ALLAHABAD DIARY
Dr V S NARVANE AND TIKA SINGH -- THE PHILOSOPHER AND THE BUTLER EXTRAORDINAIRE
Tika Singh came as a child servant to the residence of Dr V S Narvane the professor of Philosophy at the University of Allahabad. He came as many did in the fifties and the sixties of the last century in search of employment, from the hills of the then Uttar Pradesh to the plains. He belonged to Kumaun region which is now part of Uttarakhand state, and hailed from district Almora. He was a simple , sincere young lad, and as Narvanes were kind and generous couple he was happy in their home.
The
Narvane's home was named 'Shanti- Kunj' and was situated in the calm
settings of the Hastings road in the dull and laid back city of
Allahabad .Few cars moved on the main road and mostly rickshaw and
cycles ply ed lazily to their destination, either to Ashok Nagar
at one end or to civil lines /High court at the other. Sometimes
there would be some crowd near the entrance gate of the Circuit house
during the visits of some prominent leader, which was about diagonal
to the Narvane's home, but since the entrance gate was at far
distance it did not disturb them and mattered little. However,
occasionally it would create some excitement when some person known
to Dr Narvane would be there at the Circuit house and he would be
in dilemma to meet him or not. After all; Dr Narvane was an
ex-Muerian ( now A N Jha hostel of Allahabad University) and had
prominent historians and politicians such as Dr Nurul Hasan, V .P .S
ingh, Arjun Singh and Satish Chandra as his friends and students
from the University , but since he had not kept contact with them
for long there was this minor hesitation.
The
Narvane's home was aesthetically done, and though he had specialized
in philosophy he was an excellent speaker on Indian culture and
literature, later he was a regular visiting Professor at U S colleges
and lectured on aesthetics, philosophy and culture. He also wrote
books on 'Philosophy', 'Indian literature' and 'Mythology' such as
'Modern Indian Thought', ' On Premchand' and 'Sharatchandra' . His
father was an engineer who had come to Allahabad from Pune and had
made the city his home. He first had some property near Rambagh
station but after his demise the family brought the land near Ashok
Nagar and built their new home.
There
was a wide support system in the house to assist Indu, wife of Dr
Narvane who was a petite lady, full of grace and intellect and a
charming hostess ,and was indeed a big support to Dr Narvane in his
research and endeavors. In addition to Tika Singh there was
Girdhari's family. Whilst Girdhari pulled rickshaw and sometimes
served as the Gardner, his wife and occasionally the elder daughter
helped in kitchen. It is my view that very few homes have the
arrangements ,artifacts, garden etc done in any methodical manner,
most go by the random concept, haphazard and in conformity to the
fashion or the taste of the elite, but Dr Narvane's home reflected
his personality and ideology, the colors , design had the stamp of
his image and underlying simplicity. There were variety of trees
grown in Allahabad- mango, guava ,papaya jamun,lemon, bel and many
local flowers- chameli, champa, harshringar, which were found in his
house. Sometimes Dr Narvane would tend the garden himself. The
kitchen garden was sufficient to provide supplement throughout the
year.
As
a domestic help Tika Singh proved to be an asset, specially
considering that after some years Mrs Narvane was afflicted by
arthritis and was restricted to her wheel chair most of the time.
Despite the well knit support system of helpers in the house Dr
Narvane and his wife had trust and faith and dependence in Tika Singh
who had in later years had bigger responsibilities to look after the
house during long absences of Dr Narvane to Foreign lands on lecture
tours. Tika graduated qualitatively under the guardianship of
Narvanes into a fine cook, driver, house keeper, accounts keeper and
all that which a household requires.
In
the initial years as the philosophy lecturer Dr Narvane was a known
Marxist. My father was his pupil and respected him for his knowledge
and as an erudite speaker. He remembered his famous tribute to
Stalin on his death,at the University hall however like many like
him he too was disillusioned with the Stalin's policies revealed
later by Khrushchev and advocated for democracy, and could be called
a Nehruvian and like him wrote and spoke very lucidly.
