Patil Baba!

 

This blog is a special one. So before everyone starts wondering who Patil Baba is, he is my maternal grandfather or even easier my mother's father. I hope the previous line does not sound like a logical reasoning question. He turned 85 last month, eldest among his 5 siblings, he was born in Gwalior ('City of Music' now). His father was a civil engineer at that time under the government (Scindhia's then). So like any other child of a government officer, he has had a life on the wheels kind of childhood where they were transferred after stipulated years.

 

He was a Hockey player back in his college days and also played in relays and Hurdle race, for which he even failed for a  year or two so that he could continue to play from his college. Well what I find most interesting is  that he took admission in BSc, did that for 2  years and couldn't clear so then took admission in LLB did not complete that either, then took admission in B.A and passed and graduated, well it doesn't end here, he then took admission in M.A economics and got 5th position in economics in his university. That's like the best example, to choose what you like and never settle for what you don't. These days we don't get to hear stories like these anymore, half of us are settling for whatever we get. We compromise for college, branch and in fact our likings too, we don't even wait until we find what suits us.

 

 And the popular saying during his college days goes like this," Aish karlo yaaro college ki deewaron mein, phir gine jaoge bekaro mein". What a perfect line for college life that fits right even today. There is nothing more exciting and happening other than college and unemployment is still an issue that our country faces. He has a great sense of humor and a lot of friends. In fact once his friend challenged him to take rounds of a crematory against 'Dhoodh Jalebi', my grandfather being the courageous and the foodie it was his left hand's task and obviously his friend lost! After his masters he joined a private college as an economics faculty in Rajasthan and worked there for 2 years. Followed by college teaching in Nagour in MP. Then he got a government job teaching for class 11th and 12th. So by now I think most of the readers would be thinking he was a teacher but there is a twist here, he then wrote a bank exam and passed that too, he then joined K.B Bank (Gwalior Princely state's bank that later merged into SBI after nationalization of banks). So finally he was a Banker and retired as a Branch Manager. Again this proves he jumped hurdles like in his sports but finally settled for what suited him the best, an economics topper should be in the bank only right.

 

In his job as a banker he was again on a transferable post of a Branch Manager, throughout his career he has met so many people and befriended a ton of them who even remember him today. What amazed me most is when my Mumma told me about his farewell in Kothari village, it’s a small hamlet in MP. He worked there as a Branch Manager and knew almost the entire village of around 2000-3000 population. All of them came to bid him farewell when he was leaving for his next posting. Also in the village once there was an accident in which a car bumped into a truck and rolled entirely, this happened right in front of the bank everyone gathered but all of them were afraid helping the family in the car, but my grandpa is good samaritan he told he will be responsible for police and hospital questions and then people came and helped him turn the car around. The entire family of 4 survived the accident, they were taken to the bank and given some water and then sent ahead with a driver.

 

And now that this was not heroic enough that he even survived the Bhopal Gas Tragedy, the SBI bank was quite near to Union Carbide. In fact the very next morning he went to the bank, all the rooms in the banks were filled with those gasses and then it was announced that the bank was to be evacuated as the government will be doing the cleaning work, he came home all the way walking after 2 hours, as the public transport was all disrupted. And from the next day onwards he continued going to the bank to keep the bank work functional. The country and its functionaries work on the shoulders of dedicated government employees and he was one of them!

 

There are so many anecdotes from his life that one blog is too few to capture all of them. 11 years back finally he shifted to Maharashtra after spending more than 7 decades in MP. I hesitated to change bench partner in school and but he on the other hand shifted in his 70s and what amuses me more is that on his 75th Birthday which felt more like a big fat wedding, he definitely had his friends from MP who came all the way to celebrate their friend's 75th, but there were a lot of friends from Aurangabad where he had just shifted a few years back. He knows how to bind people, family and friends. And as I said from the very beginning he never settles, he is still full of energy, wakes up early in the morning, does yoga, goes for a walk, has his morning tea with my grandmother along with breakfast and then takes a bath, followed by a sweet little nap, post which goes up to the terrace to check the water situation, then has lunch, followed by another sweet little nap, and then in the evening again goes for walk with friends. Thus you will never find him in one place, he is always on the go.

 

I salute his never settling spirit, zeal to live life, his love for family and friends and his great sense of humor and actually this list is never ending just like this blog and just like his anecdotes!!!

 

Happy Reading,

 

Until Next Time,

 

Siddhi Bhosale.