My Roots

A person commented on my last post that I must be an Indian first and a Kashmiri next. This is the reply I gave him :

Certainly I am first an Indian. But how can I forget Kashmir, the land of my ancestors, or Jaora ( in Western Madhya Pradesh ) where my ancestors lived for several generations after migrating from Kashmir about 200 years ago, or Lahore, where my grandfather went to study, or Rajasthan, the land where my mother belonged, or Allahabad where I grew up, was educated, practised law and became a High Court Judge, or Orissa and Bengal where my grandfather, Dr.K.N.Katju was Governor, and Madhya Pradesh where he was Chief Minister, and which i visited often in my childhood or Tamilnadu, which adopted me and gave me so much love and affection? These are my roots. What I am today is because of them. How can I forget them ? The Jews used to say " If I forget thee, O Jerusalem, may my right hand perish " ( see Bible: Psalms :137.5 ). I have the same sentiment towards these places.

Two stories of my Courtroom

Let me tell you two stories about what happened in my Courtroom in the Supreme Court. 

The first story is about Mr Soli Sorabji, the former Attorney General of India. One day he appeared before me in Court in some case. Before he could begin his arguments I remarked : " Mr. Sorabji, do you know what is your reputation? ".

He was at first a bit puzzled, but then enquired " What is it My Lord ?".

I said " Your reputation is that you are a ladies man ".

He blushed, and then got on with his case.

In the evening he telephoned me and said " Judge, you embarrassed me a lot today. When you made that remark in Court a lot of ugly looking women started staring at me, and I felt very uncomfortable ".

The other story is about Mr. Ram Jethmalani ( another ladies man ).
One day he was sitting in my Court in a corner of the Courtroom, waiting for his case to be taken up. Another lawyer was arguing a case, in which his client was accused of committing rape.

This lawyer argued that his client was 65 years old, so how could he commit rape ?

I replied that when I was a young lawyer in Allahabad High Court I one day asked a very senior criminal lawyer, Mr. P.C. Chaturvedi, at what age does the sex instinct die out ? He replied " Any time between 30 and 80 "

Having said that, I remarked " And here is Mr. Ram Jethmalani, with vast experience in these matters " ( Mr Jethmalani was then 85 or so, and now he is above 90).

At this Mr. Jethmalani stood up sheepishly and said " I plead guilty, My Lord! "