Sample Copy Not For Distribution · 2017. 7. 11. · Singh Mahna who has been my guide and...

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Shelter of The Golden Rosewood


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Publishing-in-support-of,

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Printed in India


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Shelter of The Golden Rosewood

~Gulab Di Tahli~

(Indian Edition)

Pritam Singh Mahna

EDUCREATION PUBLISHING (Since 2011)

www.educreation.in


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v

Dedication

I dedicate the book to my revered

father, the late S. Sant Singh Mahna.


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Acknowledgments

I am wholeheartedly indebted to my father, S. Sant

Singh Mahna who has been my guide and

pathfinder throughout. He has enriched me with the

knowledge of our past, which I have tried to put up

in words in form of this book. I am also obliged to

my Grandson Akshay Mahna who had all through

been assisting and guiding me in compiling the

script on computer and also for his dedication to

create the fascinating Book Cover. Last but not the

least, I also express my heartfelt gratitude to Sneha

Sharma who has been helping and guiding me in the

finalization of the script through her fantastic

editing in a very beautiful manner and design.


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Préface

The book “Shelter of the Golden Rosewood” is the

true story of my ancestors and the family as a

whole. The sub- title of the book “Gulab Di Tahli”

is derived from the name of one of the rosewood

trees (“Tahli” in Punjabi), planted by the great

grandfather of my father, Gulab Rai, on the sides of

the road leading to his village, Bhutta Nau, for the

comfort of the travelers. Incidentally, on my visit to

the village (in Pakistan now) in 1999, I found the

tree to be still there.

All the incidents in this story are based on

information given to me by my respected father S.

Sant Singh Mahna throughout his life (1898-1986).

I have made no deviation, whatsoever, from what

was narrated to or was subsequently experienced by

me.

The story consists of four parts: (1) The struggle my

father had after the demise of my grandfather in

1901; (2) acute problems faced by our family due to

the partition of the country in 1947; (3) my hard

work in cooperation with my beloved wife Shrimati

Raj Rani, and (4) prosperity and progress made by

my subsequent generations.

As per the information collected so far, I have been

able to reach the history of Mahna family back to

the late Shri Nand Lal, (MAHNA FAMILY TREE

refers) who was the great great grandfather of my

great great grandfather Shri Gulab Rai. According


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to the available information, my ancestors

possessed a lot of agricultural land in the village,

Bhutta Nau (then called “Bhutta Mahnia Da”, since

the majority of population of the village comprised

of „Mahnas‟, a Punjabi Khatri family) on the banks

of river Chenab in district Mandi Bahauddin.

However, due to lack of adequate irrigational

facilities, the land had become barren.

Consequently, the yield was very meager. As such,

their financial position was very poor. To make

both ends meet, most of the people of Bhutta Nau,

including my ancestors, were engaged in spinning

and producing yarn from bushes for cots, etc., and

undertaking other labor jobs.

I am not embarrassed to narrate the situation of

poverty then faced by my ancestors. On the

contrary, I feel proud of my great father that,

despite all these odds, he enabled the subsequent

generations to achieve their position as of today

through his hard work, saintly nature, and honesty.

I admit that I am not a professional writer and,

therefore, might not have been able to present the

story in the modern style. Besides, the story

embodies the true experiences of my grandmother,

my father and finally by me and my wife. In these

circumstances, I did not find it appropriate to

change the original beauty of the story, which, I

feel, would have converted it into fiction. I,

therefore, urge you to enjoy the true experiences of

my family from 1893 onwards without any kind of

tampering or fiction therein. I am, as such,


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confident you shall patronize me by ignoring the

omissions, if any, thus encouraging me to publish

my next even more fascinating book.

Pritam Singh Mahna


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MAHNA FAMILY TREE

Disclaimer: The years of birth as indicated are

based only on calculations, except for Pritam

Singh Mahna and the members of his next

generations.


