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Te Sanctuary



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Te Sanctuary

Hemant V. Jadhav



Notion Press

5 Muthu Kalathy Street, Triplicane, Chennai - 600005

First Published by Notion Press

Copyright © Hemant V. Jadhav 2013

All Rights Reserved.

ISBN: 9789383185337

This book is sold subject to condition that it shall not by way of trade or otherwise, be lent, resold or hired out,

circulated and no reproduction in any form, in whole or

in part (except for brief quotations in critical articles or

reviews) may be made without written permission of the

publishers.

This book has been published in good faith that the work of the author is original. All efforts have been

taken to make the material error-free. However, the

author and the publisher disclaim the responsibility for

any inadvertent errors.



This book is dedicated to my Wife,her unflinching support and love has made this

book possible.



All incidents, characters and events in this book

are fictional any resemblance to any living person

is purely coincidental.



Chapter One

"According to the will of your late father, he has left

you 150 acres of land." Mr. Seth, the family

lawyer dropped a bombshell on Vikram’s head.

Confused and a bit dazed, Vikram nally found histongue,"Er, you mean Dad left me 150 acres of land!

Where? How come I have never known about this?"

Mr. Seth lifted his hand, palm outwards, cutting his

ow. "e colonel, had his ways, your dear mother was

privy to this information, but the colonel swore her to

secrecy, I know not why."

"Now, if you will permit me to continue."

Vikram eased back into the chair nodding dumbly, still

trying to get hold of his thoughts. Trying to quickly string

them into a coherent pattern, which at the time, were

dancing around like so many dervishes in his head.

Nodding, the lawyer continued,"According to this Will,

the colonel has left you 150 acres of land in Satara, located

between Panchgani and Mahabaleshwar. Due to the Urban

Land Ceiling Act, an individual cannot own more than 40acres, hence, though you are the rightful owner of said

property, your co-owners are, Mr. Pandhari Nath Lahange,who tills the land for you and is the part owner of 40 acres.

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"Another 40 acres is owned by Mr. Shivaji Rao Shinde,

who also tills the land for you, 30 acres is owned by your

mother and the balance of 40 acres is in the Colonel’s

name."

"As per the title documents of this land, the land was

bought from the above mentioned persons, over a period

of 10 years, commencing 1991."

Mr. Seth then shued out a few more documents,

which appeared to be some sort of legal agreements.

Placing them in front of a still dazed Vikram, he continuedin his somber tone.

"ese are legal agreements between afore mentioned

parties and the Late Colonel, in short, these documents

conrm, that Mr. Shinde and Mr. Lahange have received

money as full payment for the land and that they are

secondary owners of the land till such time the land

actually passes on to you."Besides this land, your mother was bequeathed the

family bungalow in Ahmednagar, where she presently

resides. Also, investments in the form of Fixed Deposits,

which will ensure her nancial comfort for the rest of her

natural life.

"ese too, along with the 30 acres, will eventually

be transferred to you after her death. Your mother has

also drawn up her will accordingly, acting under your latefather’s advice."

"Now, here is a letter your father left you, it is sealed

as you can see." Collecting the documents on the desk, he

called for his assistant, ordering her to prepare the le and

to hand it over to Vikram as quickly as possible.

"Vikram, please take this le, it has all the documents

we just discussed, you have to go to the Talathi’s oce

in Panchgani, apply for transfer of the land to your name

immediately."

Placing his hands on the table, in a gesture indicating

that the business was concluded, he peered at Vikram from

under his grey bushy eyebrows. "If you have any questions,

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please feel free to call me or take an appointment." He

stood up, handing over the completed le to Vikram and

stuck his hand out to shake. "Good luck my dear boy!"

Tucking the le under his arm Vikram left Mr. Seth’s

oce, getting into his father’s old Maruti 800.

