Dear, ...........,
Hello. Update on yesterday’s blog. The Dentist clinic called a short while
back that the dentures made for me have been located. This is really good news.
It appears that my prayers have been answered. I hope when I go there next
week, the dentures fit me exactly as it should. Meanwhile I had sent email to
the Premier of the Province yesterday to bring to his notice the sad story of
the Dental Clinic.
I will revert back to Doordarshan narratives. In a blog a few days ago, I
had mentioned about one Mr. Narinder Pal Goswami whom I met when I had visited
All India Radio at Nagpur. After I had returned to Doordarshan Kendra Srinagar,
this gentleman got a transfer posting to our TV Station. After he had been
working with us for about six months, one day it was rumored that he had fallen
in love with a local Kashmiri Pandit girl. He took leave for one week to solemnize
the marriage. Almost all the non-Kashmiri staff were invited by him for the
marriage. I was not invited and therefore, I did not attend the marriage. Most
local staff at the TV Centre were not too pleased at this marriage. When the
marriage was about one year old, Mr. Goswami was on duty and his wife was alone
at home. It was reported that the lady got electrocuted while in the bath room.
I went to his house to condole the death.
A year after that, one day a lady working in our Accounts department came
to me when I was working in the MCR. She said that one of her relatives had
come to the office block and he needed to consult me about some important
issue. I accompanied the lady and met the gentleman just outside the building.
He was dressed in army uniform and appeared to be an officer rank employee. He
wanted to know about suitability of Mr. Goswami vis a vis a marriage proposal. I was
surprised that a Kashmiri Pandit would marry a daughter with a non-Kashmiri widower
so soon after his first Kashmiri Pandit wife had died in suspect circumstances.
So, I told the gentle man bluntly, “If I say that Mr. Goswami is not a suitable
groom, will they not proceed with the proposal” To this he replied back that he
is the uncle of the girl and she wants to marry this boy. I replied back that
my time was being wasted and dismissed him. I however told him about the injury
in his leg because of which he had been discharged from the Border Security
Forces. He was already aware that Mr. Goswami had low salary. After a month or
so, the marriage took place. I was not invited again.
I met him again in Delhi in 1981. He had been transferred there. We were a
group of people. I asked him how he was. He replied in a very sad tone that he
was very much a troubled and worried person those days. I asked him the reason.
He replied that his wife has been suffering from one health problem or the
other every day and this had been causing him tension. To this I replied that
it is the courage in Kashmiri Pandit male only to marry and tolerate a Kashmiri
Pandit girl. He felt ashamed and all others around him had a hearty laugh at my
statement.
It was probably the year 1995. I was working at Doordarshan Directorate.
The Chief Engineer looking after staff transfers was very close to me. He would
always consult me and seek my view on various technical issues almost every
day. Mr. Goswami who had all along been working in Delhi was issued with
transfer orders to Doordarshan Kendra Jalandhar. He did not want to go. So he
came to me to seek my help pleading his case with the chief engineer. He came
with lot of medical / health papers. The papers showed that he was having serious
heart problems. He told me lot of stories to bring out his health condition as
very poor. This time, he was speaking in Kashmiri language. Looking at the
papers and hearing him speak about his poor health, I made a sarcastic remark
that his father-in-law would never have been able to get such a great son in
law. Hearing this, he got up, touched my feet requesting to help in getting the
transfer cancelled. I could not get it done, but got him to remain in Delhi on
tour duty.
His wife was a school teacher in Delhi and he had two sons. Both of them
got admission in Engineering colleges on Kashmiri Pandit Migrant Quota.
Bye. More tomorrow.
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