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CONTENTS

S.NO CONTENTS P.NO

Acknowledgments vi

Chapter 1 Bhutta Nau 1

Chapter 2 Rukkan 5

Chapter 3 Mandi Bahauddin 22

Chapter 4 Entry In India 24

Chapter 5 Bhareli 28

Chapter 6 Allotment of Land In

Distt. Yamuna Nagar

37

Chapter 7 Life At Delhi 38

Chapter 8 West Delhi – Ramesh

Nagar

50

Chapter 9 Shrimati Raj Rani 54

Chapter 10 Finance Business 60


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Chapter 11 Sunder Singh

Wadhwa – A

Fantastic Friend

62

Chapter 12 Mansarovar Garden-

My Dream Home

66

Chapter 13 Setting Up A Factory 68

Chapter 14 Delhi Transport

Corporation

70

Chapter 15 My Darling daughter

Seema – My lifeline

77

Chapter 16 Progressing Ahead 81

Chapter 17 Struggle By My

Grandson Geetansh

Mahna To Settle In

Australia

84


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Chapter 18

S. Sant Singh Mahna,

My Saintly Father –

An Analysis Of His

Fluctuating Fortune

87

Chapter 19 My Most Affectionate

Mother - Shrimati

Maya Devi

92

Chapter 20 My Wonderful Lovely

Family

94

Chapter 21

Chapter 22

Tributes

References

95

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Shelter of The Golden Rosewood - Gulab Di Tahli (Indian Edition)

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1.1 Extreme Poverty

Our story begins from the days of my grandfather S.

Hakim Singh of Bhutta Nau. To the best of my

calculations, he was born in 1843. He married my

grandmother Smt. Lachhmi Devi in the year 1893 at the

age of 50 years when she was only 22 years old. My

grandmother had narrated to my father the status of

women during the said era stating that they (women)

used to be badly trodden and treated like dumb animals.

There were other traditions, for example, the girl was

required to shed tears (real or otherwise) when her

marriage was announced in the family in her presence.

Talking about or mentioning anything related to her

ensuing marriage was considered to be a reflection

against her character. Besides, she was not even

permitted to see her to-be husband before the marriage,

or express her opinion in the matter even if she was

aware of the facts against him, such as his looks, source

of livelihood or even his habits. My grandmother was

well aware of my grandfather‟s age even. She was no

stranger to the abject financial condition of my

grandfather, because of which he could not even afford

to pay one rupee towards rent for the horse ride at his

marriage procession. But as per the traditions and

1 Bhutta Nau



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customs, she was not at all in a position to express her

concern about her future married life to any member of

her family.

My grandmother had further revealed to my father how

one of the intimate friends of my grandfather gave him

his horse and asked him to treat the charges as a

marriage gift. However, he was still not lucky enough to

enjoy the ride since his ailing elderly father (my great

grandfather Ram Chand) was carried on that horse while

my grandfather reached the bride's house on foot.

After a year, my great grandfather Ram Chand passed

away. There were no funds at all for performing his

death rituals and carrying his last remains to Haridwar

for immersion in the Ganges as the last rites.

Consequently, it had to be deferred for some time. After

a period of another six years, my grandfather Hakim

Singh also breathed his last, and my young grandmother

was left a widow with three children, viz. my father Sant

Singh (3 years), my aunt Lakhmi Devi (5 years), and my

uncle Lakhmi Dass (1 year). However, the never-say-die

spirit of my grandmother prepared her to face all tough

situations. Her two major responsibilities were (1) to

dispose off the last remains of the two members of her

family in Haridwar and (2) to take care of the family

since she was not left with any patrimony after my

grandfather‟s demise.

In order to generate funds to be able to dispatch the last

remains, my grandmother had to sell off some household

items like hand woven bed sheets (‘KHES’ in Punjabi)

and other household items. She then deputed her

Brother-in-law Musaddi Lal to perform the last rites at



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Haridwar. On his way, he ran short of funds and,

consequently, had to walk up to Lahore (about 100 miles

from Bhutta Nau) on foot and then catch the train to

reach Haridwar. This shows my grandmother‟s patience

and strong will power in successfully shouldering all

family responsibilities.

My grandmother, thereafter, managed her life without

approaching either her in-laws or parents for help.

Subsequently, when my father turned 7 years old, she

took a tough decision of sending him to work as a

domestic servant. During this time, she too had chosen

to work in the cotton fields for plucking the ripened

cotton balls as a laborer besides cotton yarn spinning.

Subsequently, she would get the thread converted into

bed sheets (KHES) from the weavers. All this had helped

her to feed the family during the intervening period

before deploying my father to work as a domestic

servant.

1.2 Life as a Domestic Servant

During my childhood days, I am lucky to have shared

my bed with my revered late father. He used to wake up

at 4 a.m. every day to recite Gurbani (prayers), which I

enjoyed listening.