As he drove home, memories of his father seeped

through his mind. It was a week since he had passed away

in his sleep, the way he wanted it to be, in a Military

Hospital.

e army was his whole life and his father had beento the very last a true ocer and a gentleman. Vikram’s

father, Lt. Colonel Rudra Pratap Singh Shekhawat, 17

Horse, was a highly decorated ocer.

A veteran of three wars, Colonel Rudra Pratap Singh

had not witnessed much action during the 1961 China

War, but he was at the forefront, leading his squadron of

Centurion Tanks in the 1965 War.In the 1971 war, he was the 2IC (second in command)

of the regiment, in what is now written in the annals

of military history as the famous ‘Battle of Basantar’.

Wounded in battle, he was shipped out from the eld

hospital and later own to the Command Hospital in Pune.

A strong-willed man, he recovered from severe injuries

to his spine; doctors had almost written him o, saying

that he would probably not be able to walk. But the Colonelwas made of sterner stu as they were to nd out, when

he walked out of the hospital on his own steam a good

nine months later!

Much of that recovery had to do with the unswerving

love and attention of his wife, Vikram’s mother, Pushpa.

eirs was a fairy tale marriage, a love marriage, at a time

when such marriages were considered taboo! Considering

that the colonel, was a ‘Rajput’ and Vikram’s mother, being

a Maratha. Both sides of the family belonged to the warrior

class, ‘Kshatriyas’, clannish, feudal and orthodox.

While posted in Ahmednagar, the young dashing

lieutenant, swept Pushpa o her dainty feet in true cavalry

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3



fashion. Her father, Brigadier orat, was commandant in

Ahmednagar at that time. Initially, the young lieutenant

had to bear the wrath of the senior ocer. But over

a period of time, the brigadier came around to see the

sterling qualities in the young man, despite the suitor not

being a staunch Maratha!

e couple was married, and a year later blessed with a

daughter, whom they named Jyotsna. Two years later they

were blessed with a son, Vikram.

While Jyotsna grew up to be an obedient intelligentchild, Vikram, like his father, was made of dierent

material.

At a very early age it became apparent to the couple

that their son had a mind of his own and the best way to

maintain a harmonious relationship would be to adapt and

adapt quickly to their son’s adamant ways.

ough exceptionally intelligent, academic excellence initself held little appeal for the youngster. Not that he was

a spoilt brat, on the contrary, he was a very polite and

disciplined child. It was just that he always forged his own

way!

His father harbored fond hopes that Vikram someday

would follow his footsteps. Vikram, though quite fascinated

by guns, tanks, ghter planes and all things military was,

however, not too inclined to be a "Yes Sir, No Sir, reebags full Sir! type."

He was ranked in the merit list of the National Defense

Academy exam in his very rst attempt, but unked the

SSB interview! e psychologist, a friend of the colonel

took him aside, he consoled the colonel advising him to

not lose heart. "Why in the next six months, Vikram could

be trained to be not so outspoken and radical in his views.

Perhaps the next time around, with the correct grounding

he will breeze through the interview."

e colonel knew his son better and shook his head

sadly. ey returned back from Bangalore, both engrossed

in their own thoughts, speaking to each other only when

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necessary. On reaching Ahmednagar, a few days later,

Colonel Rudra Pratap Singh Shekhawat sat down with

his son and had a heart-to-heart talk on the merits of

sometimes toeing the line, when it came to ‘starting o’ in

life.

Vikram on his part listened to his father respectfully,

waiting for him to nish then spoke:

"Dad, I know I can pass any exam but any kind of strict

regimentation puts me o completely. I hate routine! Once

I master anything, I get bored of it very soon."e colonel was introduced to a counselor, who after

interviewing Vikram, gently advised the colonel to nd

some career option which would pose constant challenges

to his son. "Try Sports," he oered helpfully.

"Vikram is already a very good horseman, a decent

swimmer, good at cricket, in fact almost all games," replied

the colonel."ink Colonel, there must be some sport, which he

doesn’t tire of."

