Over the Years

Over the Years Indra Rai Sharma Over the Years -A Photo Autobiography In 2010 before going to US, I had been going through my old papers. As it appeared, I had wished to pen down my autobiography long back. In my diary on February 10, 1963, I had written that if I would ever write my autobiography, I would caption it ‘My Life and Dreams’. In 1997 again, in my acceptance letter to the notice regarding my impending retirement that I sent on June 23, to Mr. A. Sankara Narayanan, Executive Director, M/S Hindustan Motors, I wrote: “I wish I could pen down my years at HM some day and hope that it would provide useful insight for our budding engineers as Lee Iacocca’s biography or the book ’On a clear day you can see General Motors’ provided to millions of it readers.’ I knew that I was not that great a name in HM or industry, though I aspired to be one. Perhaps I didn’t select the right profession or I couldn’t take advantage of the opportunity that I got to convert the same to become big. I remember my teasing of my grandmother and later on my mother in school days by telling them time and again that they should not expect me to do routine household work, as I would be a big man. Later on I joked with some close friends and their wives that one day I would get into number 1 Rajpath. I meant Rastrapati Bhawan. I failed to become as great or big as I wanted but I did work very hard for every assignment that I got. I get satisfaction by saying, ‘They also serve who stand and wait’. But I always longed to write about what happened over the years in my life. And the story is here. Background It is an autobiography of an ordinary Indian who came from a very remote village of Bihar and a typical rural background and culture with all its weaknesses and strengths. I have penned it down for my own satisfaction and perhaps for the next generations. As my own children left for US just after education, they might not be in knowledge of many things about my early life and the family. And now with all the three sons settled in US, I can’t but think that way. Some among them may be inquisitive enough to seek some information about the root of the family and me. Even some in the extended family may like it. Since my college day, I have come across the persons of Indian origin from Mauritius requesting me to help them find their ancestral village in Bihar from where their forefathers had immigrated. As I am trying to put it through digital media, it may survive for the posterity. The incidents narrated are not intended to hurt anyone. However, if it creates any misgiving, I only solicit excuse. What is there in the name? My surname would have been 'Rai' as it is for all others of my community and family in the village. But my grandfather got my name ‘Dhanwantar Rai’ by which I was known to all in the village changed to 'Indra Roy Sharma' when I came to Birlapur for my schooling. ‘Dhanwantar’ was derived from Dhanwantari. Dhanwantari was a great doctor, a character mentioned in Mahabharat, the epic. Indra was the king of all gods, as per Indian scriptures. The change of my name came on advice of a learned gentle man, who was from near Patna and a neighbour in Birlapur. My grandfather was impressed by the wisdom and knowledge of the gentleman and respected him. ‘Sharma’ was added, as according to the gentleman that was the right title for our community. While filling the form of School final examination, the teacher-in-charge thought it proper to make me a little Bengali and changed the spellings to ‘Indra Ray Sarma’. I didn’t object. On all my certificates and degrees, I am still ‘Ray Sarma’. In Hind Motors they knew me only as ‘IR Sharma’. I prefer to be called ‘Indra’ only, but my Bengali friends called me ‘Indro’ and the Punjabi ones ‘Inder’. How does it matter? I started the work on this photo autobiography during my visit to US in September-November 2010. Shannon and Anand had shifted to Cary, North Carolina. Yamuna needed me more because of her age, and Border was no more near or on the route of Anand’s office as in Santa Clara or Pleasanton. I had plenty of time. I started to work first for preparing a photo-book. Later on, however, I thought it prudent to provide the background of the photographs to that very soon took the shape of an illustrated autobiography for near and dear ones. The credit, to a great extent, goes to Shannon and Anand, who kept on encouraging me to carry on with the work till completed to my satisfaction. The friendly laptop and i-Pad made my work easy. While writing about the various elders in the family, I found it disrespectful to use just their names. I was also not ready to use the English equivalents of the relationship with their names. So I decided to use their names with Bhojpuri suffix as I used to address them in day-to-day conversations or while talking about them with the family members or relatives: Baba (grandfather), Aaji (grandmother), Mai (mother), Babuji (father), Nana (maternal grandfather), Nani (maternal grandmother), Chacha (uncle), Chachi (aunty) or Mama (maternal uncle) for identifying them while documenting my story. Family Full many a gem of purest ray serene, The dark unfathomed caves of ocean bear: Full many a flower is born to blush unseen, And waste its sweetness on the desert air. -Thomas Gray (1716-1771)-Elegy Written in a Country Churchyard I know very little about my ancestors. Till my grandfather was alive, I never tried to know more from him. Perhaps I never felt the need of the information. I could have even requested him to write about them. He was good at it. My grandfather had mentioned about his grandfather, Juthan Baba. He lived a long life and had four sons, Jai Baba, Shivdas Baba, Ramdas Baba and my great grandfather, Ram Pragash Baba. Juthan Baba was highly respected in the village. When he would pass through the village lanes, no one would remain sitting on cot. Ram Pragash Baba was good in playing ‘dholak’ and was married with Bataso Devi in a rich family of Diul, a village near Arrah. Ram Pragash Baba had three children-two sons and a daughter. My grandfather, Lakshmi Baba was his eldest son, and Jamuna Baba, the younger one. Their only sister was married in village Tiara and had a son, Shyama Charan. Her husband had a short figure and was dark in complexion. By education he was a lawyer, though he never practiced it. Lakshmi Baba was married in a village named Dhobdiha. The name of my grandmother was Gango Devi. Her mother had died very early. Her father was in prison when she got married. He had come on parole for the marriage. My grandparents got blessed with three sons. My father, Shiw Pujan was the eldest. He had two younger brothers; Raj Kishore and Nand Kishore. Nand Kishore Chacha is still alive. Though my grandfather had moved to West Bengal for employment, but my grandmother remained at home in the village. All her sons were born there. Jamuna Baba was married in a village named Nagari with Ramnano Devi, the daughter of Ram Avatar Pande. He had two sons and one daughter- Ram Dulari. Mukteswar Chacha was the eldest. Jugeswar Chacha is the younger one and alive. Ram Dulari got married to a pretty educated young man, Suresh Rai in a village Intwa, but she died quite early in age. Suresh Phupha got married again and got a daughter and a son from the new wife. Later on, Suresh also got murdered along with his son, Sanjay from Ram Dulari. I remember having warned Suresh against getting himself involved in village politics that had grown really dangerous in Bihar. Once during college days when I was holidaying in Pipra, my village, I happened to compile the family tree shown below. One elderly person Ram Daras Pandey, who lived in our village and was very close to my family, provided the information. He didn’t have any family of his own. Everyone in our family used to respect him and he also loved us. Later on, my great grandmother Sadhuain Aaji also confirmed the authencity of the family tree. They knew many things about the ancestors that I could have documented but I missed the opportunity. Now I fail to remember what made me prepare the family tree. But it happened for the posterity. The family tree above is of one patti of our community - ‘Jaltharia Patti’ in my village. The second patti is known as ‘Bhojpuria Patti’. Patti is the group of families that are the descendants of the same person. Bhojpuria Patti constitutes of the descendants of the sister of Mardan Baba who was married in Diya Dhakaich, but later on, she got a landed property gifted and came to live in Pipra with her husband. Mardan Rai became legendary for his strength, courage and valor. As the story goes, he helped a Brahmin in getting back his cows. A strong goon had forcibly stolen the cows of the Brahmin from somewhere near Buxar in north and was taking away.

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