starts an official plant of making wine out side gujarat? lawful? simply because he could throw money to make it lawful? difficult question to answer.
kaka showed his business with zeal.thank heavens, he did not offer us free treat of his pure product!
now i could understand from where did the masi and her husband got the ticket to hell. in fact, On the way from panchvati to our hostel, we used to see a lot of whitish empty plastic bags. I wondered about those bags. In those days, plastic bags were not as commonly seen as today. In fact, the plastic revolution had not started yet.I had seen such bags, as I remembered, in bad lonely streets of bhuj. Some of my friends had told me such bags were used to pack locally made liquor. There used to have very typical rotten grape or jaggery like smell in the air around areas where such bags were thrown. Same smell and same bags were seen on the way back from panchvati to our hostel. the major waste seen in and around the ugly pond was of these bags.
naturally when production was local, it was very easy to get. but weren't they worried of police and jail? not at all. gradually it came our knowledge police used to come to panchvati, not to arrest people but to get hapta! so no tension for those making or taking! some times they used to stop their business for sometime to restart again after new setting. we heard that panchvati was notorious for this and they were supplying to even agents at ahmedabad!!
Most of the people of panchvati worked in the farms nearby. Some had little jobs at karamsad. Many were not employed at all.so It was nothing surprising to see some one jobless. however, those which worked, they had to work very hard to earn their bread and butter.
While most of the workers looked tired in the evening, There was one man of around 50 yrs, which looked afresh most of the times. also, he had better hut and better clothes than his counter parts. his hut was just in front of our slum clinic. i really wondered as to what he was doing to make such a living?
" hey, kaka,may i ask you a personal question? what do you do for living?" one day i asked him ultimately, when he was leisurely passing by our clinic.
" me? " he stopped.
"yes kaka. i never have seen you working. how do you make living?" i exclaimed my curiosity completly to him.
he stood still for a while. might be he was hesitant to reveal. probably he might be a retired man living on his son's income that he disliked to reveal i guessed. i felt my question was too personal and intrudive. i thought i should not have asked such a personal question.
after a few seconds he made up his mind to reveal the secret. "my son, do you know? when i was young, there was a great leader..."
-leader of his times? hey, what is he up to? would he talk about some swamiji? a bhagat? or might be ganghiji? no no. he might not even know gandhiji. his talk made me more eager.
" yes kaka.."i said trying to hide my curiosity.
" his name was javaharlal nehru.." wow! kaka knew nehru! what a blow!
"he used to tell all the indians to go back to villages and start gruh udyog (small scale business managed totally at home). this would uplift not only your family but also your village and the state and the nation ultimately..." he gestured totality with both of his hands to mark his point.
"so my son, i decided to start a gruh udyog here. that is what i do for living..." he smiled. i never knew he was such a great man! His hut was just in front of our clinic and we were totally unaware of his gruh udyog. but what exactly was he doing? should i ask him to show us? his talk gave me more confidence.
" that is simply great kaka! we never knew it! but can you allow us to see your gruh udyog?" i was eager to see and so i asked him.
Again he looked in a bit confusion. might be, he was doing some gruh udyog like making papad or khakhra that is mainly percieved as women's work and so he was again hesitant. again he needed some more time to think on my demand. probably he was making up his mind to say no.
" okay son i will show you what gruh udyog i run." he agreed.
" thanks a lot kaka! may we, i and my friend tapasvi come with you right now?" i jumped immediately.
" that will not be feasible. you can come next week when next time you come here in your clinic.you need to come in the late evening." it was difficult to wait till next visit but there was no option.
Usually, we worked at panchvati in evening. After finishing our routine clinic or some community work, we used to return to our hostel at around 7.30 pm. we could visit kaka after that time.
that evening, while returning from panchvati, curiosity about kaka's gruh udyog had studded my mind. i and tapasvi talked about the kaka on the way wondering about his gruh udyog. the man was really great as he came to his village just for following advice of our great first prime minister.
and again the day came. i and tapasvi both were eager to reach to panchvati and go to kaka's hut to see his gruh udyog. both of us started our routine work. while examining patients, suddenly we heard a big cry outside. the voice was of some old lady. both of us ran out side our hut clinic along with our other friends.the cry was from the next street. we ran in that direction.
we saw an old lady of about sixty loudly cursing her husband for something.she was standing outside her hut and her old husband was on char pai -cot- sitting loosely with dirty clothes. the grandma was shouting and her husband who appeared half asleep, was probably not listening to her at all! to our surprise nobody but it was only us who ran out for the shouting.
we all were puzzled as to what to do. a local from nearby hut came to us to solve our confusion.
