WHY UTTARAKHAND – Gp Capt Achchyut Kumar
I have always been a hard core Illahabadi and have always been proud to be one. I was born and brought up in the historical city of Allahabad, my three educational degrees are from the University of Allahabad, I was married in Allahabad, our ancestral home exists even today at Allahabad and when I had to choose a bank for my pension account, I decided to choose the Allahabad Bank. Such has been my association with my native town, however, when I decided to spend the last leg of my life at Nanital, it came as a big surprise for those who had known me for years and my affiliation with the city of Allahabad. It was just one incident that made me decide to settle in the State of Uttarakhand and serve the people of this State in my modest way if any such opportunity ever presents itself.
The year was 1989. I was a Flight Lieutenant in the Indian Air Force. It was the beginning of the month of April and I was part of a ten member Air Force trekking team that was to start from Uttarkashi and reach Yamunotri via Dondital and Hanuman Chatti before coming down to Hanuman Chatti and terminating the trek.
When we started from Dondital for Hanuman Chatti, we had exhausted all our rest days. We proposed to reach Hanuman Chatti well before twilight but soon the weather seemed to have the final say. It started raining and the ten of us took shelter inside a huge water run grinding stone complex. It was getting dark but the rain had only reduced to a drizzle. Some local persons coming downhill told us that it would be impossible for us to cross over to Hanuman Chatti since there was waist high snow along the mountain tracks. Our team leader decided to trek to the nearest village and try to take shelter for the night in the village school. All of us were getting wet despite our raincoats and the ambient temperature was not supporting our cause in any way. We reached the village school building only to find that it was locked and the ceiling for all the classrooms were missing as the school building was under renovation.
What followed thereafter was unbelievable. We saw a man following as with an umbrella. He approached us and introduced himself as the school teacher. He expressed his apology that the school was unfit for occupation but that we needn’t be perturbed. When he had sen us approaching the school, he knew that we were looking for shelter for the night and because the school was under renovation, he had spoken to his landlord to accommodate us for the night.
We followed the teacher to his residence and he led us to a long room which was good enough to accommodate all the ten of us. Shivering, as each one of us was, we were quick to open out our back packs and get into our sleeping bags. We did not see the landlord but soon a girl came and asked us whether we would like to have some tea. A hot glass of tea was perhaps the most welcome offer in our state of adversity. Later the same girl came and asked us as to what we would like to have for dinner which each one of us refused politely, not so much because we were not hungry as the fact that we did not want to come out of our sleeping bags,
The next morning, we accepted gleefully the morning tea but refused to have any breakfast as we were in a hurry to make up for the lost time. Now was the time for the head of the family to make his appearance. He told us that it would be a matter of shame for him if we had stayed in his house but not have had a meal. Obliged as much as we were, we could not refuse breakfast after what he had said. Before leaving, I asked the gentleman if we could leave behind some of our ration with him. He was quick to respond that there was no question of our making good the meals that we had. I had to convince him that it was not a question of making good the meals but that we had catered for each day’s meals and now that we had an extra ration for three meals, he would be helping us in reducing our load for the rest of our trek by accepting our surplus ration. It was then that he accepted the ration that we wanted ourselves to be relieved.
This hospitality left an indelible impression in my mind. Who in this world would ever accommodate ten unknown young men in his unguarded home and extend such hospitality? Ever since that day, my post-retirement plans started having a different leaning and finally, my decision to reside in Uttarakhand.
Now having lived here for more than three and a half years, small incidents have made me realise that the simplicity, honesty, hospitality and common courtesies of this State are a rarity in today’s materialistic world. The most remarkable manner is the response of some of the government officials who in many other States consider themselves no less than our Creator. I start a conversation by greeting ‘Namaste’ and the official starts his reply with a ‘Namaste’. I have had several issues with my fibre optic BSNL connection but never once with the office bearers of the department. In fact, it has been such a different experience from visiting a government office in any other State and all this since the time when these people had no idea of my service background.
Once in a crowded bus, my purse slipped out of my pocket due to the big crowd. Soon there was a man asking as to who had dropped his purse. I was more than relieved to get back my purse and in my ignorance made a statement that I thought that I had been pick pocketed. The man stared back at me and told me that such things do not happen here. The pride in the man’s eyes was obvious. I visit a Police Station for some issues regarding some calls being received by the carpenters working at my place. The first thing he does it to offer me a seat before I start my complaint. I rang up the Junior Engineer for some power disruption in my flat and two hours later he rang me up to confirm whether the rectification had been done. I visit the BSNL office at Bhimtal to submit a letter for which I want a confirmation. The head of the office is not there but once back in office, he sends me a Whatapp photocopy of the confirmation.
Two of my experiences would seem unbelievable to many. My telephone landline was not working, it was raining heavily and it was a Saturday but I was surprised to find a person coming to rectify the connection. I was wondering as to how did the person manage to come all the way. He had taken a bus to attend to the fault.
The last experience that I am about to narrate may floor many as it relates to the Commissioner’s Office. One of my school juniors requested me to get three certified copies of a land document dating back to the 1980s. There were a few impediments which were resolved by a lady working in the office but to cut a long story short, I was under a time constraint since on 06 November 2019; I was planning to go out for three months. I had conveyed this to the office. When I visited the office on 04 November, the needful had been done despite a wide search required because the matter though relating to Pithoragarh had been filed in the bag of Nainital but that was not the highlight of the incident; the photocopier of the office was not working properly, so one of the staff members had spent Rs. 32/- to get the copying done outside and get the necessary attestation done and all this without asking for any extra money.
If all these experiences in Uttarakhand are not indicative of Heaven on Earth where else does one hope to find one?
Group Captain Achchyut Kumar is a practising lawyer in Nainital where he has settled after working for over 28 years in the IAF and nearly nine years as a GM In Forbes & Company Limited. He has been a keen writer for years and also a Doordarshan and Aakashvani commentator.
