What is it that makes
Vijay Kain so special ?
Vijay Kain is the well known bureaucrat who joined the IAS
in 1974 and was allotted the Punjab Cadre .He was born in Burma and like with all his siblings my Dad sent him and my
sisters to the Mount Hermon Residential
School in Darjeeling .It was a practice for all Indians in Burma to send their
kids to India to study since there were no good schools in Burma those days .But when Dad relocated to India in
1960 ,Vijay and the rest of us studied in Dehradun which was (and is ) ,famous for its schools .Like me he
studied at St Josesphs Academy and excelled at academics .He took the IIT Exam
,cleared it ,was allotted IIT Kanpur –but his heart was in Physics .So he went
to study Physics Hons at Hindu College ,Delhi
University and topped the college .He
also did his Msc fom there (Gwyer
Hall),and had plans to do research in solid state Physics from the US .Among
his contemporaries at Delhi University was Ashok Misra ,a brilliant
Physicist as well who was to later marry my sister Indu .He too took the IAS Exam ,cleared it and was also
allotted the Punjab Cadre .So both friends became bureaucrats within a couple of years of each other .Unfortunately
Ashok became a victim of terrorists bullets when he was handing over charge as Excise and Taxation Commissioner and taking over as Divisional
Commissioner Jalandhar .It is a incident that we have never had the courage to openly discuss in any family
gathering .It hurts too much to do so .I
.And how we drove in a state of numbness
into the town which was like a city in siege .For the terrorists it was a
big catch –they had managed to gun down the Excise and Taxation Commisioner of Indias richest state .And for the first
time in my life ,I realized how fragile life is .And how illogical it is –one
does not get killed because one is bad .One can be killed as well if one is a
saint .And when they got Ashok (my brother in law) , it was rumoured that the terrorists had made a announcement that they would kill 5
Hindu IAS Officers in Punjab . That’s the time I saw Vijay carrying a pistol
with him to office .It was such a painful sight that still raises
a lump in my throat .A man who would never harm a fly was being expected
to pull a trigger on a human being in self defence ?We were scared to death –we knew that incase
of a situation arising –my brother would
always lose .Luckily –God was kind .Though I am sure it must have rattled him .He
is not the type who can take things non seriously .Unlike me .
 |
| Always with a pen and paper .! |
He coped up with the scary times well .He was not a
greenhorn to the world of tragedy and
problems Tragedy had struck our family
much earlier –we lost our parents in a
space of two years and everything fell on my brothers shoulders .At that time ,
he was just out of college and was a probationer at the Forest Research
Institute .He was our anchor .He was our Rahul Dravid –a wall ,that refused to
breach and topple in the face of storms .Jobs don’t reflect a mans character
.Committment to family and ability to battle adversity - do .For us –we were
still in school- ,he became the father figure .I picked up everything looking
at the way he conducted himself .Not once did I see him ever loose his
composure .Not once did I see him complain about life .Not once did I see him
sulk or lose his temper .He was like the Rock of Gibralter –immovable .Not
consciously though –but what he did was always taken as good and right by me
.When I started smoking in college ,I remember I always felt guilty because Vijay did not smoke !!When I
drank –I always felt guilty because Vijay did not do so .When I did not clear
the IAS ,I felt extremely bad because I did not do what he wanted me to do
.When I made a careless mistake ,I felt bad because he never did seem to make
one .I remember going with him to buy
vegetables and fruits –and how he would examine every tomato or apple to see if
it not a bad piece .One day I saw him
chewing and biting his nails .It was late at night and he kept looking at a small piece of paper on which written in
very small print (in hand –those days one did not have computers ),were a lot of things with figures(it was a shopping
list of essentials along with the prices) .He was very disturbed and I asked him what the matter was .He would not answer and later on came to my
room and told me with a sense of great relief “ I was not able to reconcile my
account for the day.I just did not know where the 5 ruppee note had gone .I
finally found it in one of my shirt pockets !!”.Once on a train journey to Bareilly
during winters ,someone walked away with his
warm head cap while he slept .God –it was as if the heavens had come
down and hell had broken loose .He was
so disturbed .Clearly here was a man who did not like finding or losing money and things .He liked respecting it because
he earned it the hard way .Its a habbit which I tried
to inculcate and to some extent have picked
up .(till as late as last night ,I was trying
to look for a 5 Dirham note in all my pockets !!)I learnt how to respect money .But I can never be as
meticulous as him .
But there are other things I picked up from him .From him i learnt that we become wiser by adversity; prosperity and ease destroys our appreciation of the right.I learnt that if one is thankful for what one has one will end up having more. If you concentrate on what you don't have, you will never, ever have enough.I picked up my love for
cricket and for buying and reading books from him .He is a encyclopedia on
cricket . “I don’t know why they don’t leave the balls outside the off stump
alone .Where was the need for Dhawan and Dhoni to flirt with them”,he said
visibly upset at India losing the Test match to New Zealand when we were just 40 runs short of victory
.His knowledge about the game is phenomenal .
He is a voracious reader .He introduced me to westerns -Max Brand and Oliver Strange
,P.G.Wodehouse,Biggles ,Enid Blyton ,Agatha
Christie among others He introduced me to Time ,Life ,Readers Digest and Sports
and Pastime .All the books he read –he coaxed us to read . “Here read this book .You
will enjoy it .But don’t read the ending .When you come to the last 2 pages
come to me .Dont read them”,he told me many many summers back .The book was
“The murder of Roger Acroyd”,by Agatha Christie .And when I came to the last
two pages of the book ,and the name of the murderer was to be revealed ,he read
them(the 2 pages) and asked “who do you think the murderer is?”.And then
finally read out the name !!It is one of the finest murder mysteries written by
the great lady and whenever I re read it I am always reminded of my brother .
Concluding part soon .
