The Wanderer's Diary

. Excerpts from the first chapter

Well, its a journey of a man thru many experience s in life
Grandad dad his brothers and me we r all hereditary asthmatics
Deserts of iran to taj in mumbai to coal fields of raniganj to ganglands of western up to african savannahs
Lifelong: Bronchial asthma: Dad s death of birth was 11th oct

Dad fought against ill health and poverty all lifeling

Then for small stuff like ration, local baniya used to call him, ki ee babu, idar aa, paise laaya hai? Kam hai. Chal baakinme le lena

He and bachchan were born the same day.

Then in a family of 10, he was the second youngest

But haan, suna tujhe yoga aata hai. Chal ye dus aasannkarke bata. Fir saamaan mikega

In burdwan. Was a responsible man , , taught in school

Grandad wad a pious religious maan, but a tyrant to his family.  Beat up every small child of his fr smallest of mistakes.  Was a sanskrit scholar and worked tirelessly

He was an ace hockey player, and excelled in football, cricket, carrom , tt, chess, wrote directed plays and acted in em. And sang and pkayed the harmonium

Dad had pledged that he wont ever raise his hand on me. And I think he maintained that, except only one single incident where obviously I had stretched the limit: In youth he was involved with the left, on the social awareness side. Streetplays and cultural stuff

Then bengal paper mill shut down, we were like 4 years without job, then in 1987 shifted to bhusawal: Dad suffered a fall from mill second floor: Its on the coal belt of india, jusrpt 1 hour from dhanbad, as we saw in gow

This was before I was born. Mom took care of him silently: We stayed in raniganj before that.

So these things just hardened us. Or firmed up. Without losing the touch of humanity

Then suffered a mini paralysis in 1991. Again physio and many therapies later he was back: And had 2 metal plates inserted on his thigh bone

Then in 94, wen I was 12, suffered a heart attack. This was when there was a big chlorine gas leak in the plant. Everyone had evacuated. And dad went  to shut down the leak else the entire colony cud have died: He passed away on 19th dec 2011:

Shut down the valve but inhaled a lot of chlorine. Then was in hospital fr 11 days.: Then this mill too shut down in 2001. Again hard times. Electricity cut. So I used to fetch water on cycle. 2 cans by the side, from a river: But he was in icu, with mom on side and 2 school friends

8 days after my marriage

And he passed away on 19th

She stood there with him, I was on reception wen heard he was put on ventilation,  flew back in 14th

And mom told me to go and get married and fulfil a commitment

Then vapi, gujarat

After bhusawal shut down, we wnt to dhule district, then shahada, then delhi, then gajraula, moradabad

Both bengal paper mill and vindhya in bhusawal were top mills in India one time

Coz paper mills had suffered a lot during those years: This too shall pass: No problems.  Life is all about problems. Its how we face it up

Sometimes solutions r not on sight and sometimes there r no solutions as such............