Kailash Sethi

 In an earlier post, ' Reaching the age of sanyaas ', I had mentioned about my best friend, Kailash Sethi, who died some years ago in his home in Allahabad.

 Kailash and I were friends since our youth  He later joined the Indian Revenue Service of the Government of India, in the department of Customs and Central Excise and retired as a member of the Central Board of Customs and Central Excise.

 Kailash was a legend in his department, an outstanding officer, renowned for his high level of integrity and dynamism, and a hero to his subordinate officers.

 After my post mentioning him I received a message on facebook which I am copying ( without revealing the sender's name ) :

" Feb 27th, 7:12am

Re : Kailash Sethi

 Uncle Sir, my father was his ( Sethi Uncle's ) junior in the Department. He would often tell me anecdotes about Sethi Uncle and there were many. He was one of the most honest officers of the Central Government. Dishonest officers feared him like crazy just like the honest ones loved him.

 As the story goes, when he was Commissioner, all the junior officers would park their vehicles (which may have been procured through dubious means) at least a km away so as to escape his wrath. He once visited our place. At that time, even though he wasn't in the best of health, I remember he was still passionate about football and asked me to get my football boots and checked them thoroughly before letting me know that they were good. My mom would tell me about the his 4-5 pet dogs. Even after his retirement, my father made a trip or two to Allahabad just to see "Sethi sahab". Aunty even sent dad Sethi Uncle's photograph after his death. "

In his youth, Kailash's ambition was to join the Indian Air Force and become a fighter pilot flying jets. So he joined the National Defence Academy ( N.D.A. ) Kharakvasla as a cadet. Unfortunately he suffered an injury due to which he was discharged in his 3rd term in N.D.A. He came back to his home in Allahabad and was very depressed. I used to often go to meet him  at that time to console him. He often told me that whenever he sees an aeroplane in the sky he gets dejected, wishing that he had  been flying one of these aircrafts.

 Kailash's father, Mr.A.N. Sethi, was from that part of Punjab which is now in Pakistan. During British days he had been a contractor to the British army, and made a lot of money in his business, enough to enable him to retire early. He bought a huge house at 1 Sapru Road ( Club Road, in British Times ) Allahabad before Partition, and settled down there with his family. Kailash was the youngest of his 3 sons.

 Mr. A.N. Sethi was so regular in his habits that one could set his watch according to when he went for his morning walk, when he had lunch and dinner, when he sat down in the evening for his two pegs of whiskey with fried fish. I was a regular visitor to the house ( just as Kailash was a regular visitor to my house on Tashkent Marg ).

 Later, Kailash joined the Allahabad University, and, as I have mentioned in my earlier post, we played a lot of football, hockey and tennis together. Kailash topped in the Ll.B. examination of 1968 from Allahabad University ( I had topped in 1967 ).

  Later, Kailash sat for the competitive examinations and was selected for the Indian Revenue Service..

 I had joined a Solicitors' firm ( Fowler&Co.) in Calcutta in 1969, and Kailash was posted as an Asst. Collector in Calcutta. While I stayed with a relative, he stayed in the Y.M.C.A. on Chowringhee Road. My office was at 12 Govt. Place East, near Dalhousie Square. After my office hours were over, I would often walk down to the Y.M.C.A. to meet Kailash and some other friends from Allahabad who were staying there. On weekends we would sometimes go by train to the Dunlop Co. Estate at Shahganj, where we had friends with whom we spent time, swimming, playing tennis, etc

 I later came back to Allahabad to practise in the High Court, and Kailash, being a government servant, was posted to various places, but we met off and on.

  Kailash was a hero to his junior officers, and a terror to crooked businessmen and crooked officials. In a department which normally does not enjoy a high reputation for integrity, he was a shining beacon of uprightness to his juniors. Wherever he was posted, the revenue collections went up.

 The problem with him, and I told this to him repeatedly, was that he often took cudgels with powerful people. I would often tell him that the present system in India is so corrupt that it is beyond redemption, and so he should not think he can single handedly abolish corruption, and would only get into trouble if he tries to do so. But he would not listen. He even secretly got the telephones of some powerful people tapped ( to get evidence of their corrupt dealings ). These people got to know about it, and then they really went after him. They got him posted to some remote, insignificant places, and got enquiries instituted against him.

 The result was that Kailash became totally demoralized and depressed. He contracted some rare ailment, and later became bed ridden.

 After retirement he went back to his home in Allahabad, with which he was emotionally attached. Whenever I went to Allahabad I always went to meet him. Although he was my age he could hardly get up from bed. He would tell me " Mantu ( my nickname ), i don't want to live any more "

 He died a few years back. And a part of me died with him.

Faiz Ahmed Faiz

13/2/2015

Today, 13th February  is the birth anniversary of the great Urdu poet Faiz Ahmed Faiz, whom I regard as the greatest Urdu poet of the 20th century ( though I have also great regard for other Urdu poets like Firaq Gorakhpuri ).

 In 1981, when I was a lawyer in Allahabad High Court, Faiz Saheb came to Allahabad, my home town.