Actually,
we children came close to the family of Narvane's as my father during
his student days was a student leader of leftist leanings and
therefore was close to his teacher , his lectures were looked forward
to by the students and he did make good preparation and often entered
a little late in 'style' hurriedly which made an impact, even Arjun
Singh who was also his student has also talked highly of him and on
the impact it made on him in his 'Autobiography'. Once he delivered
a lecture at our 'Elysium' club on the subject of 'Indian and
Western Art' and we all University students were mesmerized with his
rendition of the subject. I also learnt that Dr Narvane for a brief
period was so disillusioned with the caste politics of Allahabad
University when he felt that he was not getting his due as per his
merit with regard to his promotion that he along with his colleague
shifted to Pune University . However there too he was considered an
outsider despite being a Maharashtrian and so returned to Allahabad.
However his talent could not remain hidden and soon he was a regular
visiting professor to the universities in U. S. I recall as
children we would give our shopping lists to him when he proceeded to
U.S. And, thereafter waited for the goodies to arrive , my first Lee
wise jeans was brought by Narwane saab , of course my father made all
the payments.
In
the earlier years he took his wife regularly with him and spent 4-5
months in a year in lecture tours, but later when Indu was unable to
take the long journeys owing to her health which confined her to her
home most of the time , he traveled alone which he had to in order to
sustain economically. During such long absences it was Tika Singh who
took care of her and the house.
With
years Tika Singh evolved from an obedient servant into a 'Man friday'
a sophisticated butler, he was the pillar of support for the couple.
Cook, driver, nurse , liaison man;everything and was part of the
family -the 'Narvane Trio'. To me Tika appeared like a Army Subedar
of the Kumaun Regiment, may be sub-consciously he fashioned himself
in that mould /manner. Slim, of middle height and tanned complexion,
farmer features, hair crew cut, shoes brown always well polished,
woolen pants generally worn by military or police personnel, he would
talk in measured tone and had a nasal tinge to his voice .
On
many occasions foreign friends of Narvane would stay with them and it
was the duty of Tika to show them around, he had become a minor guide
of Allahabad. Sometimes when the visits of Dr Narvane had become more
frequent I wondered if he was having a mistress or a lady friend
there , but Tika never mentioned any such thing of the household. He
had accompanied them in the earlier years all over India in their
'Morris' and was life long faithful to it .
Once
Dr Narvane mentioned that they had employed Tika Singh as a child so
that he could be moulded according to the requirement of the
household and had purposely not given him formal schooling so that he
does not leave them! It was a chilling admission ! What an irony it
was that a professor who once professed of Marxism and was an
advocate of modern democracy had such failing! Insecurity; makes us
do strange things.
Tika
never brought his family for many years and would proceed in the
summers for about a month to his native place to be with his children
and wife. Many years later when his children had grown he brought
them to Allahabad for education and they did perform well to make him
proud and compensate for his lack of formal education. His elder son
was indeed good in studies and later, obtained a good Government
job. He had a small cottage behind the main house which he too had
done up tastefully imbibed in the company of his master! Once he
called us to dinner at his home and what he served us was no
different from what was served at the Narvane's residence-
continental, pudding, a maharashtrian preparation, a kumauni dish.
Living under the shadows of a connoisseur he had acquired
expertise in the areas which he could imbibe and had suitably
compensated for his inadequacies on account of lack of education. I
still remember the delicious 'basin ke laddoo '
he made and we all looked forward to it.
Tika
saw his dreams being fulfilled in his children. When Mrs Narvane
passed away a part of him was perished too, she was like a mother to
him though it was he who 'mothered' her! Dr Narvan's visits to US
became frequent and longer , and one day he arrived with a new
foreign wife , middle aged, ordinary looking but good natured we were
told, we understood his need for a companion.
Dr
Narvane had willed his home to his neice whom he treated as his
daughter and had performed 'kanya daan'
on her marriage, but it was stated in his will that Tika is to stay
in the house till the time he desires to. My own assessment of Dr
Narvane and Mrs Narvane was that their home had 'harmony ' and a
certain 'balance' , I looked forward to going there and engage the
couple in intellectual discussion on varied subjects, they would
always talk in soft tones and never loudly, never I found them
agitated. Mrs Narvane was also well read and participated in the
discussions with sound insight. Such people are a rarity these days
, and I miss them as I miss the days of Allahabad.
As
far as the relationship between Tika and Dr Narwane was concerned, It
was a unique relationship of mutual insecurities or was Tika the
'Caliban' to Narvane the 'Prospero'
!
Well written, Ashu !!
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