Chapter 1
I was born on a puranmasi or full moon day in the month of march.The month of march is dedicated to the fiery roman god Mars,who hails the coming of spring with his hammer by sending thunder storms. According to the Hindu calender ,the festival “ HOLI” falls on a full moon in the month of march . In India this festival marks the end of winter ,the air loses its nip The mists fade and the sky is beautifully blue again. As a sanskrit poet says ,the days that lay curled up , now stretch their limbs bit by bit .
It is a time for all fun lovers , it’s an invitation to friend and strangers alike to enjoy themselves. Red or gulal is the base color,but the pinks ,blues and yellow are great hits.On this day,young and old play with colors ,squirting it on each other ,rubbing it on their faces ,amidst much laughter and protest.
Faces take on the look of a multicolored canvas ,clothes look as though dyed in a dozen colors. Added to this air of gaiety ,a constant stream of jokes ,pranks , donkey rides and Moorkha Sammelans: a gathering where a group of poets read out their funnypoems and satire in front of an audience.Many stories are told tongue in cheek ,jokes are cracked at the expence of the audience.
I was born amidst such color and gaiety .I often attribute the artistic streak in me to the colors that surround the hour of my birth According to the pundits or hindu scribes, it is a very auspicious day ,the gods smile on the child born on this day.
My name “ JYOTSNA” ( pronounced - Jo-t’-s-na) a sanskrit word meaning full moon or bathed with moonlight ,proved to be a happy coincidence .The name was given by maternal grand-mother Mrs E.P .Richards simply because she thought it was a beautiful name.
My father’s name is Austin Lal ,Mr Lal is as common in India as Mr Green or Brown in england.The word “ lal” in hindi means red or the base color gulal . It is by rather strange co-incidence that my name Jyotsna-full moon, Lal-red or gulal, agree to my hour of birth.
Red is the color of blood which flows down from the cross , the precious blood of our saviour Jesus Christ , O’ precious is the Flow ,That makes us white as snow.
the blood of Jesus cancels out our sin debt and assigns us a new creation identity—the righteousness of God in Christ Jesus (2 Cor. 5:21). This act of bloodshed will be celebrated throughout all eternity. The song of heaven is the song of the Lamb (Rev. 5:11-13). He will emerge as the conquering King and prevailing Lion of Judah (Rev. 5:5). Jesus eternally wears the victor’s crown.
I will begin my diary is with this story . My great grand father Reverend George Martin Richards was a colleaque Reverend Parker an American stationed in north India. Together they use to preach the gospel in the villages Sometimes on horseback ,cycles later go by jeeps ,pitching their tent in the fields near the villages One night they saw a man hiding in the shadows of the tent
“Come out or we will shoot you “ Rev Richards warned A tall ,handsome young man came out of the darknes and fell at their feet ,begging for protection
“Who are you?”asked Rev Parker .
“I’m Phul Singh the Daciot I want to become a Christian and surrender my life .Please convert me “
‘If you are telling lies ! you’ll be sentenced to death ,as there is a ransom on your head “ warned Rev Parker
“ No ! I’m telling the truth , I have heard the gospel I want to change my life”
Both the missionaries took the dacoit with them Rev Parker helped to get him pardoned from the British Government . Phul Singh [phulwa] became the shadow of Rev Parker ,staying in his house cooking for him in Etah . His son was Rev Chote Phul Singh a pastor
of Mcgraw Memorial Church where my parents got married later his grandson Rev R.P .Singh followed in his footsteps .
Rev Robert Alter another american presybterian missionary whose mission field was Fatehgarh and Etah was a colleague of my grandparents . later he became the headmaster of Woodstock school ,Mussoorie now Uttrakhand, his son is the writer Stephen Alter who has mentioned about Etah in his book ‘All the way to Heaven’.
The famous bollywood actor Tom Alter is the son of the elder Rev Alter also american presybterian missionary who lives In Landour near Mussoorie.
In the year 1964 My parents got married while grandmother Mrs Beaumont Richards was the medical nurse in Christian boys Agriculture college Etah,North India of course my Grandfather was working as a Teacher and warden there . he was lovingly called Papaji the house father while my granny was ‘mamaji’ ,she was a rather enterprising lady and kept poultry in the backyard
One summer night around 10 o’clock there was some commotion in the henhouse ,the hens were cackling with a peculiar note of fear, nervousness and panic .My granny hurried to the henhouse and opened the door something was sitting right near the and bit on her left hand .She went in the bedroom and told my grandfather ,he said it must be a rat ,put some tincture iodine on it.Suddenly she lost balance and fell down .My grandpa panicked and rushed out to the hostel where senior boys sitting in the study. Immediately the boys rushed to the house, some of them ran to the principal Mr Watford’s house ,a group of boys ran to search the backyard and the hen house
One of my uncles father’s cousin was among the students studing at that hour .He recounts the moment they opened the door , saw a huge cobra sitting with its hood spread out ,waiting and hissing loudly .
A cornered cobra is as dangerous as a caged tiger lunging out at them ,it did not slink away but attacking them . The boys initially got scared and climbed on the wall to avoid it. Then some plucky ones clubbed it to death with their hockey sticks. [The cobra was preserved and kept in the biology lab I saw the Cobra when I had gone for christmas vacation]
Meanwhile my granny was rushed to the hospital with a tourniquet arm and she was lucky as serum was available She survived and lived to an august of age of 90 years, died on 14 Nov 2001, 36 years later.