 A function was organized in his honour in the Allahabad University lawns. The University lawns are massive, and so was the crowd that evening. There were many poets on the dias that day, Firaq Gorakhpuri, Mahadevi Verma, etc.and of course, Faiz Saheb. It was like a galaxy of poetic stars on the firmament. Firaq Saheb  was so old that though mentally alert, he could not walk, and so he had to be carried by some University boys onto the dias.

 Since I am very fond of Urdu poetry, and since I am particularly fond of the poetry of Faiz, I went to the function. I took along with me my son Vikram, who was then only 6 years old, knowing that he would not be able to understand anything, but yet in later life he could tell his friends that he had seen Faiz and Firaq.

  The function began with the convenor reciting a sher of Firaq :

" Aane waali nuslein tumse rashk kareingi hum aasron

  Jab woh jaanengi ki tumne Firaq ko dekha hai "

 He then said that he would like to slightly alter the sher and make it :

" Aane waali nuslein tumse rashk kareingi hum aasron

  Jab woh jaanengi tumne Faiz, Firaq aur Mahadevi ko dekha hai " :

 Thereafter  a well known nazm by Faiz, ' Gulon mein rang bhare baad-e-naubahaar chale '. was sung by some Allahabad University girls.

 I have heard that song sung innumerable times, but I have never heard it sung as beautifully as it was sung that memorable evening 34 years ago by the Allahabad University girls.

 The poets on the dias then recited some of their poems. The last to be called upon, and the one we were really waiting for, was Faiz Saheb himself.

 There was massive cheering when Faiz Saheb rose to speak. Here was the man who had stood by his principles all his life, who was even jailed for several years in Pakistan by the martial law regime, falsely implicated in the Rawalpindi Conspiracy case, who had written " Bol ki lab azad hain tere, bol zubaan ab tak teri hai ". He was a hero in our eyes.

 Faiz Saheb first said that he was proud to be in Allahabad, the city of Rishi Bharadwaj, where Lord Rama had come during his exile from Ayodhya, and of other Rishis and Munis. He then related to us about his association with the Progressive Writers Association in the 1930s and the work he had done. He ended by reciting to us some of his kalaam.

 The recollection of that memorable evening is indelibly etched into my memory.

 As I mentioned before, Faiz Saheb is my favourite Urdu poet of the 20th century ( though I regard Mirza Ghalib the greatest Urdu poet of all times ). So I I quoted him in some judgments of mine in the Supreme Court, beginning the judgment with his sher ( couplet ).

 When I decided to issue an appeal through my judgment to the Pakistan Government to release an Indian citizen, Gopal Das, who was undergoing a life sentence in Pakistan for espionage, and had been in Pakistani jails for 27 years I began with a couplet of Faiz :  

" Qafas udas hai yaaron, saba se kuch to kaho

Kaheen to beher-e-khuda aaj zikr-e-yaar chale "

The sher had such a powerful impact on the Pakistani authorities that they announced that the Pakistan Government would honour the appeal made by the Indian Supreme Court. Gopal Das was released a few days thereafter and he came back to India and has got married.

 This was unprecedented. Never perhaps in world judicial history was such an appeal made by any Court, and never was it so honoured.Such is the power of Urdu poetry.

 In another judgment in the Supreme Court I again began by quoting a sher by Faiz :

" Bane hain ahal-e-hawas muddai bhi munsif bhi

  Kise vakeel karein kisse munsifi chaahen ? "

i.e.

" When selfish people are both petitioners and judges

Whom should I make my lawyer ? From whom should I seek justice ? "

I was informed by a lawyer friend who went to Pakistan soon after I gave the judgment quoting the above sher that printouts of my judgment were being distributed like hot cakes in Lahore, Karachi, etc. I was told by another friend that when one of my judgments was cited in a High Court in Pakistan, the Judge asked the lawyer " Is he the same Judge who quotes Faiz ? "

 And let me end this post by mentioning a mischief I did over 40 years ago, but which I have not revealed to anyone till now.

 This incident happened in the year 1972 or 1973. I was then a very junior lawyer in Allahabad High Court. When I have so much fire in me even now at the age of 69, you can imagine the fire in me at the age of 26 or so.

 It so happened that a very 'dismissing  judge ' ( if I may use the term ) came to the Allahabad High Court, having been elevated from the subordinate judiciary. He would dismiss almost all petitions and appeals. Some lawyers came to me and said " Katju Saheb, bachaiye, yeh to hamein barbaad kar dega  " ( Katju Saheb, save us , this Judge will ruin us " ). I told them not to worry.

 That evening I wrote a leaflet with the heading " High Court ya kasai ghar ? ' ( i.e. ' High Court or Slaughterhouse ?' ). . Below that I quoted the sher of Faiz mentioned above ( Bane hai ahal-e-hawas muddai bhi munsif bhi ---). I then wrote that ever since this Judge has come he has been dismissing almost all cases, making the High Court like a slaughterhouse, etc, etc.