One day, my father told me about one of his childhood

incidents. He narrated that at the age of 7 years, his

mother deputed him as a Mahant‟s (a Hindu religious

person) servant to carry his baggage from one village to

the other. He was also required to massage his limbs

and was paid merely Rs. 2 per month. The Mahant used

to unduly scold him frequently.



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One afternoon, when the Mahant was enjoying rest after

sleeping, my father too fell asleep while massaging his

limbs. When the Mahant woke up, he took out a stick

and hit my child father hard on the forehead. He was

badly hurt and started bleeding. He cried a lot and

subsequently, on finding an opportunity, slipped away

later in the night. He crossed the fields amid heavy rains

and returned home. On seeing his condition, my

grandmother was aggrieved. Consequently, he stopped

going with the Mahant thereafter and instead did

domestic jobs like cleaning utensils and dirty clothes in

various houses. He was so dedicated to his work that

once while washing the utensils at a nearby canal, he

jumped into the chilled water to get a tray that had

accidently fallen into it. He was almost unconscious for

a while.

My father further narrated that at a later age, he was

deputed with petty cloth vendors touring all over India.

At such a tender age, he had to deal with such harsh

situations so that he could meet his family requirements.



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2.1 Partnership in Business

In the year 1921, when my father was 23 years old, he

witnessed the epidemic of plague that had spread in all

the cities and small towns, resulting in numerous deaths.

To evade its effect, his cousin (son of his father‟s sister)

came from Rukkan, a town at a distance of 30 kilometers

from Bhutta Nau, with his family and stayed there. After

about a month, when it was time for them to return to

their native place, my father‟s cousin asked him to

accompany them to Rukkan. He assured my father of all

facilities including an independent house and share in

the running business without making any investment.

However, my grandmother was not in favor of her son

leaving the village and joining a partnership business.

Having experienced an arduous life, she had a gut

feeling that he might just dodge my father at any stage,

as she was well aware of his cunning nature. My father,

however, did not care about her opinion and left for

Rukkan along with my grandmother and uncle Lakhmi

Dass.

My father told me that both he and my uncle involved

themselves in every kind of labor, including looking

after the cattle in all respects and other jobs entrusted to

them by the cousin. He (cousin) was an eyewitness to

2 Rukkan



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their gentle nature, honesty, and sincerity, and, thus, he

entitled them to join the family business. This was a life

changing experience in my father‟s life. Through it all,

the family witnessed good times and soon they both (my

father and uncle Lakhmi Dass) got married in 1930 and

1937, respectively. During this, we three brothers, Ram

Singh, Jai Ram and I, were born. It was really a happy

span of life of our family.

2.2 Involvement in Cousin’s Dispute with Third

Party

My father further narrated to me that one day in the year

1939 some members of cousin's family picked a quarrel

in the bazaar over a trifling matter. The dispute then took

a serious turn. On learning about it, my father rushed to

the spot to help them. During the course of the

altercation, many people, including my father, were

seriously injured. In the meantime, the police arrived

and took my father into custody because the cousin

unduly chose him to bear the consequences. He (my

father) remained behind the bars for about a month.

Criminal proceedings were also initiated against him

alone. Subsequently, to compromise the issue, it was

demanded by the other party that some part of the body

of any of the cousin‟s family members should be

chopped off. Here too, my father was treated to be a

Bali ka Bakra (Scapegoat). The cousin‟s family, finding

him to be submissive, pressurized him into bearing the

agony in place of his four sons. Treating him to be the

weakest person, his little finger was chopped off to

please the opposing party, even though he had a badly

injured face and had become very weak for having

remained in jail for a month.



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Now, I can correlate the happenings to the low-income

family background of my father. He worked for his

cousin and was under his debt like a slave and a deaf and

mute animal which was not in a position to resist while

being butchered. My helpless father could not speak

even a single word against all these atrocities.

2.3 Dismissal from Partnership

Even after such incidents, the painful spell for my father

had not yet ended. After the police confinement and

sacrificing his finger, the cousin immediately called my

father, placed before him the details of the expenses

incurred in litigation of the matter, and asked for

reimbursement of 50% of the total amount. My father

was taken aback by such a reaction from his cousin. He,

however, after prolonged arguments, emphatically

refused to share the expenses, since he had nothing to do

with the dispute. He was assertive of the fact that he was

being unduly picked by the cousin‟s family members

and that he had simply gone to help them. He also

argued that, surprisingly, no one else from his (cousin)

family had come forward to intervene in the matter or to

face the people of the opposite party who had first

attacked the ladies of his family and then my father with

a sword. He complained of having been made to face

police custody alone and losing his finger (while the

cousin and his four sons had remained passive during the

dispute). He had already fulfilled his duty, which,

undoubtedly, did not include facing the opponents alone

in the matter solely connected with the cousin's family.

