BRIJ RATAN PARAKH OR BABA (biography of my father Brij Ratan Parakh)

(Brij Ratan Parakh with his granddaughter)

Abridged Story prepared by : Trilok Kumar Jain Parakh Niwas, Sivakamu Veterinary Hospital Road, Near Gogagate Circle, Bandrabas, Bikaner 334001 Jain.tk@gmail.com 9414430763

Contents : Introduction Life Style Freedom Struggle Close Associates and Friends

Introduction Baba died in 2004 at the age of 83. He was a man of exceptional capabilities. His life was full of sufferings. He spent his entire life in struggles at multiple fronts. He had to leave his home early and start earning at the age of 15. He got his formal schooling upto class 8th in Kolkatta. He was an outstanding astrologist, an outstanding orator. He was exceptionally good in accounting, financial analysis, drafting and report writing (both in English and in Hindi). During his school days, he was an exceptional football player. During his young age, he was a great entrepreneur, however due to illness, he spent last 45 years of his life taking rest. He had suffered many diseases and had to undergo 7 major surgical operations by the age of 38. When he was 38, his one of the kidney had to be removed from the body, as it was completely damaged. The other kidney was also partiallly damaged, but it continued. Later on he had to undergo one more major surgical operation for removal of tumors (which had developed with symptoms of cancer). An Adverturous Risk Taker He used to take risks throughout his life and he suffered due to these risks. He included new partners in his business, which ultimately forced him to suffer substantially. He went ahead to help his relative, who was bitten by a mad dog, and he suffered here also and had to take up multiple injections relating to rabbies. He travelled to Burma and North-East India for supporting INA and the operations of Subhash Chandra Bose, where he couldnt get proper drinking water even. He faced very difficult conditions in North -East India and Burma, which damaged his health badly. During partition, he had to take his family from Silhat to Northern India and it was a journey of exceptional risk and courage (as at that time there was massive bloodshed and people had lost their mind). He had exceptional memory till his last and had facts and figures at his tips. He was a freedom fighter and had worked with Subhash Chandra Bose, and had invited Gandhi ji and Shashtri ji in Eastern India. Baba used to engage himself in some or other adventures. There was no bank in our vicinity and people had to go to 2 km for a bank. Baba wrote letters to SBBJ for opening a bank and ultimately succeeded. When the bank started, Baba requested everyone in our neighbourhood to open an account in the bank so that the bank

becomes viable. However, Baba was very disappointed later to see the bureaucratic and apathetic attitude of bank employees towards work and towards customers. He later wrote many letters to SBBJ regarding arrogant behavior of bank employees in SBBJ. We still continue our account with SBBJ (the same account that Baba had opened) only due to our emotional attachment, otherwise the arrogant and impolite behavior of many bank employees in SBBJ force us to close our account, but we are still continuing (thanks to our tolerance power). After Bank, Baba then took up issues like Water Tank and Chabutara (a platform where food is offered to pigeons). Baba succeeded in both the adventures as Water Tank was constructed and Chabutara was constructed. However, here also Baba was disappointed. Water tank was opposed by the people living in vicinity and they became adversaries of Baba. Chabutara was usurped by someone and it is now an illegal property of someone. Baba made many-many adventures, and succeeded in most of them, but ultimately got disappointed to see the end results. He realized that the administration system in India is in shambles. Nepotism and poor administration system has destroyed our governance. Baba used to say that when there was British rule, they were aspiring for independence, but after independence, they had found the administration and political leadership devoid of any merit and it was worse then the British system. Baba was a highly punctual and disciplinarian. He would not tolerate even one minutes deviation. He would always honour his verbal commitments at any costs as according to him Jaban gayi to sab kuch gayi (if you are not able to implement your own promise, you are worthless). Life Style Simple Life He was born to an exceptionally rich family, and had large business enterprises, however he had separated from his family due to differences in ideas with his mother. He started his career with a service. He later started his own businesses from his savings. He was exceptionally successful in his business ventures, but suffered when his partners cheated him and had to quit his businesses. He had no source of income during his last 45 year and he used to earn some interest from his savings (which he had deposited partly with bank and partly with some of his relatives). He used to lead a very simple life and hence he used to manage his family with the small budget that he had. He used to wear only three dresses one Lungi and one cotton brief and one Chola (a type of loose shirt). He had one plastic sleeper, which he used till his last (and that is still lying intact). Self-restrained Structured and Principled Life He led a very structured and well managed life. He used to sleep at 9.00 pm and used to get up at sharp 3.00 am. He used to spend 2-3 hours in the morning in prayers. He had tremendous tolerance. He used to say that we have to prepare our body to tolerate extremes of weather and extremes of circumstances. Whether it was extreme summer or extreme winter, Baba followed same routine and more or less same life style. I was trained to economise electricity in my childhood. We used to use electricity minimally. Our rooms are such that there is enough natural light during day time. During night I used to try to study from the street light