"Hmm, well he is never tired of ‘shikar’, mind you!

Ready to go o on his own, at the drop of the hat. But

he can’t make a profession of that now, can he? Short of

becoming a safari guide, or worse! A bloody poacher!" He

stared into the distance, aghast!

"How about shooting then?" oered the counselortentatively.

"Yes, he is a dead shot with a rie, but you have

something there… let’s give it a twirl, shall we?" said the

colonel, with renewed hope.

So it came to pass, that Vikram was introduced to

the sport of ‘Target Shooting’. He was enrolled in a

Marksmanship training course at the Worli Shooting Range

in Bombay.

Once again, Vikram was a natural at Competitive

Olympic rie shooting, but he found rie shooting was too

cumbersome! What with jackets and canvas trousers to be

worn over cotton leggings! He found the humid weather of

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5



Bombay unbearable when fully attired for rie shooting. So

he opted for pistol shooting, since you could wear shorts

and a T-shirt if you wished; moreover, pistol shooters on

the range were a rum lot! So nally at the age of sixteen,

Vikram found his true calling.

Pistol shooting posed constant challenges to Vikram,

the physical aspect of shooting: lifting the pistol and

holding it steady for over 60 shots in a match did not

pose much of a problem for him, since he was blessed with

a sturdy athletic physique. Moreover, a childhood spentswimming, playing football, cricket and athletics had given

him good stamina and a rugged physique.

It was the huge mental challenge, posed by this sports

discipline on Vikram’s psyche, which made him take to it

like sh to water.

Unlike other sports, shooting is ninety percent ‘mental’

and only ten percent ‘physical’. ‘Pistol Shooting’, which isan Olympic Sport, poses tremendous mental challenges for

a sportsman, requiring nerves of steel to withstand the

‘mental pressure’, which one has to face while shooting a

match.

While on one hand you have to keep your mind calm

and cool to hold the pistol dead steady, on the other, the

excitement generated due to hitting the bull again and

again, increases the heart rate of the shooter, thus causingthe hand to shake, just enough, to cause the bullet to miss

its mark entirely, resulting in a ‘bad shot’!

A ‘bad shot’, can disturb the mind no end! Because the

shooter knows, any further ‘bad shots’ will severely dent

his chances of putting up a good total at the end of the

match.

If the ‘shooter’ were to dwell too long on one bad shot,

more bad shots are bound to follow, leading to a complete

loss of mental equilibrium. Hence the sport requires a

monk-like disposition, to take the good and the bad in

one’s stride, while continuing to focus solely on executing

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each shot correctly, regardless of the ‘quality’ of the last

shot!

at is why the Hindu philosophy of focusing entirely

on the task at hand, to the exclusion of everything else,

regardless of the fruit of the labour, holds paramount

importance in this sport.

To cultivate this mental approach, takes a long time.

Some can do it, others cannot, because it involves

mastering one’s thoughts and feelings, which is an

extremely dicult task to achieve.It was this challenge that Vikram thrived on! Which

kept him rmly hooked to the sport. At the age of

eighteen, Vikram became the Junior National Champion,

with a record breaking score of 565/600. He was included

in the National Squad, comprising the country’s most

talented shooters.

To shoot at the National level Vikram had to spend fourto ve hours training daily, ve times a week! is left

very little time for academics. In order to pursue the sport

professionally, he opted for a diploma course in Mechanical

Engineering, when he could have easily passed the entrance

exam for the degree course!

His parents knew their son too well, instead of

deterring him, they grudgingly accepted their son’s

underrated career option. Vikram’s mother was morebothered about her son’s market value. A degree engineer

would get the best of girls as compared to a diploma fellow.

Touching her hand to her head, she resigned herself to

whatever made their son happy.

For the rst time in his life, Vikram did not breeze

through the diploma course. What should have taken him

three years, due to his shooting career, took him ve years

to complete. But in the meantime, under the guidance of a

Russian coach hired by the National Shooting Federation,

his scores improved vastly!

