THOUGHTS IN MY MIND ON TURNING EIGHTY

Yesterday, i.e. 16^th May, was my birthday.  I completed eighty years and entered into 81^st.

Though birthday is an annual feature as it comes every year raising your age by one. But still I think 80 is not an ordinary number.  It is a multiple of five.  Even government recognizes it as a special point in your age as you get a special raise in your pension. So it is time for new resolutions.

Previous year was quite productive. Besides many articles, I also wrote two books. One is already published and the other is scheduled to be out quite soon.  I made a few very useful contacts this including Dr. Tara Sen Thakur, who assisted me in writing the book, SOME WILD GROWING FOOD PLANTS OF THE WESTRN HIMALAYAS and is  my co-author.

 

I am not bodily same as I was on the day I had turned 75 (see my blog post of that day at the link https://fruitipedia.blogspot.com/2018/09/thoughts-in-my-mind-on-75th-birthday-16.html). I find physical strength declined. I have not only stopped travelling outside India, but have even started feeling inland travel stressful. I have now started feeling the need for a walking stick while walking on streets. I also had to stop visiting the Botanical Garden at IIT, Kamand.

But I still the thing I enjoy most is my work.  My most favourite place at home is my office where I spend 8-10 hours a day.

I have a very large collection of books besides my subject. Now I have started gifting these. Recently, after getting motivated from a blog post of Mr. Somesh Goyal, DGP Prisons, HP, I gifted 187 Hindi books alongwith a book case to District Jail, Mandi. I also gifted books from my collection to Dr.  Bharti Kashyap from Nauni University and Dr. Kiran Kaur from Shere Kashmir Agricultural University.  I am looking for a suitable taker for Fruitipedia too.

So my dream is to continue working long as body allows. I have some writing projects in my mind. Therefore on this day, I pray to Lord to give me strength to complete these projects.

A PLACE WHERE LAUNDRY IS CHARGED BY WEIGHT AND NOT BY NUMBER

So far wherever I went, whether in India or abroad, I saw laundry being charged by number and also the type of clothes.  You go to a laundry, handover the clothes and the laundry man will count these and note the details of clothes.  Then he will receive it and bill you accordingly.

A roadside laundry at Siem Reap, Cambodia

    But during my Cambodia tour in September, 2013, what I saw was different than I had been seeing so far.  At Siem Reap, Cambodia, the laundry was charged by weight and not by number.  And it was very cheap too.  The laundry owners in street or even in the hotels, will just weigh the clothes, receive it in a bag and then bill you at the rate of US$1 per kg.  The clothes were handed over in the evening washed, ironed and neatly folded.

Laundry sign board showing the rate 1 kg = 1 US dollar

    Really a novel experience.

WHEN A TRUCK DRIVER DID NOT LET DR. Y.S. PARMAR’S VEHICLE OVERTAKE

It was in 1966.  I was posted at the Fruit Research Station, Bagthan, which was also the native place of Dr. Y.S. Parmar.  He had a house, farm and a newly planted peach orchard there.  At the research station, popularly called “farm” by local people, there were 3-4 dilapidated make shift type of buildings which were being used as residence, office and veterinary hospital.  Besides me, there was a veterinary doctor, his stock assistant and full sub-division of HP PWD comprising of a Sub-Divisional Officer, three junior engineers, one clerk and a peon.  This group of six people was housed in a small hall that was originally constructed for being seed store for the “farm”. This group was managing all their activities, which also included the construction of a bridge on river Jalaal there, from this hall, with no office furniture at all.

Ancestral house of Dr. Parmar.  He loved this place very much and had spent his last days at this place.

The construction of road network in Himachal Pradesh had just begun.  Most roads were kuchcha and narrow.  The 20 km road that connected Bagthan with Nahan Shimla road at Banethi was not even properly finished.  It was only a fair weather road but still a passenger bus service connecting Bagthan and Nahan had been started. Otherwise only Jeeps of various government departments plied on it.  The PWD engineers required material for bridge they were constructing.  So on some days a PWD truck also used to come from Nahan.

Dr. Y.S. Parmar was quite attached to this place and enjoyed spending 2-3 nights in a month Bagthan.  This was his regular routine.  At that time (I have not visited Bagthan after 1974) his house used to be a very simple two storied building having 3 or 4 rooms with wooden floor.  People of today may find it difficult to believe, but the house had only one bed and only Mrs. Parmar slept on it.   All others including Dr. Parmar slept on floor.

Dr. Y.S. Parmar

One day when Dr. Parmar was returning to Shimla. The PWD truck was also going ahead.  Dr. Parmar’s station wagon was behind it.  The truck was running at its usual speed of 10-12 km per hour.  It was not possible drive faster than that on that kind of road.  It was a dry day and a lot of dust was being generated on the road by the truck.  So Dr. Parmar’s driver had been signaling the truck driver to get aside and allow some passage to them to overtake.  But that did not happen.  The truck driver did not move aside and continued throwing dust on Dr. Parmar’s vehicle.  After an arduous drive of one hour they reached Banethi where there was some wide place created to be used as a bus stop.  The truck sopped there.  Dr. Parmar, who was naturally irritated, called the driver and asked him that why he did not get aside.  The driver, Prithi Singh, probably a daily wager, replied that the self starter of his truck was out of order.  So it had to be manually pushed for starting the engine which was also not in good health.  So if had his truck engine stopped, it would not have started and that might have delayed him more.  It was a excuse. Dr. Parmar could sense it but just kept quiet.

A life size statue of Dr. Parmar at Ridge, Shimla

The incident was brought to the knowledge of PWD people.  It became the topic of our evening gossip.  We asked Prithi Singh that why he did like that.  He replied that he had taken PANGAS with many sort of officers. It just struck his mind that this time let him take a PANGA with a chief minister and see what happens.  He was surprised that nothing happened.

 Can it happen in India again with present day chief ministers?