What Makes Vijay Kain So Special -Part 2.

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 .