My Wanderings - 45 Short Story No. 27. How People Live by

Manmohan Nath Dhar and Preduman Krishen Warikoo hereinafter referred as  MM and PK  respectively were good old friends and neighbours living together since many generations in two separate houses sharing a common compound   and a  single small  gate opening beneath the house of MM called pilav in Kashmiri  . It was most congested area near   Purshyar   Habbakadal locality Srinagar. Both MM and PK had same schooling and they  graduated through same college in Srinagar in year 1963. But MM joined AG's office and PK joined some scheduled  Bank. They were  even married in the same year. They had very good family relations and had shared all the ethos and pathos of life characterising spirit of culture and era as manifested in  community aspirations ,cheerfulness and gloom  with each other . At the time of mass migration of community from Srinagar both friends had not finished  their domestic obligations fully. Pk had married only one of his daughter and Mm had not married any of his children comprising of a son and a daughter . In the early months of Year 1990, they decided to leave Srinagar for Jammu in view of ongoing turmoil in the valley. After reaching Jammu and remaining there as tenents for some time , both friends had to  separate  as Mm was transferred to Jaipur and Pk to Chandigarh. In the mean time both the friends settled themselves at respective places,  retired and married their children. Therefore, they were not able to  meet each other for a quarter of  a century.
It was quite recently Pk visited Jaipur to meet his old friend Mm who had become bed ridden because of orthopaedic and other health related problems. After exchanging pleasantries  and greeting each other they started reminiscing about the college days.
"Pk, do you remember Sheela  our class mate", said Mm
"Yes why not, she was so beautiful that you were drawn towards  her from head to heals", replied Pk. "Do you  remember,   once our Biology teacher defined   Protoplasm as the physical basis of life ". said Mm.
Yes absolutely , and how teacher reprimanded you when you added  Love to it. You defined Protoplasm as the physical basis of life as well as love, retorted back Pk.
"Those were really the days of fun and frolic even though our families were not so economically well off. We were living from hand to mouth.but now we are living from mouth to the end of alimentary canal. As we are very much precarious about our food habits and suffer from chronic constipation.", said Mm
Not only constipation, blood pressure blood sugar and prostrates is so rampant in this age, replied Pk.
Mm had become virtually immobile due to health problems which had perhaps developed because he was living  with his son,  who was caring his father and whole of family.Mm had left all the responsibilities on his son. His son would take him to Doctor, if required. Some times his son would  help his father in taking  a bath. Perhaps nature conspired against Mm by  giving  him  diseases keeping in mind that there was somebody to look after him.
On the other hand Pk was living all alone with his wife as his daughters were living in respective homes. Pk had full responsibility of a  householder. He could not afford to skip the duty as a housekeeper  and looking after his wife. He was always on move. Sometimes he had to drive himself to take his wife to a Doctor.There was no one other than himself in his home,  who could shoulder his responsibilities . Therefore, Pk was bestowed with a good health by nature.
Either a person can remain fit and healthy in this world by involving himself into various jobs or it is the work of nature that takes care of How people live by in this world.

