My Father

Once in my childhood I laid my hands on an old piece of paper depicting my family tree which started with the name of our ancestor Pt. Raja Kaul. There were many other names  of our ancestors  in descending order and lastly my grandfathers name ended the sequence. I could not understand the importance of preserving the piece of paper at that age and lost it in due course of time. Then I had a chance of reading an article in a magazine on Pt Jawahar Lal Nehru  showing family tree of Nehru family  which also started with the name of  pt. Raja Kaul as their first ancestor .  But I could not confirm whether it was a matter of coincidence that both family trees started with the same name or Pt. Raja Kaul was one and the same person in both the family trees. As I had lost my family tree document I could not compare other generations of both family trees which I deeply regret. However, list in  descending order of generations was so long in both the family trees that it was not a matter of surprise that Pt. Raja Kaul would have been one and same person to head the Kaul dynasty in Kashmir.
As far as I have heard from my elders I could recollect my  dynasty from Pt. Nand Kaul who had no child and adopted  male child from his cousin and named him Ram Kaul. Then wife of pt. Nand Kaul gave birth to her own  male child and named him pt. Amar Kaul who formed another clan of our dynasty.  Pt. Ram Kaul worked in police Dept. as a clerk and was married to Smt. Sampkuji from Labru family. Pt. Ram Kaul was a quick witted person  with a  bit  of hot  temperament  and his wife a pious and kind lady. He had two sons and two daughters. His elder son pt. Laxman Kaul, my grand father was a very  religious  and intelligent man and worked in State Excise Deptt. He was married to smt.Radhamali from Rainas  family. My Grandmother was  very beautiful and intelligent woman. They gave birth to two sons Pt. Gopi Nath Kaul and  my father Pt. Sham Lal kaul. My grandfather Pt. Laxman Kaul died very young   at  the age of  29 years only.  My father was only two years old at that time. Pt. Laxman Kaul was a  very religious man. On every  'shuklpaksh Ashtami' he used to visit Mata Kheer bhawani shrine  at Tulamula , which was approximately 25 kms away from his residence at Habba kadal Srinagar. Like most of the people ,those days,  he used to visit the shrine on foot as there was no  availability of public transport. Once he applied  for  a days leave with the same purpose, but his senior  rejected his leave application. He was left with no other alternative but to start his journey in the evening on foot and travel to and fro through out the night. After his brief  sojourn  and paying his oblations at the shrine , he reached the office on time next day. After few days the right hand of the officer who had rejected  his leave application was paralyzed. But it is not known whether the officer  realized his mistake or at least connected his sickness with the above mentioned  incident or not. Due to the death of my Grandfather at an early age, my father and my uncle were brought up by their grandfather Pt.Ram Kaul and  uncle Pt.Samsar Chand Kaul, a dedicated and hard working man who was married to  smt.Tarawati from  chakoo family of Rainawari. They  had five daughters and a Son. The name of their son is Sh.Girdhari Lal Kaul who is settled at pathankot.
My uncle Pt. Gopi nath Kaul was a sharp witted and intelligent person who was first Dentist in the valley. His Son Dr. A.K.Kaul was a renowned Doctor and first graduate dental surgeon in the valley.
My father a devout Hindu got interested  in spirituality right from his childhood. After completing his education he joined medical department. Once on duty at Badgam Kashmir,  he was praying on the river bank early in the morning, a great saint  Swami Nand Lal ji of Badgam, who was lovingly called Mahatma ji  noticed him and advised him to join his teaching classes in the evening. My father most readily accepted his offer and started joining his classes and never looked back. Then my father became his most devoted desiple  and learned the delicacies of spirituality under his feet. My father lived a full satisfied life of a family man taking full responsibility of a family but remained aloof from the  worldly affairs. He was living example of spiritual virtues and embodiment of values envisaged by Gita.
My parents gave birth to five daughters and two sons. I am the youngest in family and my elder brother Dr.V.K.Kaul is a renowned chemical engineer and first doctorate in chemical engineering from our family.

