My 3 Learning from the Old Man

Some years back, I had taken this screenshot from an article written by my grandfather, Pt. Ram Chandra Shukla, from a link in Google Books which I can't find now - It was published in an issue of The Theosophist 

He, "Babuji" to us, was a Hindi teacher/ scholar and shared his name with the famous Hindi poet (in fact, one of his poems was attributed to the poet). He started his teaching career as the personal tutor for JK Singhanias, which he left due to ideological/ego issues... perhaps this ran in the family during that time, since my dad had started his career as the personal physician of Gujar Mal Modi in 40s in Modi Nagar in West UP, the founder of Modi Enterprises and had quit overnight due to similar issues (he found that one of his allowances was deducted since he had sent the aspirin tablet fever/ headache through the orderly and had not gone personally to administer it).

At some point in his early life, Pt Ram Chandra Shukla came in touch with Annie Besant, got inspired/ influenced by her and joined the Theosophical Society... and later became the the Principal of the Besant Theosophical School, Kamaccha (Varanasi). Theosophy and the Society remained an internal and external anchors for him through out his life. I remember Radha Burnier, who at that time was the General Secretary of the Theosophical Society coming home to meet him in Lucknow...

I came to know him as person later in his life when I was growing up as a kid and a teen during the 60s till mid-70s. My grandmother, Kamla Devi, had expired in '63, and he came to live with us as my dad (who had joined the UP Medical and Health Services) got posted across Bulandshahr, Faizabad, Shahjahanpur and then in Lucknow.

By late 60s, when he was 80yrs old, he had lost his eyesight. There couldn't have been a bigger misfortune for a person whose life revolved around, and connected to the world through, books and printed words. But he picked up the threads, and to fill up the gap in some ways, I became his "personal secretary".

Looking back, that "personal secretary-ship" during those 8-9years during my teens, was also a sort of apprenticeship-to-life for me.

I used to read and write his letters (and he would receive many during a week), which kept him connected with people and  the world. I would also read books/ novels to him; By then he had developed a taste for Perry Mason and PG Wodehouse - besides the writings of Annie Besant, Helana Blavatsky and many others... that there is a space and diversity, ranging from the mundane to the sublime, in the entirety of a life to be lived was the first learning which I owe to him.

The other medium which kept him connected with life was his "transistor radio" through which he learned new things, and would talk about them... As a teenager, I learned some agriculture, the complicated scoring of 10-30-40 scoring of Wimbledon, different shots and placing of cricket (short-cut, mid-off, gully, google, etc.) from a blind person in his 80s who had ‘seen’ but never seen these things.... that was another learning - learning how to re-learn, change gears during the ups-and-downs of the life's sojourn - which I inadvertently picked from him.

I still remember that at some point in time in Jan-Feb ;'76, for some reasons, there were no letters for him. He would enquire and I had to tell him 'no, none today'. One day I asked him if he would like to dictate any letters and he said something like (not exactly these words, but this was the gist) "I think people have there own lives to live, I have lived mine. It is time to go". There was no sadness, rancour, resentfulness when he said that...it was like "this is it".

After that day, he sort of withdrew into himself, declined my attempts/ offers to read books or write letters and his health also started deteriorating.... He departed on April 2nd '76.

That was the last, and most precious subliminal learning for me: when it is over, it is over - there is time to go, gracefully - and to let go...

PS: I have one regret, though.
During his last days, during our MA days, Geeta would often come to our house in Mahanagar, Lucknow. Once when she was there, "Babu ji" called  me for something, and I told him that I will come later since I have a "friend"... it just didn't occur to me that I could have introduced her to him - I should have. Some years later when we were married, Geeta told me she would have loved to meet him and that perhaps I did not want to introduce her... I should/ could have done that, and that would have been wonderful!! - but that moment/ opportunity just went away - dumbo me!
... 'life happens and perfect closures don't happen in life' was my last learning