(which was just opposite our home). During summers, my father used to switch on fan only when there were guests. During nights we used to sleep at roof top, which didnt require any electricity. Not only electricity, every resource was used scarcely. I was trained to be very particular in using any resource. While writing his notes, my father used to use every bit of the paper. He would save paper till it could be used for the last bit. When I would throw my old copies, my father will pick them up and prepare writing pads using the other side of the paper or the paper which had not been used till that time. It was a dream of Baba to set up a school. He wanted to set up school for the masses. He used to encourage everyone, specially teachers to start a school. He was one of the board of trustees of H.S.Rampuria Vidyaniketan (one of the best Schools in Bikaner at that time) for a long time and had some ideas of how to manage a school. However, he couldnt materialize his plans He was strongly in favour of entrepreneurship. He used to suggest his relatives and friends to start some business in home town. Whenever he used to meet any person, who had left his home down for his job, Baba used to suggest that person to start some business in home town. He used to suggest people to start small business instead of taking up a job. Baba used to circulate good ideas, noble thoughts and good books. He had donated large number of books to different libraries and to different people. He wrote a poem on service to parents, whereby he wanted to emphasize the importance of service to parents. He circulated this poem to everyone who was in touch with Baba. Baba used to love Indian medicines and Indian health tonics. He used to buy Chawanprash. He used used to ask his friend Goli Pandit to prepare lot of chawanprash and then he would encourage his friends and relatives to take some chawanprash. Freedom Struggle : Baba spent his childhood and his youth in various adventures with freedom fighters. He burnt foreign cloth during his childhood. His grand father had many shops, one of the shop dealth in cloth and he could find foreign cloth there and set that on fire. He had met Subhash Chandra Bose and was very much impressed from his ideas. When the forces of Indian National Army reached Indian borders, he went to Burma borders to support them and it was a very difficult time. His journey to North-East India and Burma was full of exceptional experiences and it was horrible to even listen those experiences from Baba. It used to be a horrible experience to listen from him about his memories of freedom struggle and about partition of India. He himself was in Silhat (now in Bangladesh) at the time of partition and had great difficulties in escaping from Silhat to Eastern India. He invited Gandhi ji and later to Shashtri ji to Eastern India and attended their sessions. During partition time, he was settled as a businessman in Silhat. He spent his time in saving people in Silhat. He saved lives of many people. Later when the situation worsened, he had no option but to quit Silhat. He left all his properties in Silhat and left for India. Due to his good behavior, he had many muslim friends. He changed his attire as a muslim asked my mother to wear Burka and then both escaped from Silhat towards India. They faced many rioters in the way, but they were able to escape as they said that they were muslims. He then reached Agartalla, where he spent his time in fighting against communal riots. His journeys from Silhat to Agartalla is a very horrendous account in itself.

