An Obituary

This is an obituary for my brother-in-law (bahnoi) Sri Prem Narain Pandey who passed away on Sunday, the 2nd April, 2017.  He was on his regular morning walk when he was hit by a speeding Activa.  We later learnt that the driver was an youngster.  He was, perhaps, trying to overtake a heavy vehicle from its left and revved up and hit Mr Pandey with massive force.  The force broke both of his legs, one of his arms was slashed through by the iron fencing runnind alongside the shoulder of the road and the back of his skull was broken.  He died on the spot.  A most unfortunate death for a person so full of zeal, in very good health and enjoying his retired life to the fullest.

All of us are unique in one way or the other, but Pandeyji was known for certain qualities that are rather rare amongst us Indians.  He was an Electrical Engineer and got employed in the far away state of Mizoram and spent his entire working life there.  He worked with the Electricity board, a department of the state government.  Electricity Boards all over India don't rank very low when it comes to corruption.  Pandeyji was truly like a lotus in the muddy waters of the Board.  He was honest to a fault.  Not only he did not accept any bribes, he never allowed personal use of his official vehicle even by his wife - my sister.  Sons of soil in Mizoram are exempt from Income Tax.  At the time Pandeyji joined the board there were very few outsiders working there who were liable to pay tax.  There was no TDS and many outsiders took undue advantage of a weak Income Tax presence in the state, but not Pandeyji, never!  Mizoram is a rather small state and though some thought that he was an eccentric, his honesty and professionalism became legend and were known not only to the power ministers but even to the chief ministers of the state.  And it was respected by them too.

Pandeyji once  confided to me that as he progressed in his career he became a little disillusioned.  He would find that despite his personal squeaky cleanliness, the subordinates continued in their ways.  At times he was very sad when he had to acquiesce to decisions that he didn't think were in the best interests of the department or the state.  He had to do so under tremendous pressure from the very top.  He told me that once some new contractor, who perhaps didn't adequately know his background tried to bribe him.  He said to the contractor, "You see, it is not that I can't do with some more money.  Nor is my personal honesty making much difference.  But I have built up a tremendous reputation for myself and have an overly sensitive conscience and there is no way I can even think of hurting them."

He was very reclusive and an introvert.  He enjoyed and relished solitude.  He used to say that I was one of the very few persons whose company he enjoyed and I feel honored in that.  His demise is a personal loss to me in more than one way.

Pandeyji retired a few years earlier than my sister who was a professor of maths in Aizawl.  He moved to Lucknow a little more than an year before my sister retired.  He carried a recipe book with him that he had himself penned down after learning the recipes from my sister.  He could cook excellent meals though he had never done cooking earlier in his life.  And though he missed the company of my sister, he thoroughly enjoyed the solitude and had his new home organized in an excellent way by the time my sister retired and joined him.

He was finicky about punctuality.  He had a strict schedule that he followed all his life and wanted people to be just as punctual.  At times he refused to entertain people who took punctuality very casually.

He had an excellent self-control.  He used to smoke occasionally, chew paan, and even enjoy a rare drink. But he wasn't addicted to any of these and could and did give up any or all of these for extended periods.  He was a light eater and maintained a very healthy weight till the end of his life.  Though a man of very limited needs, he was a real connoisseur and appreciated quality in whatever he used or consumed.  Whenever he gave me a gift it was invariably of the highest quality available.

He never developed a taste for modern IT gadgets and stuck to the print versions of books, magazines and newspapers.  He was an avid reader, used to gift me books and give me cuttings from newspapers and magazines.  His choice of the material that he regularly gave and our subsequent discussions clearly showed how deeply he studied all that he did.

All of his acquaintances, friends and family agree that none of us have ever met a person who was so well organized and methodical in his personal and professional life.  Just to illustrate the degree to which he organized his belongings and everything around him, I will narrate a recent incident.

Way back in 1990 my wife had suffered a severe bout of sciatica and finally got some relief from an Unani medicine prescription that was obtained by Pandeyji from his uncle who claimed to have been cured by it.  Recently, 27 years later, a family member enquired about a home remedy for her sciatica pain.  I could vaguely recall the names of the medicines.  My wife suggested that I check with Pandeyji.  I was skeptical despite being aware of his superhuman capabilities for storing and retrieving things and information.  I called him, he said he will call back.  And I couldn't believe it when he called 10 minutes later and said that he has been able to retrieve the prescription!!  Even in his office, if some information could not be retrieved from the huge office records, he could be relied upon to get details from the records he maintained personally in his office.

He used to miss Mizoram where he had spent 4 decades.  He was full of praise for their social customs, the way church influenced all spheres of life in a very positive manner, and, of course, the excellent climate.  Though spiritually oriented he abhorred all rituals and orthodoxy.  This made him give a miss to many events in the family and some found his ways strange too.

He was an evolved man and if there are other universes where the consciousness migrates based on one's merits and degree of evolution, he must be in the highest one.  All of us down here will always miss him. Adieus, dear brother-in-law.