Vrinda, our daughter, fondly
addressed as Anu by us all, celebrated Golden Jubilee of her birthday on 2nd
November 2024. Her husband Nikhil and a coterie of their friends were eager to
make it an occasion to cherish. They do tend to think out of the box.
Accordingly, they connived to surprise Anu
with a bash on 1st November, the eve of her birthday. They roped in
Nitika-Nishka, Tinu- Anshu & Iraa-Reeva, Nitin-Anjali & daughters,
Praveen & Veenu to be part of the fun. Nikhil, being very caring,
respectful and meticulous, made it a point to ensure that his parents viz. Shri
R C Khattar & Mrs. Sharda Khattar and Vrinda’s parents that is Mrs. Kanta Chhokra her mother and
myself her father. A wonderful humorous skit written and enacted by Nitika and
Nishka brought the house down. Best wishes through video messages from Tinu
& family, Nitin & family and Praveen & Veenu livened up the
occasion. And Nikhil’s emotional speech laced with humour befitting the
occasion heightened the mirth of the celebrations.
When I was
given the opportunity to speak, I took it gratefully because I saw it as an
occasion to express my gratitude to God, an acknowledgement of his boon and
metamorphosis that came into my life with the arrival of Vrinda into our lives.
I made a brief speech which was perhaps not in the line of the intended milieu
and my reputation of making funny speeches. However, the tone and tenor of the
speech that I gave was intentional and was not influenced by any opinion of
anyone else. Here is how it goes(went)
I was born in 1943 in
Lyallpur which is now in Pakistan. In 1947, like millions of others, we were
uprooted from our native place and finally took refuge in Jalandhar. The life
of my family including my own during the years between 1947 and 1964 was a
quite a grind but our resilience helped us. We survived various kinds of
experiences and hardships. But the year 1964 turned a new leaf for us. My elder
brother left on Work Visa for greener pastures in England while I got selected
in the prestigious Training School of BARC then known as AEET. I could
successfully withstand the rigours of the course of training as a physicist.
When on the successful
completion of training, I got appointed in
BARC in 1965 as a Scientific Officer, my paternal family was very happy
and felt very proud. I too was very proud, happy and contented with my
achievements which were not mean by any standard that a middle class family
sets for itself. But my elation was very short-lived and it soon turned into
despondency. The primary cause of this bitterness was a very hostile attitude
and nearly sadistic trait of my immediate superior and the apathy of the higher
authorities. I felt like a bonded labourer. Because of various reasons, I could
not quit at that time. The ingrained resilience counselled me to lie low and
bide time which I did. The patience paid. I even got a nominal promotion. Then
a big change occurred in my life which turned out to be harbinger of pride,
confidence and happiness. In year 1971,
I got married to Ms. Kanta Sethi. This brought stability in my thinking and
general attitude by instilling a sense of responsibility. The things changed
and changed for the better.
And then CAME the change,
the biggest of them all. It was a boon that we, Ms. Kanta and myself, got from
God. We got blessed with our daughter Vrinda whom we fondly address by her pet
name Anu. I am happy and proud to declare that 2nd November 1974 is
the happiest day of my life, Kanta ji will also concur and corroborate the
same.
Up to the time before
the arrival of Anu, I had almost resigned to the escapist tendency that my
destiny would decide the course of my life, which seemed to lack a sense of
purpose and direction.
This finds expression
in the following poem titled
मेरा उम्र भर का सफ़र राएगाँ गया
क़िस्सा-ए-हस्त-ओ-बूद मेरा बेबयां गया
मेरा उम्र भर का सफ़र राएगाँ गया
मन्ज़िल थी सामने रसता भी साफ़ था
फिर भी न उस समत मेरा कारवां गया
तेरी जुस्तजू में जाना भटका हूं दर-ब-दर
मायूसी हाथ आई मैं चाहे जहां गया
तुम न थे साथ फिर भी तन्हा नहीं रहा
तेरा अक्स साथ आया मैं जहां जहां गया
दुश्मन को भी न मैने कभी बददुआएं दीं
फिर क्या हुआ कि दुश्मन हो आस्मां गया
मैने न जाने कितने हवाई क़ले बनाये
लेकिन यहां ज़मीं पर मैं ला-मकां गया
And when Vrinda
descended into our lives, my mindset changed and has changed to more optimism
and the heightened zeal and zest for life as follows
अब वजह मिल गई है जीने की
जाम यह ज़िन्दगी का पीने की
आखिरी बूंद तक मज़ा लेंगे
आबरु रखेंगे आब गीने की
Both me and my wife
are thankful to God for giving us this wonderful gift of our daughter Vrinda.
And we are thankful to God and Vrinda for gifting us our wonderful grand
daughters Nitika and Nishka. And we are thankful to God and Vrinda because of
whom we got to be blessed with a wonderful Son-in-Law Nikhil. And we are
forever obliged and thankful to Mr. R C Khattar and Ms Sharda Khattar who were
blessed by God with a wonderful son Nikhil who in turn established an everlasting bond between them and us.
We must thank all the
friends and well wishers of Vrinda and Nikhil for the love and affection they
shower on all the Khattar family and on me and my wife.
It is with utmost love
and affection that we pray to God for bestowing the best of everything on our
dearest daughter Anu for many many more years to come. We wish her many happy returns of the day.
Happy Golden Jubilee - Dearest Vrinda