Though a freedom fighter himself, Baba was completely dissatisfied with the policies of the government after independence. He in fact became very critical of all our political, economical and other policies. He used to tell that the British Government had better administration and better discipline. He used to tell why we wanted freedom we wanted to lead a life of respect, a life of initiatives, a life of our own decisions. We are getting none of these. After independence, the government thinks every entrepreneur is a cheat. The government officers try to repress an ordinary person. There is no rule of law. There is nepotism and corruption everywhere. What is the benefit of this independence? Close Associates and Friends Srinarayan Pradhan Babas closest friend was Srinarayan Pradhan. When Srinarayan Pradhan died, Baba was shattered. He felt like having lost his own life. Death of a close friend removed his own motivation for life. He thereafter started a pessimistic approach towards life and started saying ye share jhini chadaria hai, kabhi bhi bulawa aa sakta hai (this body is a flimsy cover and may be removed any time). In his last year, Baba used to tell everyone these are last days. When he was celebrating his last Diwali, he was pessimistic and said next year I shall celebrate Diwali somewhere else, hence you organize it yourself. Baba and Gourishankar Madhukar Gourishankar Madhukar is a great satirist. He writes poems and satires. He is a great patriot. Now he has published a few books also of his writings. He used to visit my home frequently. He used to have long discussions with Baba about current political and economic scenarios. Both were very critical of political and economic policies of the government. Both were very disappointed by the administration system of the government. Hence, it was a perfect meeting. The most important issue used to be rising corruption. Baba and Sahajanand ji Sahajanand ji was the greatest Jain saint I have seen in my life. He was a disciple of Srimad Rajchandra. He used to live mostly in Hampi (Karnataka). He once came to Bikaner. I was 3 or 4 years at that time. Baba was very close to him. Baba used to go to him every day. Sahajanand ji used to spent most of his time in Kayotsarga and in Meditations. He knew many rare skills (like Akash Yatra). It is commonly believed about him that he used to fly to Palitana daily from whereever he used to be there. There were many incidents between Baba and Sahajanand ji, which I cant write here as no body will believe such incidents today. I still remember the night when we all got up at 3.00 am and it was winter. At 4.00 am Sahajanand ji was supposed to come. At sharp 4.00 am Sahajanand ji came and gave us blessings and left Bikaner. He never returned Bikaner afterwards. While leaving Bikaner he gave his Khadau (wooden sandals) to my father as his memoir. He gave a mantra to my family to be used regularly. Baba and Lichhu Maharaj: Till indpendence, there used to be traditional doctors in every city / village in India. These doctors were experts in traditional Indian medicines and Indian pharmocology. They had got this science from their parents and from their teachers. They were so skilled in this science that they could check complete health of a

person by just studying pulse of his veins. They used to prepare their own medicines mostly from herbs found in the region. They used to be very hard-working as they used to spend a great deal of time in collecting herbs, preparing formulations and preparing medicines. Lichhu Maharaj was the famous Nadi Vaidya (traditional doctor trained in Indian art of medicines) from Bikaner and Baba used to refer to him for any minor ailments. Lichhu Maharaj used to check your veins in the hand and could tell everything about you. He could even tell about the food that you have eaten during last 24hours. He used to prepare medicines for his patients. His medicines used to be herbal medicines of very small size and he used to give doses for 4-5 days. I had very weak physique in my childhood and used to occasionally suffer from minor ailments like cough, cold, fever etc. Baba used to take me to Lichhu Maharaj and used to give me medicines of Lichhu Maharaj. Lichhu Maharaj : I am the last Vaidya in our generation. Now this art will disappear. No son of any Nadi Vaidya wants to learn this art. The modern education system tells the people that Nadi Vaidya should not be consulted and therefore no body comes to me these days. The government doesnt realise the great expertise that we have. People eat allopathic medicines without knowning the contents of those medicines. I tell you most of these medicines are made of non-veg contents. These medicines have so many side effects that people dont realise now. I tell you that people will suffer in the future. Look at my medicines, they give quick benefits and have no side effects. They are very good for your health. They give you real health Baba: I try to convince people, but people dont realise. Look at me, I suffered my one kidney just due to Allopathic Medicines and Injections. I suffered so many diseases due to these medicines. Now I first check the contents of Allopathic medicines before taking them. They have so much side effects. Our time is about to ov er. The next generatons will have difficult times. Why dont you train some people in your art Lichhu Maharaj: No body wants to learn this art now. People have been misled by the government. No body wants to believe on us. No body wants to try our medicines Modaram ji Modaram ji used to be a Tonga driver (Tonga is a type of horse-cart). Baba used to call Modaram ji whenever Baba had to go somewhere. Baba was a very weak and fragile person (physiologically not psychologically). Baba could not walk long distances, hence he used to call up Modaram ji for travel purpose. Baba and Indrajmal ji Indrajmal ji was a great astrologist from Bikaner. He had exceptional skills in astrological mathematics. Baba was close friend of indrajmal ji. They used to spend hours discussing about possibilities about future. Indrajmal ji used to give predictions, which used to be highly accurate. All the forecasts made by Indrajmal ji have been found to be correct. His genius in predicting future was un-parallel. He had given predictions long back that one day (he had given dates and years also) Atal Bihari Vajpee would become the prime minister of India. Baba used to be extremely worried about me. He was in poor health and my mother was in worse conditions. Hence, he was always worried about my future. Indrajmal ji used to give assurance to Baba and this would help him in relieving his tension.