My Wanderings - 44 Short Story No. 26. Penance unrealised

Kalpana was feeling depressed  as her Daughter in law had left her home alongwith her belongings after having a fight with her husband. It was not for the first time that she had left her  home, but several other times also  she had indulged in the same gimmicks since Kalpana had arrived to live with her only son after her retirement from the service .  Earlier two times  kalpana had  send her son  to bring her  daughter in law back home  from  her parents house. But this time her daughter in law had given her ultimatum that she will not return back and Kalpana was not also in a  humour of sending her son to bring her back.
While still in gloom , Kalpana's attention was attracted towards a Hindi film song being played on her  audio device , which was still on without  her knowledge.
"Mai jab bee akeli hoti hnoo, beete din yaad ajate hai'
Whenever I am alone, I feel  nostalgiac.
In the reverie of melodious film song she could reminisce the days of her youth, when she was a student of law at university of Kashmir. Those were really her golden days. She was actually  a spectacle of grace and beauty blended together with a freshness of youth. She was intelligent and bold. She used to take active part in games, dramas  and debates whenever held in the university  campus. Moreover, she was offered important  roles  in  dramas and telefilms  being played by  Radio and TV stations of Srinagar respectively. But she was not able to accept all the roles due to the constraint of time. Many male students of university were intrested in her. But she began to take Intrest in one of her class fellows's who was equally intelligent and charming like her . Actually they came much closer while participating in extra curricular activities at university. But they got married only after completing their studies and getting good jobs and that too with the mutual consent of their parents. Her husband Ashok was really a gem of a person who loved Kalpana to the hilt and never let her feel the separation from  her  parents. But Kalpana never got swayed away  by the wind of love and affection shown by her husband. She was aware of all her family traditions and values. Therefore, she proved most humble and obedient daughter in-law and a wife. After few years of her marriage she gave birth to a lovely and charming male baby. She felt very proud of being a mother and left no stone unturned to nurture him nicely.
The life was going on like a fairy tale with  Cinderella
and her Prince charming living in a dream house with their little cutie pie, when tregedy struck their dream house like a thunderstorm. Ashok husband of Kalpana died in a road accident. It was just like a bolt from the blue for the entire family. She could not bear the separation of her husband. She lost all Intrest in life. But she was advised by her well-wishers that she has to live for her son and move ahead in her life. In the mean time she was transferred to Pune after migration of our community from Srinagar. In a mad rush of forming nuclear families after migration , Kalpana did not lost touch with her in law's. Her in laws visited her mostly and remained with her for months together. She remained in touch with her brother's in law and sister's in law and their families constantly. Her main  aim in life was to look after her  son, which she did brilliantly. It was the result of  her perseverance and a complete penance that her son became a thorough gentleman and a person of  high character with traditional  values . After completing his studies he got a very good job at Mumbai. Later on he was married to an educated girl who was also the only child of her parents.  
After retirement, Kalpana left her place of posting and joined her Son and daughter in law  at Bombay to live with them for the rest of her life. She also offered them her life's savings and superannuation benefits so that they can purchase a flat in their name. The flat was purchased in the name of her son and daughter in law
after availing bank loan and utilising almost all the savings of Kalpana as margin money.
It was only few months after entering the new house , daughter in law of Kalpana began to  show signs of dissidence and de satisfaction  with her in-laws and started living with her parents.
Kalpana spent her whole life  craving for a relation, but her daughter in law was abandoning a relation for the sake of her  ego.

