Dr. M.S. Randhawa was a person who always encouraged
juniors and helped them. I met him at
Solan in 1979. He had come there for convocation
of the College of Agriculture, where I was Assistant Professor of
Horticulture. Dr. Randhawa had arrived
about two hours before the function and was sitting with the Dean. My office happened to be next to the Dean’s
office.
Dr. M.S. Randhawa
Incidentally,
this was one of the leanest periods of my career. I was not getting positive response for my efforts. I had started research on wild growing fruits
of Himachal Pradesh. Work on these
fruits had not been undertaken by any fruit researcher until then. I wanted to bring out a book on these fruits
which were very little known to outside world. The manuscript was ready. But no publisher was ready to bet his money
on a book written by a young assistant professor. My senior colleagues also thought that my
dreams were too lofty. So I used to feel
quite discouraged during those days.
One
of my senior colleagues, Dr. R.S. Minhas, who happened to know Dr. Randhawa
personally, was also sitting with him in the Dean’s office. Dr. Minhas
organized my audience with Dr. Randhawa and said, “Sir, he is Dr. Parmar and he
has written a book on wild fruits of Himachal Pradesh”. Dr. Randhawa
gave me a piercing look and told me in his rustic toned Punjabi, “Kithe
hai, lya - कित्थे है, ल्या (where is it, go bring it)”. I
brought the typed manuscript and gave it him.
Dr. Randhawa opened it and to my
great surprise started reading it. Then
he took out a pen and started making corrections. He was quite absorbed in it.
There
were also few other professors sitting with the Dean, waiting for their turn to
talk to Dr. Randhawa. Naturally, they
were not feeling happy over my intrusion.
After
a few minutes Dr. Randhawa looked up and said again in his typical rustic Punjabi
that the work was good and worth publishing but had many mistakes. He advised me to take the manuscript to Dr.
Kishan Singh Bedi at Chandigarh for corrections. He further said that once it was vetted by
Dr. Bedi, he would recommend it to the Indian Council of Agricultural Research
(ICAR) for its publication. He also told
me that Dr. Bedi, charged a fee for correcting manuscripts. But after noticing signs of worry on my face
about payment, he offered to do the corrections free of cost. However, he asked me to book a room for him
at PWD Rest House, Barog and also bring some good
stenographer. I found the first option easier and preferred to go to Dr. Bedi
who also happened to be our Principal at Government Agricultural College,
Ludhiana.
Luckily
the manuscript did not have to go ICAR for publication. Before that a good publisher of agriculture
books from Ludhiana agreed to publish it.
So finally it was released in 1982 under the title, “Wild Fruits of the
Sub-Himalayan Region”. Dr. Randhawa was
also kind enough to write its foreword.
It
was a very pleasant surprise to find Dr. Randhawa at Chandigarh airport en
route Delhi in May, 1982. I was on my
way to Monrovia, West Africa. I had been
selected for a teaching assignment at the University of Liberia. He was happy to see me and was even happier
to know that I would be teaching in West Africa. He wished me all the best and asked about my
future plans. I told him that a book on
lesser known fruits of the world was next on my wish list. I bade him adieu by touching his feet at
Palam Airport. He placed his hand on my head and said in Punjabi, “Paramatma
tainun kaamyaabee deve - परमात्मा तैनू कामयाबी देवे (may the Lord give you success)”
I
think that Fruitipedia, my popular online encyclopedia of the edible fruits of
the world, which is over nine years old now and has been viewed by over three million people, is the result of
that blessing I had got from Dr. Randhawa .
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