In these circumstances, my father had clearly stated that

he was not liable to contribute any amount towards the

share of expenses incurred during the litigation.



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Upon hearing these arguments, the cousin got enraged

and threatened my father for filing litigation for

recovering the mentioned amount. At this stage, my

father replied with confidence that he was well-prepared

to face the consequences.

My father had full knowledge of the situation/Accounts

of the partnership business. Hence he sent a legal notice

asking his cousin to finally settle his account before the

formal dissolution and pay his share of Capital to the

tune of Rs.10,000.00 that stood to the credit of my father

in the books of account This feud spread quickly and,

resultantly, the allies of the cousin rejoiced the occasion.

They approached my father and asked him to hand over

the case he did initiate to get the amount in question in

advance from them (the cousin's allies). However, my

father did not lose hope; rather he remained honest and

informed the people about the factual position that

nothing was due on him in the business account from the

cousin and that he had raised this issue only to pressurize

him so that he could be stopped from unduly harassing

him. He also admitted that on the contrary, he had made

some overdrafts from the business account, which he

was prepared to square up by selling his personal assets

and belongings.

Finding no merit in his plea, the cousin stooped down to

adopting a vindictive attitude against my father. In the

first instance, he dismissed him from the partnership

business. Then he forced my father to vacate the house

earlier allocated to him in the Haveli, as a measure of

vengeance.



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Before my father left the house, the cousin, in order to

recover the excess withdrawals made from the business

account, took away all the gold ornaments of my mother,

one cow and a buffalo that my father owned to feed the

children, and all other household items, before finally

disowning him.

When the cow was being taken away, my eldest brother

Ram Singh, who was then seven years old, started

crying. My father slapped his cheek and asked him to

keep quiet. The irony of the matter was that my uncle

Lakhmi Dass continued going to the Haveli for about

three months to milk the buffalo because it would not

allow anyone else to do so because of the bond it had

developed for uncle. There was a dark confusion

surrounding our family, as my father was homeless in

Rukkan with no source of income. Again, he had no idea

how he was going to support his big family which

consisted of my grandmother, our mother, and we three

brothers, our uncle Lakhmi Dass and aunt Ram Pyari.

My father told me that he recalled the incident when he

was already warned by my grandmother not to trust the

cousin and that he thus repented of what he had done.

2.4 Establishing an Independent Shop

Even though life is not always fair, it gives a fair chance

to all. Among all such hardships faced by my father, a

miracle took place. My father narrated to me the incident

when a noble person came to them, who was already

aware of the whole episode. My father stated how he

interacted with him in confidence and asked him to

establish his independent shop afresh. My father was



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stunned to hear his remarks and requested him to stop

making fun of him. The noble man assured my father

that he was serious enough in what he was suggesting to

do. After the first few minutes of conversation, my

father regained confidence in the man and revealed his

condition to him, where he was standing at a crossroad

and was directionless, with no financial assurance and

house to accommodate the family. The noble man then

gave my father four currency notes of Rs.100 each. He

assured also to arrange a shop and a rented house for

residential accommodation for the family. The man

advised my father to start a small scale business of

selling agriculture equipment, the steel knives for the

plough. The proposal struck my father. He was, now,

ready to work on the plan and to go ahead with it.

My father continued telling that in the first instance, the

gentleman got him a shop on rent. Then, my father

immediately contacted a scrap dealer and purchased

some pieces of broken spring leaves of railway wagons.

He passed them on to the iron smith for conversion into

plough knives. One piece of broken spring leaf cost him

8 Annas (Re.1/2) at that time. After paying another 8

Annas to the iron smith towards conversion charges, one

piece of the broken spring leaf would fetch him 10

numbers of plough knives. He sold these equipments at

Re.1 each, yielding a net profit of Rs.9 in the transaction.

This item became known far and near and the sale was in

abundance, with about 90% profit. This alone paved a

smooth way of progress through the miseries.

Encouraged by the results, my father started selling big

steel pans used in the preparation of jaggery, fodder

cutting machines, big steel chains for animals, hand

pumps, and other sanitary items.



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