In a span of ve years, Vikram juggled his sports career

with his diploma exam. He was now an ‘International

Hemant V. Jadhav

7



Junior Shooter’ of substantial promise, having won several

medals at the junior international shooting competitions

abroad.

e passage of time saw the gawky eighteen year old

teenager blossoming into adulthood. He stood a shade

under six foot in his socks, athletic build, slightly

windblown black hair, broad forehead, neat eyebrows,

intense brown eyes and a slightly aquiline ‘Rajput’ nose

from his father’s side, a short mustache and a rm jaw gave

him a slightly rakish appearance. He carried himself likean army ocer and women did give him a second look, of

which he was charmingly unaware!

Introspective by nature since childhood, he came o as

somewhat reserved. ough polite, he was not prone to

making friends easily until he was sure of the other person.

In any case, his steady stare often disconcerted friendly

overtures from shallow-minded people.ough both his parents were devout Hindus, Vikram

himself had almost zero religious leanings! He, however,

respected his parents’ beliefs and perfunctorily took part

in the Pujas or Mandir visits. He did believe in God, but

not overtly!

e rst major turning point in his life came about

when he was twenty one. In the sport of shooting, twenty

one years is the transition point when a ‘junior’ shooterbecomes a ‘senior’ shooter.

He was already ranked fth in the country in Air Pistol

shooting and 9th in Free Pistol events. e transition to

senior category meant that he now had to compete with

the senior, most vastly experienced shooters. Most junior

shooters had lost their way during this transition, unable

to cut the mustard at the senior level, most petered out

and disappeared altogether from the national scene.

Vikram too, was subjected to the same kind of

pressures, especially since his scores, though excellent for a

junior shooter, were not good enough to challenge the well

entrenched seniors. In air pistol, his scores hovered around

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the 572/600 mark, whereas the top seniors were shooting

in the region of 580/600.

In the Free Pistol event too, Vikram’s scores were

around the 540/600 mark, whereas the seniors were

shooting 550 +.

To those not acquainted with shooting, the dierence

in levels would appear to be nominal, just 8 to 10 points!

But in reality, it was a Sisyphean task, to improve by even

one point!

Till date, his father had supported his career, but nowthe onus of earning a living was squarely upon him. Proud

by nature, these thoughts weighed upon him mentally.

An opportunity presented itself to him in the form of

a change in ‘Sports Policy’ of the State Government. In

order to give a llip to the sport, the govt. had decided

to develop small indoor shooting ranges, in ve cities in

Maharashtra. Vikram presented his credentials and was shortlisted!

In the nal interview, he was selected to execute two

shooting ranges, one at Nagpur and the other at Kolhapur.

Both these ranges were to be completed by him as an

independent contractor.

rilled at winning the contract on his own, Vikram

shared the news with his parents, who were equally happy.

e colonel heaved a sigh, thinking that his son had nally found a profession to his liking and his mother was happy

because she could now look around seriously for a good girl

for Vikram to marry.

e next year saw him so preoccupied with the

construction of the ranges that for the rst time he missed

the National Championships! e work was intense, but

to his liking. What was however not to his liking was the

corrupt attitude of the govt. ocer responsible for paying

him as per his contract on a pro rata basis. He faced the

same problem in Nagpur as well as in Kolhapur. A seasoned

contractor, working on a dierent project, advised him to

Hemant V. Jadhav

9



‘grease the palms’ of the concerned ocials in order to get

his payment.

Vikram had no choice but to acquiesce to their

demands, but he had no experience on how to go about

it. Asghar Ali, the seasoned contractor, oered to help out

as a mediator. Ali got his payments through in next to no

time, but Vikram had to part with a hefty portion of his

prots! Inwardly he seethed that the fruit of his labour was

hived o by these government ocials, but he simply had

no choice!Six months later, Vikram had completed both ranges.