My Wanderings - 43. Short story No. 25. Signs of Life

To  day Brij Mohan was feeling so exhilarated and thrilled . He could feel his heart beats very eloquent  and fast ,which was most unbecoming of him at the advanced age of seventy three years,  that   he was about to cross. Once in his adolescent age also his heart used to beat  so loudly often, that he became  skeptical about it  and had to consult a Doctor. Doctor after checking him thoroughly advised him not to worry about it as heart beats which he is skeptical about are actually signs of life. If God forbid heartbeats stop, there will be no life anymore . But today's  beating of heart was not with out any reason. To day he  had an encounter with his first love of life in the common room of Old Age Home at Jammu which he had recently joined after undergoing   prolonged miseries   and forlornness  during his stay at USA in general and  after the death of his wife thereat in particular.
Both the daughters of BrijMohan were actually settled in USA. He after his retirement from  a public sector job, wanted to settle himself at Jammu alongwith his wife. He had already purchased a house at jammu as he wanted to remain in touch with his relatives and community members. At the insistence of his wife, Brijmohan used to  visit his children in USA once in two three years. But after the birth of their grandchildren Brijmohan  was compelled by his daughters  to join them permanently  in USA. After spending some years in USA with his grandchildren, Brijmohan began to feel homesick. He was fed up with the monotonous and aimless life there.  He could feel his pulse very low and even missed  a beat sometimes. But Doctors advised him that all his clinical tests were o.k.and he was not suffering from any heart ailment .  He wanted to return to his roots but his wife appeared very satisfied  with children and never agreed with the proposal of her husband. Then only after death of his wife due to cancer , Brijmohan decided to  return to his native land and leave USA for ever. He remained in his house at jammu for some time. But on the advise of his well-wishers , he hired a room in Old Age Home at jammu, so that he will be looked after better  by the attendants and Doctors available there.
Yes she was Veena, his first love when they were studying in college together. It was very difficult to recognise her. No body could beleive, except Brijmohan that a simple old woman could have been once a paragon of beauty. She could not recognise Brijmohan at the first instance,  but it was he who  introduced himself to her. After a long deliberation she could recognise him, which was evident  by her greeting him with a smile and a familiar blush occuring on her wrinkled face. She told Brijmohan that after the death of her husband, she was compelled to come here as she had no  children to look after her. Her only daughter died very young when she had to deliver her first baby. The baby also could not survive.Then It became a daily schedule for Brijmohan to spend some time with Veena and look after her necessities . It was neither sentimental involvement of adolescent age nor even platonic love but a feeling of joy to meet an old acquaintance or a companion with a streak of nostalgia. It was perhaps to fulfil their psychological urge of mutual understanding and companionship which in simple terms can be called  friendship.
It was not only Veena but he came across with several other acquaintances  by and large . They all were his friends relatives or colleugues .One day he discovered that one of his own cousin Bushan Lal was also living in the same dwelling. They were having some ancestral property dispute  case lying pending in the court of Law at Srinagar for long ,which got resolved automatically when they had to sell their house after migration  of Hindu community from Kashmir  through mutual attorney. He also met one of his colleagues Chaman Lal , who had many times taken credit of his good work and conspired against him to his disadvantage in office. Both of them were feeling apologetic towards Brijmohan. But Brijmohan accepted them with an open heart  and never let them feel embarrassed. Moreover, it was Brijmohan who took the lead in greeting and exchanging  pleasantries with them. If someone remains confined to himself and will not go to people voluntarily, no body is bothered to go after him even if  he is a celebrity . When a person wants to maintain relations he has voluntarily to come forward to engage others.
Slowly Brijmohan won the heart of all the inmates of old age home as he began to take Intrest in their lives and helping them in their problems. He initiated in arranging cultural programmes and picnics at Old Age Home.  Brijmohan found a purpose in life. He was successful in wiping the tears from the gloomy faces of some of the  inmates. He inculcated a sense of comradeship and unity in them. They were always ready to help each other. They learnt not  to consider  others as obstruction or intrusion in their way but an opportunity for  providing  a space in their lives  to accommodate them. All the inmates of house could  now feel their heart beats prominently.  Brijmohan recently celebrated his 80th birthday. He is Hale and hearty. He has a proper schedule in life. He goes for long walks early in the morning with other inmates of old age home. He exercises daily and reading and writing has become his passion. He spends evenings in the company of his friends. He is constantly in touch with his daughters in USA through internet and telephone. Whenever his daughters visit India, he shifts to his own house at Jammu and lives with them for a month or so. But whenever her daughters insist him on  visiting America, his heart starts beating slowly and even sometimes he misses a beat.