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The locomotive has the history of the industrial revolution We regularly traveled by train ,it has an unusual charm the choo choo !chug chug! and smoke spewing out of the chimney of the engine and sing song of the wheels on railtracks ‘one penny two penny ,one penny two penny’, the railways came with the british who created the railway network in India so that they could rule India better and transport the troops ,goods from port to inland.We were going to Fatehgarh ,my uncle was the locomotive engine driver . The six hour journey by passenger train was always boring stopping at every station ,slowing puffing through the green fields and mango grooves .The villages with women in their colorful saries the train had stopped at one the small station ,a express train was passing since there was only one track they had stopped the passenger train. Inspite of being a girl I have always been nosy .I wanted to peek in the locomotive engine ,my uncle allowed me to get in the engine . to see the boiler where the coal was put in by the trowel . I was looking at the various nobs and sticks .suddenly the guard got the signal of line clear the signal was up and the my uncle engine driver had started the engine, since the steps are very high and the engine was parked outside the platform so there was no time to jump out of engine and run to my compartment .I would say it was my luck that day I got a ride in the engine my uncle began stoking the fire and the engine moved forward. I enjoyed sitting on the wooden box inside watched the villages slipping past .my uncle asked me to pull a string wonders of wonders it was the whistle.I blew the whistle many times.
It was great fun and something I will never ever forget The next station came and the train stopped I got down and went to sit in my seat in the compartment.
We often traveled to Etah by train by changing at Tundla junction.taking the loopline.
I spent all my Christmas holidays with grandparents in Etah , their use to be a garden swing inside the compound , I use to ride the bicycle and go visiting all the faculty members of college . Those days people use to go deer hunting as sport there use to be many kinds of deer [black buck] and antelopes [ blue bull] ravaging the crops and had to be eliminated by the farmers.
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In the land of Lycia , Chimera was a fire-breathing animal with a lion's head, a goat's body,and a tail in the form of a snake; hence any apparent hybrid of two or more creatures. The Chimera was killed by the hero Bellerophon on the winged horse Pegasus. Bellerophon a victim of slander who was sent against the monstrous chimera, which he killed with the help of his winged horse Pegasus. After further trials, he ended his life as a beggar.
When I read this Greek story as child I went to my Daddy and asked for the winged horse. My daddy said “Your education is your dowry , my daughter and your career Pegasus the winged horse which will take you places.’’ He had taken me to the Indian Institute of Technology airfield which had a flying club . He had shown me the small two sitter planes and gliders called them the modern flying horse, I would watch them from our terrace and wished I could fly around .
One winter day a MIG landed on the IIT airfield , may be it had visited the aeronautical department ,it was my holiday and I was reading on the terrace , it took off and did several somersaults ,dives and then flew off in the distant sky.
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Another incident , I was only 3 years when my parents came to work in the industrial town of Cawnpore they were newly and with little experience of life in a city with a toddler they faced many hardships one of them the difficulty in finding a suitable place to live It was almost like a miracle when they heard through some one about a gentleman by the name of Mr Yogi who wished to sublet his flat,they went to see it and liked it The flat was on the first floor of a three storied building ,the rent and other formalities were duly completed They shifted into the flat.
My parents became busy with their daily routine they went to work early in the morning ,leave me at the kindergarden and come back late in the afternoon.Evenings were usually spent out and night would bring sweet slumber to the tired little family
Every morning the kitchen articles would be found strewn on the floor but were unnoticed by the unsuspecting occupants,who thought it to be the mischief of rats.
My parents found living in the flat according to their liking The neighbourhood was good and Mr Yogi rarely stayed home at night and would also spent his spare time away from the flat
One Saturday afternoon ,our next door neighbour Mrs Yusuf dropped in for a chat mom offered her tea, as they sat talking over their teacups Mrs Yusuf expressed her surprise that my parents had rented this flat .
Mr yogi’s wife had committed suicide in the room we had rented A discord had arisen between thehusband and his wife The wife had poured kerosene oil over herself and put a match to it .She had wanted to prove that her husband had tried to kill her but she died in process .The incident had occurred some 6 months ago ,
now the flat was haunted by the spirite of the dead woman.
Both my parents declared that they did not believe in ghosts or haunted houses [it was the only sensible way out when you are new in town and apartments are difficult to find]Now that the story was out ,the forces of evil became stronger .The nights were often filled with sounds of footsteps , things falling and newspaper being torn. Yet they were not frightened ,they would simply getup and switch on the lights believing such forces fear light and would able to sleep peacefully the whole night.
They were always surprised to see in the morning that things that were breakable never thrown down ,only articles like teacosy ,saucepan and coverlets were strewn on the floor ,and the newspaper would be torn in equal strips.
Soon they became used to the whole affair ,but family suffered on account of the unclean presence ,one of the three would always be sick .
One day they happened to talk about it to their church pastor ,he was surprised to hear about this and promised to pray for them The week he dropped in at our flat to pray and held a small prayer meeting where all present prayed to clean our home of the evil presence .And from that day onwards ,never again the ghost of Mrs Yogi came to disturb us .Ofcourse she continued to prowl in Mr Yogi’s portion of the flat.
My mother tells me that her restless soul was in the apartment but it seemed an invisible wall of fire had been built around our rooms Earlier the poor ghost nevered harmed us or damaged anything After some time Mr Yogi decided to marry again And my father started looking for another flat.
We were still living in the flat when Mr Yogi got married Hindu marriages take place in the night only the men go in the bridgegrooms marriage party ,my father accompanied Mr Yogi My mother was alone in the flat she recalls the sounds of boxes being thrown around ,crockery being broken , banging on the walls could be distinctly heard from Mr Yogi's side. The racket got worse around 1a.m the time coincided with the marriage ceremony. Soon after the wedding we moved to another flat.
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