I used to be very poor in studies. I didnt have good memory. Baba asked Indrajmal ji about solutions. He gave a mantra which had to be written on my tongue at the time of Eclipse. Baba tried to do this, but it was very difficult for me to bear this, however, afterwards there was an improvement in my performance. Indrajmal ji and Baba identified another mantra. This mantra had to be recited for six months (108 times daily) and this would transform my memories. I tried for 2-3 months, but then I fell ill and couldnt complete the exercise. Indrajmal ji and Baba tried many things like this for my development. Baba and Sripujya ji Sripujya ji was the great Jain Monk and incharge of Jain Gurukul and training centre in Bikaner. He followed Jain traditions and had been appointed by previous Sripujya ji. Baba used to be very close to him. Baba used to visit him occasionally. Sripujyaji had exceptional knowledge in all fields like Astrology, Indian medicines, Jain religion, Indian sciences and Indology. He used to prepare a Vaskhep, which he used to shower on us during our visit. He used to chant some mantra for our well being. Baba insisted that he should do something for my development. Sripujyaji prepared and gave a mantra to me for my development. I still use that mantra. Its a one line mantra. Baba and Indo-Pak War 1971 Baba used to tell everyone about precautions at the time of war. Baba had experienced many wars closely and hence he was expert in handling such conditions. We had protected our home. Some bags of dust were prepared on top. All the windows were properly sealed so that no light could go out. Baba used to listen to radio regularly, particularly BBC news to get an update on the war. Baba and Bhanwarlal ji and Hazarimal ji Bhanwarlal Nahata was my maternal uncle and a very close friend of Baba. Baba used to have regular correspondence with Bhanwarlal ji. Bhanwarlal ji used to write extensively on Rajasthani culture, traditions, Indian culture etc. We used to receive post cards regularly from Bhanwarlal ji (he used to live in Kolkatta). The post card used to be written in very small handwritings. If you try to write the same text on a A4 size paper, probably you will use the entire paper for that much of matter. Every bit of post card was written up. Baba also used to reply regularly to him by post cards. Hazarimal ji Banthia was also my maternal uncle and close friend of Baba. He used to live in Hathras. He was also a staunch supporter of Rajasthani culture, art and Rajasthani language. Baba used to have regular correspondence with him. Sohan Singh ji Sohan Singh ji was an old person who didnt have any body else in his family. He used to lead a very withered life. He used to come to my home daily and Baba also used to visit him in return. Sohan Singh ji used to make Pan (beetle leaf) , which he used to offer to us. Sohan Singh ji later gave his entire property to his distant relative and went to their home. Thereafter, we didnt have much interaction with him. Sohan Lal Dugar

Babas close friend Mr. Sohanlal Dugar used to be available to him always at his phone -call. Sohan Lal ji is now settled in Delhi. Bhagwan ji When our home was constructed (1964), Bhagwan ji was a construction worker. Baba had the habit of forming friendship with everyone from down to the top. Hence he developed friendship with almost all the workers and others working in construction. Bhagwanji maintained this friendship till last. Even now Bhagwan ji regularly visits our home and he is an uncle for us. Whenever any construction related issue would be there, Baba will handover the matter to Bhagwan ji. Jatan Lal Surana Babas close friend Mr. Surana was a good doctor in Homeopathic medicines. Baba used to encourage everyone to go for homeopathic medicines. Baba used to remain in close association with Mr. Surana.