My Wanderings - 42. Short Story No. 24. The Secret of Madhsudan's Success

Those were the best of times. Those were the worst of times. The best of times because of the existence of human values , Love , faith and mutual respect  in the society. The worst of times in the sense that poverty and helplessness alongwith dearth and scarcity was rampant everywhere and even  ruled the roost.
Madhsudan Raina a small boy of twelve years then,  lost his father. He  had just completed his primary education and was dreaming of entering a  High school, when the tregedy befell on the family. His mother was desperate with grief. His other siblings a younger brother and a sister were too young to comprehend the gravity of   loss. His father was a titular employee in some Govt. Department, living from hand to mouth   in a small dilapidated ancestral house at Habbakadal and had not left anything for unforeseen contingencies of such nature. The people were not aware of terms like life insurance and compensation those days.
Hardly  after completing the days of mourning, Madhsudan was left with no other alternative but to leave the studies and look out for a job. One of his distant relatives helped him and got him appointed as a cleaner cum conductor  in a local Bus stand. His job was multifaceted. He had to leave his home early in the morning and reach transport yard and clean the buses in company of other small urchins of his age. Then after Drivers arrival he had to collect passengers for near by destinations, wherever the bus was scheduled to travel. He had to yell the name of destination several times  loudly to attract  passengers untill the bus was overloaded. Then he had to issue tickets and collect money from passengers. He had also to help the Driver in case of wheel puncture or any other fault developed in vehicle. In addition to this, he had also to work as personal attendant of Driver. He had to arrange for Drivers  food and booze. The  vehicle was plied  several times on the same route and in the evening, Madhsudan  had to handover all cash to the driver. The Driver used to give him a paltry sum of money on daily basis with which Madhsudan could feed his family. He would generally reach his home very late in the evening. Moreover, Drivers abuse and thrashing on filmsy issues had become a normal course of his life.
One night Driver abused  and beat little Madhsudan for no fault of later in a fit of frenzy after taking booze in excess and forgot to pay him his daily wages. Madhsudan felt very forlorn and desperate. While travelling towards his home on foot from Amirakadal  he entered Ganpatyar temple and sat in a corner with his head resting on his folded arms and began to weep intensely . After sometime he felt that somebody's heavy  hand on his head. He instantly looked upwards and was surprised to see an elderly man draped in a long 'firan' the bottom of which was touching  his ankles and wearing  a white turban on his head as headgear . The forehead of gentleman was pasted with vermilon and he was looking very affectionately towards Madhsudan. He sat besides Madhsudan and enquired about his whereabouts. Madhsudan told him everything about himself and ended his speech saying
Sir, I feel very dejected and desperate and sometimes I feel like ending my life
Old man said, " My dear son listen. These are the phases of life. If this is the bad phase of your life , good phase can not be far behind. Have patience,  leave negativity and have positive attitude  towards life. Self pity is the most damaging feeling in a person. If a person falls down in his own eyes, no one can help him to come out of it. You should be grateful to the nature for  whatever little he has provided to you and express gratitude for it. Start dreaming for yourself and your family. Nature will help you to realise your dreams. Nature has bestowed this universe with fortunes for every indudival born. But unfortunately most of the persons shut the windows and doors of their minds and fortunes after knocking their doors return back. If you  keep a positive attitude towards life  and express  gratitude for whatever little you have, Nature will bestow you with all the riches and fortunes of universe.
But sir, I don't want to become rich. Rich people are very wicked like my boss, retorted back Madhsudan. " No my Son you are mistaken" said the old man, "All the rich men are not wicked, exceptions may ofcourse be there, but most of the rich men have got the fortunes by keeping open the doors of their mind with positivity.
After saying this  old man took leave of Madhsudan and advised him to go home.
Madhsudan pondered over the advise of old man for days together but could not understand it fully. Then he wrote it down on a piece of paper and got it framed and kept it in his room. Whenever , he felt dejected with life, he would read the sagacious words of old man and try to find out its meaning. After some years, the life of Madhsudan began to show many positive changes. He himself became a Driver and  got married. He educated his siblings and also married them off.Then he purchased a Bus and constructed a new house for his family. Time passed and he became a Transporter,  owning a fleet of buses and trucks which were  plying on national highway from Srinagar to Jammu and vice versa . He also became the President of Kashmir Motor Drivers Association and  was a well known personality in political circles.
Though Madhsudan was not highly educated, but he was very intelligent and his suggestion always carried a weight. He was a personification of confidence and positivity blended together.