To collect his nal payment Vikram visited the head oce,

situated at Central Building, Pune. ere he bumped into

Asghar Ali. e contractor invited him to dinner for

discussing a ‘mutually benecial’ proposition.

ey met in a swanky restaurant, where Vikram took

the opportunity to thank Ali for his assistance. Ali gavehim a long look, sighed and put down his drink.

"Vikrambhai, you don’t have to thank me, it is I who

should be thanking you." Seeing his surprised expression,

Ali continued,"You see, this shooting range business? We

were wondering, where we could get the technical expertise

to execute such orders? en lo and behold, you fell into

our laps."

“‘We’, I was not aware that you have partners?" asked Vikram. Ali smiled and said,"Yes, I have a lot of partners,

dierent partners for dierent projects, without whom, I

will not be able to do my business."

"You mean, help you out nancially?"

"Yes, in a manner of speaking you could say that. And

the reason I invited you for dinner is to invite you to be

one of my partners."

"Very kind of you Ali, but I would like to work alone"

said Vikram. "Certainly, you can go it alone, but you

wouldn’t survive in this department as a contractor for too

long, my friend."

"I am afraid I haven’t understood you completely, Ali."

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"Look Vikram, you are new to the game my friend,

you must understand very clearly, that all the schemes

formulated by the government are made by government

ocials. No doubt these schemes do help the needy but

essentially, these schemes are made so that the true

beneciaries are the same government ocials who made

them.

"Now take for example this shooting range scheme, sure

the govt. wants to promote the sport of shooting, hence

the huge amounts earmarked for developing these shootingranges, but the bottom line is that around 20 to 30% of

the money goes to line the pockets of the govt. ocials.

You, yourself have experienced it rst-hand, haven’t you?"

Vikram nodded, frowning at his experience in dealing with

boors!

"How much money did you make?" asked Ali,

"Not as much as I should have! Most of it went inpaying of the bloody babus. All told, I have made in the

region of 10%, that’s it."

"at’s because you were inexperienced!" said Ali,

wagging his nger at him. Fifteen years ago, I was in

the same position as you are, though, I must admit, you

are slightly better o than I was, that’s because you are

a techie and an engineer to boot. Me, I was just out of

college with a third class BA degree."I started with supplying T-shirts, socks, and various

other minor sports apparel. ere’s not much money in

that, simply because there are too many damned suppliers

in the line. Now shooting ranges! at is a highly technical

eld, requiring specialized knowledge and imported

equipment, there’s a helluva lot of money to be made and

mind you, No competition! "ere is no other sport as

expensive or as technical as yours, with my goodwill and

your expertise, we can do solid long-term business. Now

here’s my proposition to you. Work with me and you will

get 40% and that too upfront, how does that sound, eh?"

"I’ll have to think about it," said Vikram doubtfully.

Hemant V. Jadhav

11



Asghar eased back in his chair staring at Vikram,

shaking his head, he spoke,"I know what’s eating you. You

know what your problem is? You are full of high ideals and

principals. You are uncomfortable because you don’t want

to soil your high ideals and principals by joining hands

with me and add to the corruption. You know what? You

may be right at that! But not entirely, mind you, not by a

dashed mile are you entirely correct!" Vikram stared back

at Asghar, slightly taken aback with the fact that Ali had

read him correctly. Yes, he hated corruption in any form and probably

would never associate himself with govt. orders in the

future. But he was intrigued with this fellow, what manner

of man was he? Inwardly, he liked Asghar’s forthrightness,

beginning to respect his seemingly deep insight into the

working of the government machinery, a thing which he

knew very little o!"Alright Ali, you tell me, I am keen to understand how

your so called ‘game’ works?"

"You think I like to indulge in corruption for the sake

of corruption?"

"I’m afraid, you have lost me there. What do you

mean, ‘indulging in corruption for the sake of corruption’?

