In 1986 after having completed my PG
in English from Ravenshaw College, Cuttack Odisha I was seriously preparing for
the CS.
An unfortunate event had taken place
in the family. My Jijaji Mr. Jasbir
Singh was diagnosed to be suffering from brain tumour due to which he used to
get attacks of convulsions. My sister
Manjeet Kaur and Jijaji had got married in 1981. They were blessed with a boy in 1985
(Varinder Singh).
As the convulsions were getting severe
we had to rush Jijaji to CMC Vellore. It
was at Vellore that the Doctors (Neurosurgeons) had conveyed to us that he had
a brain tumour and had advised for an immediate surgery for the removal of
tumour. Jijaji’s father, S. Jagat
Singhji (Darji), my sister Manjeet Kaur, my one year old nephew Varinder Singh
(Vicky), our Dad Gurmukh Singh and me were there with Jijaji.
Jijaji was very adamant in not
getting himself operated because this would need to shorn his hair which is not
permissible in Sikhism.
Coincidently one Mr. Chatwal uncle
from Korba, MP was also there in Vellore for his wife’s kidney treatment. Being
Sikhs and due to meeting at a far off
place in South we had come close to each other. Darji, Chatwal uncle and
my Dad used to council Jijaji for getting himself operated.
Fortunately one of the Neurosurgeons
Dr. J.P. Singh was also a Sikh. He also used to council my Jijaji for
undergoing the operation.
With lots of persuasion and pressure
from all corners finally Jijaji had undergone the operation. Unfortunately the biopsy report conveyed that
the tumour was malignant for which Jijaji had to undergo chemotherapy for about
three months. Jijaji was admitted in the hospital and we all used to live in a
hotel nearby. My sister used to cook
food for everyone.
One day while having breakfast Jijaji
conveyed his desire to me for fresh coconut (green ones) water. So while carrying his lunch I had stopped at
a Pan Shop for purchasing two green coconuts.
Cost of the same was Rs. 4/-.
When I had given him Rs. 5/- note the shopkeeper had expressed his difficulty
in returning Rs. 1/-. When I had looked
around I had seen ‘The Employment News’ hanging from one of the wires. I had bought it and had proceeded to the
hospital. I could get the opportunity of
leafing through the ‘The Employment Newspaper’ after about 5 – 6 days of
time. My sister as preparing dinner and
the Employment Newspaper was lying on one of the shelves. I had asked for it
and had started going through it. While
doing so I had come across the advertisement of DPS Korba for teachers post.
The advertisement had appealed to me for two reasons. First was the brand of DPS and second was the
place, Korba, because of Chatwal uncle belonging to that place.
Till that time I had never applied
for any post. So I was little excited.
One of the posts advertised was for English PRT but it needed the candidate to
be a PG with B.Ed and one had to apply along with Xerox of all educational
qualifications certificates. Inspite of
neither being a B.Ed nor in possession of certificates I had purchased plain paper
of A4 size from the same Pan Shop and had applied for the post of PRT
(English). I had written a very simple
application wherein I had mentioned my position of being in Vellore and also regarding
my inability to send Xerox copies of my certificates. However I had sent my Bio Data because I
remembered all my marks at all levels.
I had assured in my letter that if
called for the interview I would put across all my originals.
After Jijaji was discharged from CMC Vellore
we all had returned to our places.
One fine day when I was sitting at
home in Vishakapatnam our business partner Jagdish had come from Jeypore. He gave me a sealed envelope of DPS Korba
which carried a call letter for the interview on June 17th 1987 at
Korba. I was both surprised and
excited. Surprised because I was
seriously not expecting to get any response because of not being a B.Ed and also
for not having sent any Xerox copies of my certificates. I was excited for the obvious reason of appearing
in the interview.
(18.09.2015)
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