My Wanderings - 41. Short Story No. 23. Sentence Revoked

Suresh Dhar was a person  to be reckoned with. He could not be ignored so easily. There was something charismatic about his personality that every one got attracted towards him. He was a man of average stature having a slim  body , fair complexion   with handsome and sharp features emanating an air of decency and smartness. He was a personification  of intelligence and wisdom blended together in a fair mix. He  always dressed immaculately with a streak of Irish style. He was also having  a jovial and extrovert nature and he greeted everybody with open heart. Perhaps his nature added more to his personality than his physique.  He was brought up by his parents   in much discipline rather than pampering ,  which he otherwise  deserved being the only child born in a well to do family. After completing engineering and doing job for some time, he started his own business which picked up nicely. He married a sweet natured and graceful lady, who was a Doctor by profession. She gave birth to two lovely kids a boy and  a girl. The life of Suresh was moving smoothly and his business was also picking up nicely. He was  also able to make a good property  and resources. While achieving milestones in his business , he remained much humble. He never let success  go to his head and always accepted his accomplishments with  humility. He had all the virtues and he was devoid of any vices. He was a nonsmoker and a teetotaller.
While returning from one of his business trips from America, he felt some gastric problem as food thereat did not suit him well. After taking treatment from his wife for sometime, he consulted a Gastroenterologist , who advised him for some pathological and diagnostic tests. It was to the utter shock of family and patient himself, that  tests revealed malignancy of liver and that too of last stage. It was really a bolt from blue which jolted the nerves of whole family. Doctor advised  that Suresh will  survive only  for six months more despite of all the remedies deployed   against the disease in the shape of chemotherapy or any other alternative cures utilised.
A cold shrill passed through the spine of Suresh. His nerves  shattered. He felt as if Doctor had announced a death sentence  to him. He felt his whole body ripping apart. He preferred the death due to  accident or heart attack because it kills suddenly with out torturing one psychologically. He thought of his parents, his wife and his children. How they will suffer with out him. He could conceive their wailing faces. The agony writ large on their faces made Suresh more desperate.  He had to face many challenges in business but this challenge appeared to him  impassable. He felt helpless and deserted by the vagaries of fate. He could not reconcile with the reality of life. He felt scared of approaching death and more of the thought of it. The thought of something  inevitable to happen in life is more torturous than the real  happening of event . The train of  negative thoughts continued to take toll of his already distraught nerves and thereby making him more miserable and meek.
Then  a new thought struck his mind, if some miracle happened and he survived . How he will live his life with new perception?. He will feel grateful to the lord and express gratitude for every minute of it. Then he could reminisce  the incidents of his past life. The nostalgia made him more desperate and restless. He could not control his thoughts anymore. He wanted to forget everything. More he thought about his future or past more remorseful he became. He wanted to get rid of  his  all thoughts. When he perceived that it was not possible he wished  to die instantly so that these thoughts do not torment him anymore. Instant death could atleast relieve him from present tension.
The treatments continued in succession . He suffered much due to various treatments of chemotherapy, surgeries and radio therapies for months together. He was virtually reduced to Skelton. The therapies made him  look haggard with  sunken eyes and  he totally lost his hair. Alternative therapies also continued with the regular  ones. With the elapse of six months Suresh began to accept the reality of his life. He gained some confidence and will power and  he wanted to live more. He began to console his wife and old parents. The thought of death could not scare him any more now. He  developed a divine outlook and a stoic attitude towards life. After some time   Doctors were surprised to note  unexpected levels of  recovery in the health of Suresh as revealed by  his  latest diagnostic test reports. Years elapsed ,therapies stopped  and Suresh could feel that God has perhaps renewed the lease of his life for some  years more.
After elapse of ten years of this incident, Suresh is still alive and in good health. He sometimes  shares the  experiences of his bad days with his close friends only, which prompted me to write this story, perhaps for the benefit of those patients who are still suffering from this  dreaded disease and  on reading this may take  heart again.