Corruption is corruption, no matter which way you look at

it.""You are talking in absolute terms, my friend, the fact

of the matter is, that corruption has several shades, it has

a dark side and a light side, but chiey it is the color ‘gray’.

"Allow me to explain, rst let’s have another round of

soft drinks, another soda lime for you?" Asghar waved to

a waiter, indicating another round of cold drinks, then

turning back to Vikram he continued,"Hmm as I was

saying… Now, there are people who take money under the

table to fuel their vices, drinks, gambling, women. at’s

corruption for the sake of corruption for you.

"ese people are the dregs of society, who have found

their way into government positions through various

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routes. ey have neither the culture nor the upbringing,

they go home drunk, curse their wives and children, even

beat them up. In time their children follow their footsteps

eventually turning out to be just like them.

"en there are others, like me, who don’t drink,

womanize or indulge in petty vices of any other kind, why?

Because we have been brought up dierently, my parents to

me are like God, they in turn have through their behavior,

impressed upon me a value system to which I abide and

my wife and children abide. So there is the dark and lightside of corruption, it depends on what you ultimately do

with the money!

"You may accuse me of aiding corruption, true, but by

doing so, thousands of needy people are benetted. Take

for example your ‘shooting ranges’, nobody knows better

than you, that the sport is bloody expensive and out of

the reach of the middle class! Each of your weapons cost inthe region of eighty to ninety thousand rupees! Each box

of pellets costs three hundred bucks! You tell me, how is a

boy hailing from a humble background, blessed with some

talent, going to get an opportunity to try himself out, if he

cannot even aord the basic equipment?

"When the govt. builds ranges and imports shooting

equipment, these are made available to those who would

otherwise have no chance of testing themselves in thesport. Almost seventy percent of the money earmarked

for your shooting ranges reaches the target audience. You

may say 30% is used for greasing the govt. machinery in

delivering the goods.

"Hell! Consider it as ‘transmission losses’."

"Transmission losses?" said Vikram sardonically.

"Yeah, see the electricity transmitted through electrical

lines? Not all of it reaches your home directly from the

station? Some of it is lost due to so many technical

reasons, which is ‘acceptable transmission losses’."

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13



Vikram laughed heartily, shaking his head, he spoke,"By

God, Asghar Ali, you do have a way with words, you indulge

in all sorts of semantics, you missed your true calling Sir."

Asghar smiled and asked "And what would that be?"

"You should have been an English language professor or

even a ‘playwright’," said Vikram chuckling.

"Jokes apart my friend, I run a business and

maximizing my prot by whatever means possible is the

goal of any business. But I also look at it this way that I

am in the business of keeping people happy. at is why I am so successful because everybody is happy when they

work with Asghar Ali!"

For a period of time both were engrossed in their

thoughts, till Asghar broke the reverie.

"So? What’s your answer, are you with me?"

Vikram took his time answering, there was one thing

puzzling him so he asked Asghar,"As I understand it, 20 to25 % percent would be an appropriate oer from you, so

why 40%, why the municence?"

"Good question, you see, I would have to pay 25% of

my prots to a civil engineer to execute the construction

of the shooting ranges, then I would have to pay you 25%

for your technical inputs, together…"

"Would amount to 50%, interrupted Vikram, so by

giving me 40%, you still make 10% extra!""So it’s not a matter of municence, but smart business

thinking," he said tapping his head with a nger. "By

keeping you ’happy’ I will be happy," grinned Asghar.

" I think I need to learn from you and yes," he said

sticking his hand out,"I think we can work together. So

long as I don’t have to deal with the seedier side of the

business," concluded Vikram with a smile.

So it followed that Vikram combined with Asghar Ali, to

form a team, which cornered the entire ‘Shooting Ranges’

orders from the state govt. for the next ten years!

9

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Chapter Two

Aside from his professional life, the turning point in

his life also encompassed a series of events, which

had much to do with the matters of the heart!