Now reverting back to the life of my father,  my father got  married to Devki KaK,  my mother, after getting permission from his Guru Mahraj but to the much reluctance of his Guru Bai Niranjan , who remained a celibate through out his life and crossed the heights in the field of spirituality.  My mother was a devoted hoyse wife and a resourceful lady who used to manage all the affairs of our family. She was the daughter Sh. Sham Lal KaK,  who was among the first graduates in valley and one of poineers in theatre  in Kashmir . He was working in Accountant Generals office. His two sons Sh.Amar Nath KaK and Sh.Som Nath KaK were founders of optician business in Kashmir. 

Then my father was transfered from badgam to Sringar , his home town but  he felt there  absence of his Guru Mahraj very much. In the meantime destiny played it's own part and the house in which Guru ji was living in Budgam was put on fire by some miscreants . Guru ji faced the incident most stoically and even told his desciples to throw some  ghee in fire to make  it look  like a performance of a hawan. Then Guru ji shifted to Srinagar to live in a big house  of his another desciple Sh.Sham Lal tiku, which was not far away from our residence.  Then my father  used to visit his Guru's place again early in the morning for reading shastaras before going to hospital. During these days my father understood the delicacies of 'Yog vaishisht' , a difficult shastra to comprehend,   under the feet of his Guru Mahraj. 

Then It was the aftermath of partition between India and Pakistan and its impact on Kashmir .  Pakistan had sent Tribal infiltrators known as Kabalis inside Kashmir to capture it.  Kabalis were looting, killing Hindus  and raping their women in the border areas of Kashmir. The whole of Kashmir was burning under the Pakistani sponsored proxy  war through  these tribal invaders.   All the people especially Hindus were running helter skelter to save their lives.  In this melancholic atmosphere my father, a devout hindu was posted in a small village near present LOC as a doctor in local hospital.  All the Hindu non local staff  had left the  station with their families, except my father, who was running the hospital with the help of local staff. However, he had sent his family to Srinagar already.  My father did not leave the station as he happened to be more loyal than King as then king of Kashmir Mahraja Hari singh had already made arrangements to leave Kashmir for Jammu  with all  his immovable property in a chartered plane , and which he did soon.

My father was advised by some local Muslims to grow  beard so that he will be taken for a Muslim in case kabalis enter their village. My father used to have a busy schedule. He would rise early  in the morning  and after attending natural calls and having a bath, he would go for meditatation. Then after taking breakfast he had to attend hospital. After hospital  chores , he would visit patients in near by villages on a horse back. His family at Srinagar was very anxious as they had no news about him for months together.
One day after attending his hectic schedule,  my father was looking gloomy because some molvi of the local mosque had advised him to attend the mosque tomorrow as all the local hindus have been converted to Islam.  But my father told the Moulvi plainly that he doesn't belong to this village and he is not obliged to do what local Hindus have decided to do. Then this  Moulvi started pestering my father daily with the same suggestion.  My father got sick of it and left  the village for another near by village, where a Hindu saint lived. My father told the saint that he wanted to stay with him for some days. But saint advised my father that he should go back to his own village. While returning, when my father reached the border of his village in the evening, most of the elderly villagers had gathered there to welcome my father who later on rebuked the Moulvi and advised him not to pester my father any  more.
As the kabalis had approached nearer to village, my father decided to handover all his valuable belongings to a  Muslim orderly of Hospital with the condition that if every thing was alright, latter will return the goods. When orderly was carrying these belongings to his home in two suitcases, my father followed him with out the knowledge of former. My father overheard him saying to himself,  My Allah, please bestow me with an opportunity to return these goods to its real owner. Listening these words my father left the place of orderly unheard.
Later on this orderly returned all the goods to my father.
One day Kabalis entered the village, where my father was posted. They were very angry as they had lost the way to Srinagar. As after heavy lootmar and rapes at Baramulla some Maqbool Sherwani had put them on a wrong route , when they asked him to advise them shortest route to Srinagar.
Therefore, they hastily visited the Hospital accompanied by local Muslims. The local Muslims introduced my father to them as newly converted Muslim. They asked my father to serve them with some sweet Medicine, which my father readily offered to them. Then they proceeded again towards  Srinagar,  where they never reached.  Because till then Indian army had approached Kashmir and Mahraja Hari Singh had signed the treaty of annexing state of  Jammu and Kashmir with India.