My wanderings - 40. Short Story No. 22. The Crime of Lambhodhar Bakaya

Lambhodhar was perhaps born in the beginning of twentieth century in a small two storey dilapidated house situated on a narrow  lane of Batyaar mohalla in Alikadal area opening towards river Jehlum  ghat adjacent to temple.  His father had a small kiryana shop in the same lane which was the only  source of his income to   support a large family. Lambhodhar was born after his mother had already given birth to five daughters one after another in succession with a desire to get a son. Although Lambhodhar was brought up with much pampering but dearth and  poverty hovered the household throughout his childhood and youth. When Lambhodhar completed Matriculation four of his sisters were already married. He wanted to do something innovative so that he can support his  family nicely. He got a Govt job  but after working in Govt for few years Lambhodhar renovated the shop of
his father and started the business on large scale with him. He also started money lending business. When the business picked up, Lambhodhar left the job and devoted himself wholeheartedly towards family business and money lending. He was very  eager to make money and status and therefore, he never looked back. In the meantime his last sister  got married and his parents were now eager to marry  Lambhodhar also. Lambhodhar was fortunate enough to marry a very wise and beautiful girl who became an inspiration for Lambhodhar to work harder and realise his dream of becoming a rich man with a status in society. He was now a perfect moneylender, who was well acquainted with the tricks of  his trade.He could make a large property and money. Only tregedy in his life was that his wife could not bear a child for him. He was however , advised by his well wishers to adopt a child but he was not interested in that.
As the business of Lambhodhar was expanding day by day,  he was not able to manage cash and pledged  jewellery as Banking system was not much in vouge those days. He was however,  carrying cash and jewellery to his home on daily basis and ensuring its custody in a safe kept thereat.There were only  one or two branches of Bank that too located far away near Amira Kadal during those days. Moreover, Lambhodhar was also skeptical  about the functioning of Banking system. He thought about it as a direct intrusion on his trade. But as he grew old,  one day on the advise of his well wisher , he was compelled to open a Bank account with the major amount of  his earnings I.e. Rupees one lakh, a huge amount those days. He also deposited some jewelleries in the  Bank in the form of  Bank Safe custody as lockers were not available those days. It was the jewellery  usurped by him  from  his defaulter borrowers. 
After depositing his prize possession,  Lambhodhar reached his residence feeling restless. He could not sleep the whole night. He was not sure about the safety of his valuables at bank. He considered Bank employees careless and incompetent to guard his valuables. He repented over his decision and cursed his well wisher who gave him this useless suggestion. He made it a point to guard his valuables himself also in addition to Bank staff. He started visiting the bank daily on foot from Alikadal  to Amirakadal after Banking hours to ensure that Main Gate of Bank was properly locked. In this exercise he used  to fondle the Lock with his hands. This exercise of Lambhodhar remained unnoticed for several days. But one day he reached the Bank earlier than usual. The Bank people were still loitering nearby after locking the Bank door. They noticed an old man fiddling with the Bank Lock. They became suspicious and caught hold of him and informed police. The Lambhodhar had to spent a full night at Police station. This incident left a deep impact over the nerves of Lambhodhar. He could not sleep the whole night he spent in the police station. The reality of life dawned upon him. Though he was not guilty but he felt the guilt taking possession of him. He was not guilty of tampering the lock of Bank but he felt guilty of tampering the lives of thousands of his clients who took loan from him and pledged their valuables for it, which they could not redeem later on even after paying to him heavily in terms of Intrest and service. They were the people of his society and community, even his relatives who were poor  and deseperate like his father. He in order to make a fast buck altered their  peaceful life by adding misery to it. He had lost  all business ethics and tampered with Intrest rates of accounts of his clients taking due advantage of their illiteracy and innocence. Now he wanted to redeem his guilt.
Next day when Branch Agent visited the Police Station, he was surprised to see Lambhodhar Bakaya, a valued customer of Bank as culprit. He sought apologies from Lambhodhar and arranged for his immediate release.
After his release, Lambhodhar Bakaya took back possession of his Jewellery items from Bank   and tried to locate their bona fide owners or their kiths and  kins by searching his own ledgers and was successful in returning the most of them.
Mr Bakaya never felt the need of making premature payment of his Fixed Deposit of Rupees one lakh, which was huge amount those days ,in his life time. It was only reinvested several times. But after the death of both Mrs Bakaya and Mr Bakaya in quick succession and after receiving no claim from anybody, Bank transferred the amount to Unclaimed Depositors account with due notice to Reserve Bank of India.

