Cauliflower pickles.(34)

        

                We investigate the other side of the dak bungalow. The caretaker has good hearing. The one person who can sound like Appa ,his younger brother ,our ongc sittappa is there. Our sittappa is a jovial person. Later in life both my younger brothers become very close to him.  We return to Tura . Our sittappa accompanies us, he stays for a couple of days .

                 Some days left of our holidays and we visit near by spots . Rivers, water falls and caves with stalagmites and stalactites. Sittappa leaves for Sibsagar.

                 All the officers ‘ wives  are busy making mixed vegetable pickles. On the washing line they hang cauliflower  bits to dry . Later they will add preservatives  oil and vinegar. We  however are given the job of correcting some internal exam GK answer sheets. Good thing  the answers are provided to us. Marks for good handwriting too. This is a favourite of Appa's . He knows Mk Gandhi 's Experiments with truth backwards. He will often quote from it. There is a bit about handwriting in it. We used to write pages every day in our best handwriting and get a paise or two from him.

                 When on the subject of The Mahatma  I would like to regress to Appa's college days and earlier. He was an RSS sevak in Trichy. Trichy in those days had a strong RSS presence . He would proudly say ,more people would come to him for help than to his father who was a leading lawyer , an  expert on Mohammedan law. At the time of The mahatma 's assassination in Jan 48 , Appa was  a lecturer  at  National college Trichy. All RSS cadres are rounded up . They are  treated as political prisoners and given first class treatment. First time he used a tooth brush he says. First time travel by train in first class   to Vellore. He always had the highest regard for the mahatma and as I told you earlier knew The experiments with truth by heart. . No conviction they are  all sent home after a months stay at the government's expense. He however made many friends for life there. A true Gandhian he lives a simple life and wears only khadi .

        We return to Shillong and school . New principal . The new students council is to be elected. This the new principal does not care for. Neither does he know the students. He picks up the rank list of the classes and makes up the students council. This is how some unsuspecting person with no inclination for leadership gets trapped. In fact yours truly . With all humility I must add that ,what turned his choice in my favour was, that I was getting the Central School scholarship for the past 2 years. Yes yes  I know , the case of the one eyed being the king. 

             This  position  however does me a disfavour.