  This leaflet was secretly printed in some press, and the next morning long before the Court could assemble was distributed widely in the High Court premises. In each of the Courtrooms a copy was placed on the Judges' desk, and in the front row where mostly the senior lawyers would sit. When the Judges came into their Courtrooms they saw the leaflet, read it, and there was an uproar. Many Judges retired to their chambers saying " Yeh kya badtameezi hai ? " ( " What is this impertinence ? )

 However, the leaflet had its effect, and the judge became a bit more liberal after that.

The credit again must go to Faiz !

Julian Gardner

When I was admitted in the Boys' High School, Allahabad in January 1951 there were about 200 students in the entire school ( now there over 5000 ), about one third of whom were Anglo-Indians ( most of them migrated later with their parents to England, Australia, or Canada) . Many of these Anglo-Indians had the surname Gardner.

One of these was my class mate Julian Gardner, whose son-in-law, David Luke, is now Principal of the school.

 After I had passed out of Boys High School on completing my Senior Cambridge school examination in 1961, I lost touch with Julian.

 It was much later.when I was a Judge of Allahabad High Court ( from 1991-2004) that I again came into contact with him when one day he came to my house in Allahabad.

  We exchanged old memories of our time in the school. Julian told me all that he had done after leaving the school. He had been in the railways in some capacity, and later left the railways and had been doing farming in Kasganj, in U.P.

 The Gardners in India all come from Kasganj. Their ancestor was a British lord, William Gardner, who had been a general in the British army in the late 18th and early 19th centuries, had fought in India, and had been granted an estate in Kasganj as a reward for his services. I am informed that a Gardner's House still stands in Kasganj.

 Lord Gardner had raised a British regiment known as the Gardner's Horse in 1809. The regiment still exists in the Indian army, but is now known as the Second Lancers. It is the oldest and most highly decorated armoured regiment in the Indian army.

  When Julian met me in my house in Allahabad he told me a fascinating story.

Lord Gardner had been a hereditary peer, not a life peer. Hereditary peers are those belonging to old aristocratic families in England, and the eldest son of the father inherits the title, the castle, etc. Life peers are those appointed only lords for their lifetime, because of some accomplishment in some field, e.g. business, science, art, etc, and their sons do not inherit the title. The peers, whether hereditary or lifetime, have the right to sit in the House of Lords, which is the upper House in the British Parliament.

 The British Government had appointed a well known historian to do research about the hereditary peers. That historian found out, after painstaking research, that Julian was the seniormost, direct descendant in the male line of descent from Lord Gardner, and hence had the right to inherit the title, the castle, etc. However, Julian had to submit certain documents to prove his claim, and so he had come to me for help.

 I immediately instructed the District Judge of Kasganj to help in the matter and obtain the relevant documents and give them to Julian.

 I started dreaming of the day my friend Julian would become Lord Gardner and sit in the House of Lords in England, and I would be a guest in his castle and enjoy his hospitality.

 However, this dream was shattered when later Julian informed me that the Labour Government of Tony Blair had changed the policy, and now Julian could not become a Lord.

That was really cheating my friend !

Anecdote: Pt. Nehru and Students of Allahabad University

A friend of mine , who is now no more, was a few years older than me. He told me this story when I was in Allahabad.

In the late 1950s a Convocation was held in the Allahabad University. In this function some University students, including my friend, put a garland of shoes on the neck of the U.P. Governor ( in protest of something ). Consequently they were expelled from the University.

They decided to go to Delhi and request the Prime Minister Pt. Nehru to get their.expulsion revoked.
They took the night train to Delhi, travelling W.T. ( without ticket). When the T.T,E. came and asked for their tickets they shouted "Hum Prime Minister ke costituency ke hain. Bhaag jao ", and the poor T.T. fled.

On reaching Delhi they went straight to the Prime Minister's residence at Teen Murti. When they wanted to enter the house they were stopped by the securitymen, who naturally asked whether they had an appointment. They said "Hum Prime Minister ke constituency ke hain. Hamein appointment wapointment ki zaroorat naheen hai. "When the secuiritymen would still not allow them entry they threatened to commit suicide at the gate of the P.M.s house, and created a ruckus.

This news reached Pt. Nehru, who ordered that they be allowed entry. The students then trooped into the P.M.s house, and were usherted into a big hall, where there were a lot of dry fruits--kishmish, badaam, akhrot, cashew nuts, etc. They ate some, and pocketed a lot for future use.

After a few minutes, Pt. Nehru came into the hall, in shorts and a vest, and shouted "Jao padho, padho"

The students replied "Kahaan padhein sahib ? Hamein expel kar diya gaya hai "

Pt. Nehru again shoted "Padho,padho "and left the hall.

The students were non-plussed, and they left the house wondering what the P.M. meant.

They then caught the night train to return to Allahabad,( again travelling W.T. and eating the dry fruit they had pocketed at the P.M.s residence).In the morning, when the train reached Fatehpur, the station before Allahabad, one of them got off the train and bought a newspaper at the platform. There it was published that the expulsion had been revoked by the University Vice Chancellor.

Probably, Pt. Nehru, the magnanimous man that he was, had told a secretary to telephone the Vice Chancellor and request him to forgive the students and readmit them. After all boys will be boys (particularly Allahabad boys ! ).