While his father was posted in Ahmednagar, the family would frequent the Ocer’s Club each week. Vikram and

his sister Jyotsna made friends with children of other army

ocers. Vikram had a great set of friends who took part in

regular cricket matches, football, swimming and generally

hanging about each other’s houses as teenagers are wont

to do.

Going to the movies at the club twice a week was

a major outing and a ‘get together’ for all the ocer’s

families.

Vikram would hang around with his buddies, enjoying

the movies, munching wafers and sipping soft drinks.

Apart from discussing the latest cricket news and who had

made a fool of whom, the topic would get quite animated

when discussing girls. By then most of the boys had a

secret crush on some girl and vice versa, but bringing it outin the open was taboo. Parents were strict and disapproved

‘girlfriend’, ‘boyfriend’ business, and were on the constantlookout for any signs of growing interest not within the

proscribed limits of healthy interaction.

15



Girls and boys could meet and talk, but in a group, or

in a party where everybody was present. Meeting singly or

on the quiet was severely discouraged. Parents of daughters

aged fteen onwards were perpetually on the prod! ey

were not so much worried about the young boys, as much

as they were worried about the dashing young ocers, who

themselves were on the lookout to land some juicy sh!

Now and then, a young impressionable girl of eighteen

or so, did succumb to the charms of a dashing young

ocer. Clandestine meetings would take place. But Ahmednagar is a place which takes very little to set the

tongues wagging, more often than not, the news of

clandestine meetings would somehow reach the erring girl’s

parents, inviting swift nipping in the bud for ‘that sort of

a thing’.

Nipping in the bud would mean immediate ‘quarantine’.

e errant girl would not be seen at the club for months;if at all, she was released on parole, then she was not

supposed to leave her parents’ side during the length of

the entire movie!

Vikram’s parents never faced any such problems with

their daughter, Jyotsna. ough she mingled with the club

crowd and spoke to everybody, including young ocers,

she kept a safe distance from all. Some who tried to

develop ‘something’ were frostily ticked o! e said‘ticking o’ would be discussed between mother and

daughter in the privacy of their home. Jyotsna and her

mother shared a rare condence in each other. Mrs.

Shekhawat was condent that if ever it happened that her

daughter ‘liked’ someone, then she, her mother, would be

the rst person to know.

Once or twice, Jyotsna did indicate her interest in some

ocer, but when she realized that the fellow did not meet

her mother’s approval for some reason or the other, she

would immediately retreat from the concerned person no

longer entertaining even a harmless conversation.

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While Vikram was least bothered about his sister’s

friends, as a member of a close-knit family, he was well

aware of all such ‘happenings’ and all ‘nip in the bud’

type of operations between mother and daughter. At a

subliminal level, however, an image of a life partner was

forming, which conformed to the somewhat old-fashioned

views of how a lady should conduct herself.

In his mind’s eye, the girl he would look for, should of

course not only be beautiful but be pure of heart, conduct,

but above all else, character!Colonel Rawat was from the EME (Electrical &

Mechanical Engineers), his daughter Jeevika was

astonishingly beautiful, but she was quite standosh and

a little pricey! Jeevika knew she was beautiful and as all

beautiful women are wont, knew how to twist young men

around her dainty little nger to do her minor biddings.

Jeevika was twelve years old when Vikram rst sawher, he was a year older than her, they went to the same

convent school as did all other army ocers’ children.

At thirteen, she went through a brief period of

‘quarantine’, it was reported by one of the brat gang

members that she was seeing a bit ‘too much’ of a chap,

far older than her, who was the eldest son of an AMC

ocer. at skewed her image in Vikram’s mind, that and

her standosh ways, which also incidentally, put o mostof the gang’s leading members.