My Wanderings - 39. Short Story No 21 The Dilemma of a Diplomat

Omkar Nath Kaul, popularly known as O.N.Kaul was a well known personality  in diplomatic circles and also famous  beyond  corridors and hierarchy of external affairs ministry of the country. He was even posted on senior positions  in many embassies of India located in various foreign  countries .  He started his career from a humble background. His father was a primary school teacher with a large family to support. Omkar was third child amongst the family of four  brothers and three sisters. His father was not able to provide all his children a better future but Omkar was an exception. He was extraordinarily intelligent and by the dint  of his  hard work  and patorn age  of some  community members already established  in New Delhi,  he  could  realise his dream of qualifying IFS, unlike his other siblings who had to remain contended with the circumstances and to eat a humble pie.
Omkar also got a wife from an affluent family who was a little arrogant right from beginning and  hardly tried to maintain relations with her in-laws. Omkar mostly remained posted outside his native state and
even in foreign countries. Therefore, in a rush to create  his  resourcefulness   in higher circles, he could not also keep much track of his roots. In earlier years of his career some old acquaintances and  relations visited him to seek some help from him in the alien environs of capital then, but after observing indifferent attitude of Omkar and his wife, they hardly visited him thereafter. In the meantime he remained busy in making his career and building  resources . He learned the tricks of his trade and achieved excellence in International laws and techniques associated with it. He was consulted   even by his seniors often and  accompanied them  when ever there were bilateral treaties or negotiations with other countries.  It was by virtue of his resourcefulness  and using his good offices ,he also managed to purchase a huge property comprising of few apartments in New Delhi and a farm house near Shimla. His children, a son and a daughter also got the opportunity of  getting better education earlier in India and later on in foreign countries. They also got married as per their choice and  settled  there
Mr Kaul after retirement from active service could not reconcile with  retired life and therefore, joined again some MNC on very senior position after completing the necessary time  gap between the two jobs  giving due cognisance to law. In the mean time his wife died   due to heart ailment. After the death of his wife, his health deteriorated tremendously and  he was advised by Doctors to take due care of his health if he wanted to live more. Finally he decided to leave the job and live in serene atmosphere of his farm house near Shimla despite  of the fact that both his son and daughter advised him to join them at  their places.
He however, employed a local lad of the village in the age group of early twenties to look after himself and his farm house. His name was Mohan and being a country lad, he was very simple and full of dreams as per his age. He worked very sincerely and proved very helpful to Mr.Kaul. Mr Kaul liked his company very much. After few years the health of Mr. Kaul deteriorated further. His body became very weak and frail and he was not able to move with out the  help  of Mohan.His body muscles became very thin  and his skin appeared loosely dangling from his fragile bones. He was in possession of everything,  nature's bounty as well as all the materialistic gadgets. But his  personal faculties failed him to enjoy the same. He could not enjoy a bite of apple from his farm because of his weak teeth. He could not enjoy the chirp of birds or buzz of early breeze because he was hard of hearing now. A little cool air would ache his bones to the hilt. All the money and property amassed so far, appeared to him of little value as compared to good health, which he had taken for granted through out his active career. He sometimes envied the good health of Mohan, which he considered the real wealth now. He desired to live a poor man's life with good health and youth. He sometimes conceived to barter all his fortunes with Mohan against his healthy body and young age .  It would have been a good bargain. He was perhaps in dilemma.  He could reminisce that almost all his wishes of youthful days had been realised but against a huge cost that he had to pay for it in terms of his health and age. He wished now to un realise his dreams and get his health and youth back.   But  on the other hand Mohan was full of dreams. He wanted to make money and property in his life. He also wanted to make name  and  fortune like  Mr Kaul, who was his ideal.  He was also taking his good health and youth for granted.
One day Mohan said to Mr Kaul, 'sir I have heard that you are having very Good connection in New Delhi, can't you recommend me for a Govt. job'
Mr Kaul was stunned by this question of Mohan. He could most easily adjust him somewhere but he felt helpless in his absence.  He most sincerely wanted to help Mohan, but his mere existence was in peril with out him. Therefore, he could not reply him properly. This question of Mohan haunted Mr. Kaul for several days and finally he took a decision . He sent for his lawyer and changed his will and transferred the  property rights of Farm House to Mohan after his death.
Mohan most loyally worked with Mr Kaul till his death. Then Mohan changed the farm house into a Guest house as per the dictates of Mr. Kaul, which became a source of livelihood for him afterwards.
Any reader going to Shimla can still enquire about the Omkar Guest House, which is  fifty kms away from it towards north.