Dear, ...........,
Hello. Today I will detail my trip to Nagpur on my nomination for Staff
course. There were about thirty officers from all over the country. Most of
them were from Police force. There were two officers from Kashmir. One of them
was a DSP rank police officer from Anantnag Kashmir. He was around fifty years
old. There was another DSP rank officer from Fire Services Kashmir. There were
a couple of young IAS officers also in the group. The training was on various
aspects of Civil Defence. There were demonstrations of various situations which
could happen in society and how we as leaders should tackle the same. Lectures
on various operations were given to us. I found it very informative and useful.
In contrast the DSP from Anantnag was feeling very uncomfortable. He would
always seek my help to complete his assignments during the training. I noticed
that he was not used to reading or writing. As part of the course, we were to
deliver lectures on various topics. There used to be small chits of folded
paper. Different topic subjects would be written on each of the chits. We were
to pick up a chit five minutes in advance of our scheduled time block to make
the presentation. I picked up mine and delivered a very nice presentation. I
was adjusted the best of the lot. The
worst one was easily the DSP of Anantnag.
We were told that there was a temple by the name Ramtek about fifty
kilometers from Nagpur. It is widely believed that during vanvaas of Bhagwaan
Ram Jee, Sita mata jee and Laxman jee, they had stayed at the location for a
night. Later a temple complex was built at that site in memory of the visit.
The place has been a place of pilgrimage. A couple of us trainees decided to
visit this place on a Sunday during the training. We took a local bus early in
the morning. We landed at the town centre after the bus journey which took us
about 90 minutes. The temple is located on a hillock. There are stone steps leading
all the way up the temple from the town. We walked up. The heat was unbearable.
(Nagpur is a hot weather town) There were other local persons also climbing up
the steps. I remember noticing some of them walking up bare footed. We reached
the top and were delighted to see the magnificent stone temple complex. We were told that we could climb down from the
hill from the other side. We encountered a number of small dwelling huts on the
side of the slopping hill sides. At a number of places, we noticed red marks. On
enquiry we were told that the red marking places were the burial spots where snakes
were killed and buried. When we were progressing in our downward journey, we
noticed a very fast-moving snake cross the road and in a blinking of eye it went
into a stone boundary wall of the small front yard of a hut. When we noticed
the snake first, some one raised a loud warning cry. Immediately a lady from
the hut came out. She wanted to know which place in the stone wall did the
snake go in. She fearlessly searched for the snake but could not locate it. I
remember looking into the front yard. There were two spots with red markings
meaning that they had already killed and buried two snakes there. I was
astonished that the people there were not fearful of snakes as we are used to.
I became tense and prayed all the way down the slopes.
Half way down the hill, there was a stone monument. It was mentioned that
Kalidassa the poet had written his famous poem “Meghdoot” at that location. It
was afternoon when we reached back into the centre of the town. After taking
some eatables to quieten the hunger in our stomachs, we took the bus back to
Nagpur.
Next day we decided to explore the city. After the classes were over at about
4 PM, we went to the local market and rented bicycles at four annas (one fourth
of a rupee) per hour. The shopkeeper just gave the bicycles to us without any
advance or identity documents etc. We returned after an hour. I was surprised
to see that most of the people including a very healthy number of women were
riding scooters and mopeds all around the town. The town was full of activity
all around and everyone appeared to be busy. This was a contrast to the place
that I had come from. In Kashmir, we would generally find people wasting their
time sitting and gossiping all the time.
Nagpur is famous for oranges. It was about two weeks earlier than peak
season for the fruit when we were there. I remember that it cost less than a rupee
to buy a dozen small sized oranges. I bought some but the quality was bad. For
me oranges were a fruit for the rich as these used to be costly if bought in
Kashmir. Oranges would be consumed only by ill people. If we found anyone in
Kashmir those days with a packet of oranges, we would immediately ask whether everyone
at home was in good health.
While in Nagpur, I made a trip to All India Radio. There I met one Mr.
Narinder Pal Goswami. He was a ex Border Security Force employee who had been
discharged after injury to his leg. He showed me his right leg with bullet
injury making on the skin. He had been recruited as an Engineering Assistant.
This was his first posting in AIR. He was originally from Punjab. On that day
there was a cricket match being played in the local stadium. (India was playing
West Indies.) Mr. Goswami took me to the stadium. We got entry to the area
where the commentators were seated and speaking into the mikes. I noticed that
the commentator was not exactly describing where the ball was going. That time
there was no TV Coverage and the commentary listener would not know that the
commentator was not describing faithfully. (I will write more about Mr. Goswami
in later blogs. He was subsequently posted at Doordarshan Srinagar and I came
across him at various stages in life.)
When I left Srinagar for the training, bath soap “Hamaam” (brand name) was
in short supply. I would normally use this soap during a bath. In Nagpur I found
this brand soap in plenty. I bought two dozen to carry the same with me. (The
bag became very heavy and the carrying strip tore off due to the heavy load. I
had to carry the bag on my shoulder on my way to home in Kashmir) When I
reached Srinagar, I found that the supply of this brand soap had normalised and
was available easily.
A few months after my Civil Defence Staff course, I was called by the new
station engineer who had taken over. (Mr. Wadhawan had left for Delhi.) The new
station engineer was Mr. Harshvardhan. He asked me about the training. He
suggested to me to organize a demonstration of a fire incident and our response
to the incident so that the staff could be made made aware. I contacted the Fire
Services DSP who was also in training with me. On a predetermined day, the Fire
Services staff came and demonstrated various methods to control the fire. There
was live use of Fire Extinguishers. On that day, my friend Mr. Tickoo the
Assistant Engineer (Englishman looking guy) had worn a pitch-black coloured safari
suit. The shirt was with half sleeves. He was looking great and dashing. He was
standing by the side of Mr. Harshvardhan during the demonstration. Looking at
Mr. Tickoo, he said to him “Tickoo Sahib, aap ko sardi nahi lagti in kapdoon
mey” Tickoo Sahib replied, “Jinaab gareeb ko sardi nahi lagti. Mere pass suit
nahi hai” Mr. Harshvardhan did not expect this reply and left in a huff. Mr.
Harshvardhan was a short statured person and was suffering from inferiority complex.
He spent a number of years in Srinagar. I will have many stories about him in
my blogs in days to come.
Bye for now.
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