A few years down the line, a few progressive parents

thought it would be good to let the children hold ‘jam

sessions’. A typical ‘jam session’ was hosted by one of

the parents at their residence. Youngsters, read teenagers

attended the party, which involved dance music being

played. Obviously boys and girls danced with each other,

eats were catered by the host parents, who checked in once

in a while, to just ‘keep an eye on things’.

Obviously no ‘jam session’ would be successful unless

the girls were invited! e onerous task of going to the

girl’s house, convincing the parents of the girl, was

Hemant V. Jadhav

17



inevitably shouldered by the senior-most boy who just had

to have an impeccable reputation. Invariably the fellow

would face an interrogation which could have done the

Spanish Inquisitors proud.

Generally, the key to getting the parents’ nod, was to

get one set of parents to agree to allow their daughter to

accept the ‘invite’, the others would follow suit!

Another important factor in making a ‘jam session’

successful, was to get the maximum number of girls on

the gangs ‘hot list’ to attend the party. e ‘hot list’ was amisnomer. It did not imply that the girls on the list were

eager to be ‘groped in the dark’! But primarily those on

whom some of the boys were secretly ‘sweet on’!

Just anybody and everybody was not invited, girls had

to have ‘class’, the ability to carry on a decent conversation,

knowledge of the latest music, to have a good ‘turn out’,

not necessarily ashy, and oodles of charm was essential toget an ’invite’. ‘Behenjis’ were not invited, regardless of the

size of their décolletage!

Jeevika was at the bottom of the list, though she

fullled all the requisites of an ‘invite’. Not because of her

parents, who were strict but sporting too, but because it

was a ‘pain’ to go over to her house, where one had to wait

for an unnecessarily long time since ‘madam’ was busy!

Eventually when she did come out, she would feign suchdisinterest that it would normally put o most of those

who had gone over with the invitation.

Eventually she would see them o with a non-

committal "I’ll see, if I feel like it I’ll come."

is would piss o most of the fellows, nobody really

gave a hang if she materialized or not – had it not been for

Balraj Bedi, one of the leading members of the gang who

was beginning to get ‘sweet’ on her. Everybody liked Balraj,

so in order to humor him, an ‘extra eort’ was made.

But come the day of the party, if Jeevika did make an

entrance, everybody would stop what they were doing and

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give her a good once over, the boys in admiration and the

girls with envy!

Balraj of course would be over the moon! But he was

such a suave gentleman that it would never reect in his

outward appearance or behavior. Generally, he would be

the rst to walk across the room and greet her. Her smile

would light up not only her pretty face but the entire

room!

Jeevika danced mostly with Balraj, once or twice she

would give her royal consent to some other lesser mortal! Vikram was not overly keen on dancing with her, but

on one such occasion, she was looking so beautiful, impulse

got the better of him so he walked across and asked her

for a dance. She smiled sweetly and declined, saying that

her feet were killing her. Nodding, Vikram retreated only

to turn around and see her jumping to her ‘aching’ feet,

when Balraj stretched out his hand. Her eyes met thoseof Vikram across the room, the coldness in Vikram’s eyes,

could not entirely eclipse the wounded pride.

Jeevika turned her face away with a knowing smile,

which infuriated Vikram no less. He vowed never, ever to

speak to her, less ask her for a dance again!

e passage of time saw several ocers being posted

out of Ahmednagar. e original ‘jam session’ group

disintegrated, till only Jeevika’s and Vikram’s fatherremained. In any case, Vikram’s father had decided to settle

down in Ahmednagar after his retirement.

Vikram and Jeevika attended the same college. Both

had to travel the same slow road home. ose days,

students went to school or college on bicycles! Often

Vikram and Jeevika would cross each other going in

opposite directions, perforce, they would exchange

perfunctory hellos.

One day, Vikram was going home, when he spied

Jeevika pedaling ahead of him, going homewards. At his

speed, Vikram was bound to overtake her, just saying hello

and pedaling onwards would look a bit inappropriate, so he

Hemant V. Jadhav

19



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