In the mean time, when my father was discharging his frontier duty , his family was very much worried about his welfare as there was no news of him for months together . The means of communication  was very meagre those  days. They had lost all hope of him. But Guru Mahraj , who treated my father as his son would daily visit our house to enquire about any information received regarding him . He would console my mother and other siblings that my father will come home safe and sound. 
Then one day. due to the blessings of Guru Mahraj.  my father reached home  with out any pre information,   to  join his family , hale and hearty and with all his belongings  to the surprise of one and all. My father was then awarded a letter of appreciation, two increments in advance and transfer to his home place Srinagar as a reward for not leaving the station in crisis and turmoil. The appreciation letter was with my father until we left valley in 1990 with out our belongings.

           My father while serving as a country Doctor had various experiences in remote areas of Kashmir  and that too a very  long ago when specialisation in the field was unknown in city  Hospitals also. Doctor with whatever little knowledge had to be ready to deal with any exigency which ever may  arise  in the area. Those days pathological and diagnostic tests were not available and even if available in a rudimentary   form and  were sparsely in vouge  even in city Hospitals . The disease had to be diagnosed on  its symptoms only . The Doctor had to rack his brains and use his intelligence in order to track the disease . This  exercise however used to sharpen  the  faculties of Doctor towards  better diagnosis. The only silver lining  in this  occupation was that it was purely professional and was not commercial  like these days. The Doctor would get satisfaction from his profession by correct diagnosis and treatment of the patient rather than deriving pecuniary benefits out of it. Moreover, Doctor had to be all-rounder those days. He had to be a physician, surgeon, Gynocologist, child specialist and bone specialist all in one as he had to deal any type of patient any time.  

Once  a gujjar woman bleeding profusely from  her head    was brought in to  the Hospital by few persons.  When my father with the help of his attendant looked into the wound, the case appeared prima facie  hopeless​. The sclap and skull bone  were broken into  two pieces and brain was protruding out of it . The two hair plaits of woman had spread apart making a way for  internal mass  . It  later on transpired that woman in  question had gone for collecting fuel wood from Jungle and some male  gujjar had caught hold of her to satisfy his biological need.  The woman had managed to frisk away from his grip  and ran away. But the  Gujjar had chased her frantically and in a fit of rage hurled  his axe on her sclap and left her wounded and bleeding.  Then few good persons after hearing  her frantic calls had brought her to hospital.
My father  and whatever little staff available with him  had no other option but to attend the exigency. They simply tried to stuff the portion of  brain  hanging outside back into her head after cutting some mass of flesh. Then they manually arranged to join the two pieces of   her skull bone, which were spread apart. After few stitches on his sclap she was discharged as there was no indoor facility available  in the Hospital. After few days she recovered to the surprise of one and all. Mostly villagers bitten by bears or leapords in the jungle  were usual cases attended by my  father in the Hospital. Whole of the village would assemble outside the Hospital gates , whenever there was such type of operation going on inside.
After  duty  hours  at the Hospital , my father would attend patients who were bed ridden in far flung areas on horseback or Tonga as per schedule. This was also a part of the duty of my father as no other Doctor was available in the whole area. My father never charged anyone for extra services provided by him as the patients were mostly poor peasants living around. The medicine was also available to them free of cost from Govt. Hospital.
One day my father received a call  to attend an emergency case  in another village about 5 Kms away from the village where Hospital was located.     In the mean time a person was stabbed by another  in  the abdomen and victim was brought to Hospital for treatment. As my father had already left for another village, assistant present in the Hospital attended to  the patient and after stitching his wound discharged him. But patient died in the way  while going to his  home.
Then after apprehending the culprit by police a murder  case was lodged against him in the District court. After many hearings which were attended by my father and his colleagues also, the judge gave decision in favour of culprit by giving  benefit of doubt to him. The Judge opined that victim was treated  at the Hospital by an attendant only as House Doctor was absent from duty. Had the victim  been attended by a qualified Doctor, he might  have survived and therefore culprit can not be punished for murder charges. The culprit was  however, charged for attempt to murder only, which subsequently lessened the punishment of culprit substantially. Moreover, Doctor was held  responsible for  neglect of duty  despite of his pleadings that he was liable to attend the patients of surrounding area also. Taking cognizance  of the circumstances  on account of  exigency  of service which kept my father out of Hospital  at the material time and viewing the case leniently, increment of my father was stopped for two  years.

