Great Grand Father

Great Grand Parent: Mohan Singh Mathur, Brother of the grandfather Ba Ba Ji Sri Ram/Janki Devi, Mangal Sain,and his father Chunni lal.

Great Grand Father rose to fame because of his brilliant military tactics. Saved the few surviving fellows in his Brigade and his Brigadier from impending massacre by the enemy at night. Chapter II-1. Given Queen Victoria Award, a six foot sword studded with gold, diamond and jewels, and Award paper with Victoria’s Stamp, and two large land areas in mote villages. The strip [ped(?)] down sword was found in storage a my Tao Jig’s house in Cheera Khana, Old Delhi, now with his grandson. My Father had the Award document in his file. These and other related episodes had an impact on our family life and my being in USA. Episodes to be described later in some details.

Chapter II-2A

Brilliant Tactical Maneuver.

 Mohan Singh was the brother of my Ba Baji, grandfather Mongal Sain (father Chunni Lal).

He rose to fame when he saved his partly survived Brigade and his Brigadier from an initial defeat to impending massacre of the remaining Brigade in the following that night fall.

He dissuaded his Brigadier from ordering a quick retreat in panic, into unknown and unsafe territory and proposed instead a brilliant tactical maneuver that saved them all from a bloody wholesale massacre.

He spread the usual surviving rear guard with drummers and trumpeters spaced distant apart to present an apparent aggressive wide front and synchronized sounds of British march, creating an image of arriving a new contingent. The enemy forces drew back and fled in panic fearing assuming g an arrival of new replacements. An apparent victory was claimed.

 

Episode A:  Awards Ceremony.

For their part in bravery and tactical genius both the Brigadier and Great Grandfather received awards. Mohan Singh on his part received a six foot long diamond and gold studded sword, a citation letter with an exotic Queen Victoria Stamp, and two large land areas in some remote villages in northern India.

The ceremony was held at the Viceroy’s General’s Secretariat in New Delhi, presentation probably by a superior officer of his Brigadier Boss.

This information and later description of the events are sketchy or forgotten details but are based upon connecting the actual information points cited in the award letter and passed on by family members.

Episode B:

The stripped down version of the sword was recovered from a storage room when my Tao Ji, Tara Chand, inherited a very old part of a large house in Cherra Khana, Old Delhi.

This sword still resides with his grandson in New Delhi, probably back in storage again.

My father happened to acquire the award letter. The letter I saw was poorly or hurriedly typed on legal-size brown paper but had a beautiful crimpled Stamp of Queen Victoria, cited as Her Majesty the Sovereign Queen of India.

Episode C: Impact of the Award Letter on Our Lives.

The above mentioned Award Letter initially did not have any significance to us and was saved in my father’s legal file.

The award letter came into sudden significance later when the Brigadier’s grandson showed keen interest in acquiring that original letter for his record by placing an inquiry through the British Government.

The letter was eventually traced back to my father in Gurgaon. A staffer from the Office, Deputy Commissioner of Gurgaon District, a Britisher, retrieved the letter from father with a promise of financial aid possibly for funding my education in England. Because of my mother’s resistance the reward process was never followed. Main reason, an episode with a starving poor lady that showed up at our door.

Episode D: A Related Incident with a Starving Lady.

Some time before this issue of award letter, mother rescued an old and poor lady freezing in cold, starved and sitting outside our house door. My mother immediately let her into the house from the cold and to our annoyance quickly offered our remaining meal to the starving lady.

After the poor lady finished eating, she smiled then blurted out to mother “Your son will go far far away and you will never see him again!”

While my father was the aggressive partner, my mother in her gentle ways always had the final say in the family decisions. It was this concern of her that prompted her to scuttle the financial deal which father never sought or followed up in lieu of that Victoria award letter.

Episode E: Impact of Great Grandfather’s Award.

The Great Grandfather’s Award Letter in some strange ways impacted on our lives. The episodes had planted a seed in my mind about getting high paying job in British Government by getting education in England. However, that eventually led me to go for studies in USA.

Episode F: My Move to become a US Citizen.

Until I met my wife Biruta at school, I was planning to return to India after finishing my Ph.D. Earlier, my mother’s concern and the old lady’s prophecy was in the back of my mind.

However, in a chance social gathering I met my future wife Biruta. The following two episodes were part of additional reasons for me to stay in USA.

Episode G:The Two Episodes.

First: The Aircraft Industry was just starting up in India and I was rudely rebuffed when I made inquiry for a job opportunity in India. I was told by the short-sighted Indian officials in charge that I have wasted my time in USA on advanced engineering degree is useless in India

Second: Right after India got Independence the initial attitude of most Indians were anti-British  that attitude seem to have prevailed against Americans and Europeans, as well as reported by some returning students.

However I made my entire family visit India.to compensate. While all our relative we met were very gracious, we found general attitude of people unfriendly. That removed any small doubt I may have had about later moving to India.

Third: On the other hand, the US was in competition with Soviets. With new space programs, demand for Ph.D.’s was so great. In those days, strangely the problem for me was how to reject the many offers of jobs that came pouring in without applying for those or which one to select if I decided to take one job!

While I was busy building my career in USA, I made sure almost all of my children visit and get to know the Grandparents in India.

Finally, I decided to help bring my parents to come to USA. They came with my youngest sister, Saroj, and stayed in USA with a very happy family time for about seven months.

My parents decided to move back to India, where they felt more comfortable, especially my father who still felt like a stranger in USA, compared with his well respected status in Gurgaon and the courts as highly respected senior advisor to younger lawyers. There he had a lot of political clout- candidates often sought his endorsement for election to the Punjab Assembly because of his popularity with the farmers.

Parents moved back with Kusums family in our old house and were well cared-for by Kusum and her entire family (Virandr, Narindur Kishore).

On my first visit to India mother surprised me revealing she had a different mother, our first Nani Ji who died young after the birth of my mother. She said there was no reason to tell us earlier, when we were young, to avoid small talks