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RUMINATIONS OF A COLUMBAN

RUMINATIONS OF A COLUMBAN DR RAKESH BHARGAVA CLASS OF 1966                 I joined St Columba’s in 1959 in class 4 on transfer from St Josephs, Allahabad My class teacher was Mrs. Clark if I remember correctly. We used to have a ‘tables’ test after the lunch break. Mrs. Clark would rattle of twenty dash times dash for tables up to 19. You would get as many canes as the mistakes made. I imagined I would be able to get by with some mental math, but after receiving four to five canes for the first few days I got wiser and mugged up my tables.                 The construction of the swimming pool was started when I was in the 5 th , and by the time we reached the 6 th grade it was ready for inauguration. Admiral B S Soman, the Naval chief was invited for the same. He began his speech and, in the process, took of his shirt and trousers, and dived into the pool So was the pool inaugurated. With the 7 th grade began our art classes. The art teacher was called Aunt P
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EPILOGUE TO “ON MAN’S BEST FRIEND”

It is amazing how much yearning a pet’s loss can produce to have another, another best friend As in my post, after my pet Snoopy passed away, we brought a new member to our family, a German Spitz, and named him Scruffy. He was the playmate of my son and daughter, and now we had a driver as a family member who took care of him when we were away. Scruffy grew to a ripe age of twelve years or so, before he became sick with a bad cough. The vet gave him some medicines and he seemed to improve. A few days later he had another episode and I searched the net to learn that at this age, the dog may have a cardiac problem. We again took him to the vet, and I voiced my concern. He just brushed my doubts and gave him another shot of antibiotic and, this time, a steroid. When we reached home, he lay on the carpet, coughing and breathing heavily. Suddenly, all was quiet, and I was alarmed. I checked to note that he wasn’t breathing and didn’t have a heartbeat. We rushed him back to the vet, w
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SQUARING OFF THE CIRCLES

Many years ago, when I was an intern, the college held a debate on “Should doctors marry only doctors” I spoke then for the motion, but for totally different reasons. I was familiar with the wife of one of our senior very prominent professors, who happened to be in charge of the Adult education department of thee Rajasthan University. I just happened to ask her how it felt to be married to such an eminent doctor. Her answer didn’t quite intrigue me, for she felt that the doctors are the most insipid dry and drab kind of persons…the most unclubbable people of the lot. I voiced these very sentiments and offered that the only and easiest way to put an end to the lot was for them to marry each other, and thus ruin just one family and household rather than two. To top it off I concluded with a question to those doctors in the audience who were married to doctors whether given a second chance they would commit the same folly again. My speech was greeted with a deafening silence.
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OLD HATS NEW FACES

Reunions are such great occasions Remember the movie Pyaasa? Guru Dutt sees Mala Sinha entering the class  और एक शेर कह देते हैं "जब हम चलें तो साया भी अपना ना साथ दे जब तुम चलो तो ज़मीन चले आसमान चले जब हम रुकें तो साथ रुके शामें  बेकसि जब तुम रुको तो बहार रुके चाँद रुके" Years later, it is the college reunion वही शायर है अन्दाज़ बदल गया "तंग आ चुके हैं कश्मकशे ज़िंदगी से हम ठुकरा ना दे जहाँ को कहीं बेदिली से हम उभरेंगे एक बार अभी दिल के वलवले माना कि दब गए हैं गमे ज़िंदगी से हम" कोई नहि पूछता तुम कहाँ थे कहाँ रहे साहिब एक दूसरी फ़िल्म पर चलते हैं Dharmendra की सबसे बहतरीं film Satyakaam क्लास बस में पिकनिक पर जा रही है "आदमी है क्या, आदमी है बंदर रोटी उठा के भागे कपड़े चुरा के भागें कहलाय वो Sikander! बन्दर नहीं है ,आदमी का क्या कहना प्यार मोहब्बत फ़ितरत उसकी दोस्ती मझहब उसका"  सालों बाद  यार से reunion वही अन्दाज़. कुछ नहीं बदला, यार बदल गया "समझ नहीं आता की मैं बदल गया या यह दुनिया बदल गयी आज कल ऐसा लगता है जैसे बुरा
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INTOLERANT INDIA

What are the basic or essential things for one’s comfortable living? Let’s start with climate control, cooling in summer and heating in winter Air-conditioning, the refrigerator and the heater, all consume electricity What if the State electricity board suddenly hikes the electricity rates by about two times What do you do Well you TOLERATE, atleast I do. What else The Electricity bill is weirdly high, even as compared  to  your previous bills. What do you do You complain, and what does the Electricity Board do? It asks you to pay the bill first then talk, so they shoot first and then ask questions Then what do you do? You TOLERATE. What else! The water supply comes for fixed hours each day. Suddenly the Water supply department changes the hours, and reduces the supply pressure. Now your overhead tanks are empty. What do you do? You Tolerate Your telephone goes dead. The cable layers of some other communication company is digging for their cables, and severs your un
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OLD HATS NEW FACES

            Reunions are such great occasions Remember the movie Pyaasa? Guru Dutt sees Mala Sinha entering the class and renders  एक शेर जब हम चलें तो साया भी अपना ना साथ दे जब तुम चलो तो ज़मीन चले आसमान चले जब हम रुकें तो साथ रुके शामें  बे कसि जब तुम रुको तो बहार रुके चाँद रुके Years later, it is the college reunion वही शायर है अन्दाज़ बदल गया तंग आ चुके हैं कश्मकशे ज़िंदगी से हम ठुकरा ना दे जहाँ को कहीं बेदिली से हम उभरेंगे एक बार अभी दिल के वलवले माना कि दब गए हैं गमे ज़िंदगी से हम कोई नहि पूछता तुम कहाँ थे कहाँ रहे साहिब एक दूसरी फ़िल्म पर चलते हैं Dharmendra की सबसे बहतरीं film Satyakaam क्लास बस में पिकनिक पर जा रही है आदमी है क्या आदमी है बंदर रोटी उठा के भागे कपड़े चुरा के भागें कहलाय वो Sikander आदमी का क्या कहना प्यार मोहब्बत फ़ितरत उसकी दोस्ती मझहब उसका सालों बाद  यार से reunion वही अन्दाज़. कुछ नहीं बदला, यार बदल गया समझ नहीं आता की मैं बदल गया या यह दुनिया बदल गयी आज कल ऐसा लगता है जैसे बुरायी मैं हम एक दूसरे का मुक़ाबला कर रहें हैं हमने अप
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ON VALENTINES DAY___BRUSHES WITH ROMANTICISM

                                                       It all started in 1957 when I joined St Mary’s Convent, Allahabad in my kindergartens. Back then, the school was co-educational in the nursery classes. There was this girl in my class, Kusum Bhatnagar, whom I had the uncanny knack of calling Kusum Bhattacharya, I do not know for what reason. The relevant fact is that I was then infinitely fond of that girl, and she probably likewise, for we always sat next to each other in class. We always had our tiffin together in the lunch break, and loved to share the food. We always helped each other with the classwork. That time it was customary for the class teacher to reward good work with scrap pictures often with glazes, and we always compared and admired our ‘scraps’. We always chose to partner each other when we were required to team up for craft work. At the end of the school, we invariably went out of the class and school, holding hands together and chatting along. Then, one day
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