My father after retirement, at the age of fifty five only, as Incharge of Khrew Alopathic Dispensary opened a medical shop near his residence at Purshyar locality in Srinagar city. He started practicing medicine and providing medical services at his shop to all locals at  very low charges due to his spiritual insight and background. Sometimes he would provide free medical assistance and  services to poor and needy . Therefore, most of the locals became his permanent customers. It was not a commercial  but mere a sustenance venture and a pastime hub of  my father. Moreover,  being a thorough gentleman and honest to the core, his customers and all the shopkeepers around respected him very much. It was not only customers but most of his acquaintances , who were of allied nature would visit his shop on daily basis for religious discussions. It also became a meeting place for most of his retired childhood  friends. Pt. Janki Nath Kaul ' Kamal ' , a renowned religious scholar , Pt.Niranjan Nath Karihaloo , director of Sericuture dept. , Pt. Kanth Ram, head master of Mission School and many more  scholars and like minded people. They  started visiting his shop almost on daily basis  . My father after attending his patients would also indulge with them in religious and literary discourses and discussions . Pt. Janki Nath Kaul ' Kamal ' has given reference of my father and crux of their discussions   in many of his religious books, which he authored later on. Whenever there were no patients and friends at his shop, he would mostly be seen  involved in reading religious  scriptures. 

As already mentioned actually religious journey of my father started at very young age, when he was a bachelor and newly posted at Badgam village . He used to visit a river  near by for a bath and sandhya vandana early in the morning , when it was quite dark. One day a  great saint Sh. Nand Lal ji Mahraj, who later on became his Guru  , found him on  the stairs of river and after observing his spiritual bent of mind asked him , if  he was intrested in reading religious  scriptures, then he should visit my ashram in the evenings . My father readily accepted his offer and started visiting his ashram which was adjacent to local temple of Budgam. After sometime,  his Guru asked him to stay with him permanently in the ashram as   many other disciples of Guru Mahraj  were  living there. Then my father started living  in ashram under the  full discipline and curriculum of Ashram for many more years until his transfer. But Guru shisha legacy remained alive until the death of his Guru Mahraj. Here it will be worthwhile to mention about a woman saint usually called Devi , whom I have also met was Guru bahen of my father. Her actual name was Radhamali , who  was  a child widow and distant relative of Guru Mahraj .She also used to stay in the ashram at budgam and had churned out into a great saint. She was very soft spoken and spiritually elevated. My father told me that she while working  in kitchen, used to correct my  recitation of vedas in ashram days  with out showing her face to me.

I had seen my father daily reciting the verses of Shrimadbagwadgita. It was not only receiting but he had become the embodiment of its virtues and personification of its ideals. He was not a millionaire but ordinary middle class person  He did philonothropy in his own way and within his means . In other way he attributed his actions and services towards the almighty . He did actions for  sustenance of himself and his family only and beyond that  he would help the needy and provided  his services free of cost to the  poor. He never involved himself in the bondage of his actions and remained absorbed  in Nishkam karma. 

Most of the patients always remained obliged to my father because of his spiritual  attitude and healing touch in his hands while treating them. 

My father could not make millions but he lived his life most satisfactorily and in peaceful manner. He was not much  ambitious person but his needs were taken care of by the Almighty quite comfortably. 

 His  legacy of goodwill, high moral character and spiritual insight is worth trillions and a matter of pride for his descendants and acquaintances.