" just leave them..." he gestured at the old couple." both of them are drunk and this is their daily business..." damn! what kind of people they were! drunk every evening and quarreling?As i saw them again i immediately recognized the grandma. she was none other than one which was coming to our hostel in evening to sell carrots cucumber and tomatoes.she used to sit at the big gate of our girl's hostel and was very popular amongst girls. all used to call her "masi". she was very keen in observing the boys and girls. some times her awkward comments were enough to give a spark to quarrel.it was her routine to come to our campus daily.
and here she was buying liquor daily from that money she earned from the hostels! really, such kind of people waste even something they have. it was pity she and her husband both could get the liquor. some one must be supplying the whole area. home service like milk man!
masi's shouting lessened, as she started crying.for all the neighbors, this was probably routine. no one seemed concerned about her crying. rather, some people were smiling looking at the poor old lady.
i had heard about the ill effects of liquor- physical economical and here i was witnessing social. i felt liquor must be banned. no one should be able to get it. for masi, apart from witnessing her sorrows, we were unable help. gradually her crying lessened and we went back to our work. we felt very sorry for the old couple.yes, we forgot kaka's invitation to go to see his gruh udyog because of this mess. we remembered suddenly when we were packing up our clinic.
"hey,tapasvi we almost forgot kaka's invitation today. let us go." i told tapasvi
"yes. that masi's cry made us forget even our souls! it still hurts inside.any way, let us go to kaka." said tapasvi.
kaka was sitting outside his hut on char pai in his routine clothes. he was expecting us. he stood up as he saw us coming.
" ram ram kaka." we greeted him.
"ram ram. come here with me." kaka gestured to come into his hut.
his hut was a typical one of a slum with a few steps to climb to enter a chali outside. the door was little smaller than needed for an average adult to enter. i had to bend my head but tall tapasvi needed to bend whole of his body to pass from the door!
there was small main room poorly lit with tungsten bulb. there hardly was any furniture. walls were studded with photos of different gods and goddesses. a kitchen was attached to main room that hardly could accommodate a person.there was small window in the main room.
kaka guided us further in again from a small door. the room we entered had no windows to my surprise. kaka stopped near a steel drum of about half a meter hight. the drum was kept on a chulha. fire was lit with sticks below. smoke was filling up the whole room from the burning sticks. drum was tightly closed and a pipe was coming out towards a glass bottle kept at some distance from the chulha. some clear liquid was coming out from the open end of the pipe along with some steam. a white big funnel was kept to stop spillage outside the bottle.
" now tell me boys isn't it like your laboratory in your college?" said kaka in proud voice. "when i was young, javaharlal nehru told the youth to go back to their villages and start their own gruh udyog." he went near his assembly and put his hand under the end of the pipe to get a few drops of the liquid he was making.
"see? it is pure!" he showed his hand to us.
"what is this kaka?" looking at the hand smeared with the liquid, i inquired.it was smelling bad like a hell.
"don't you know? this is liquor!" kaka opened up the damn secret! so this was his gruh udyog! it was nothing unbelievable but surely it was unexpected. tapasvi looked less surprised than me may be because he had seen mone villages than me.i really was surprised.kaka, a hero for me just before a few minutes suddenly turned villain! he might have his own excuses for staring such a devilish production center. but no excuse can be entertained for any work that can ruin lives of other poor people.
" i will show you how to check when it is perfectly ready." kaka started enjoying his show. "i learnt all this when i was young at ahmedabad." he extended a small container under the open end of the pipe to get a few drops in it. he put it on the floor and lit it with a match stick. biff! the liquid caught fire immediately.
" can you see? if it is ready and pure, it will immediately catch fire.i take utmost care for the quality." kaka explained his deep knowledge.with a blow of air from his mouth, he extinguished the fire.
" when nehru told the youth, i was wondering as to what could be done by me at my village. then i learnt this. this is my small scale business." he was as proud as any self made business man. i and tapasvi both were speechless. technically, kaka had created a wonder despite the fact that he never had seen a school. but morally, was he right? the law of land in gujarat would not permit sell or making of liquor. but what would we say if an industrialist starts an official plant of making wine out side gujarat? lawful? simply because he could throw money to make it lawful? difficult question to answer.
kaka showed his business with zeal.thank heavens, he did not offer us free treat of his pure product!
now i could understand from where did the masi and her husband got the ticket to hell. in fact, On the way from panchvati to our hostel, we used to see a lot of whitish empty plastic bags. I wondered about those bags. In those days, plastic bags were not as commonly seen as today. In fact, the plastic revolution had not started yet.I had seen such bags, as I remembered, in bad lonely streets of bhuj. Some of my friends had told me such bags were used to pack locally made liquor. There used to have very typical rotten grape or jaggery like smell in the air around areas where such bags were thrown. Same smell and same bags were seen on the way back from panchvati to our hostel. the major waste seen in and around the ugly pond was of these bags.
naturally when production was local, it was very easy to get. but weren't they worried of police and jail? not at all. gradually it came our knowledge police used to come to panchvati, not to arrest people but to get hapta! so no tension for those making or taking! some times they used to stop their business for sometime to restart again after new setting. we heard that panchvati was notorious for this and they were supplying to even agents at ahmedabad!!
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