After having a round of the Museum of Garhwal Rifles and satiating our eyes and hearts with the picturesque snow-clad Himalayan peaks starkly visible under the clear sky afar, we were exhausted and felt quite thirsty – more so the four young children with us. The place was Lansdowne in Uttarakhand, a beautiful cantonment township 5,500 feet in altitude.
Since drinking water was not readily available, we felt to relax a while in a nearby garden. Some 15 meters towards east lay a hamlet of well-built houses and we wished someone to help us. And lo, god heard us. An elderly Sikh was lingering to his house.
My wife, daughter and son are associated with a Sikh school and find it comfortable to communicate in Punjabi. So I told my wife to ask for water from the Sikh man. The man asked all eight of us to accompany him to his palacial house.
We were inside the spacious hall of his house. Telling us to be seated comfortably, the host went to the kitchen. Five minutes passed, and the action to be taken was analysed; to leave forthright or just continue viewing the rare wildlife pictures on the wall.
Shortly, the host appeared with large platefuls of sweets and snacks and large jugs of Rooh Afza. Without permitting us to express our gratitude for the hospitality, he requested us to start taking the savouries in a tone and gesture that would make one feel homelier than at home.
“Now, tell me, where you are coming from,” he asked us. Before any answers, he started to tell about himself. “I am Satvinder Singh, serving in Military Engineering Service for over 23 years,” he continued. “Apart from the army mess at Lansdowne, the ones in the nearby Kotdwara and Pauri are also in my charge.”
We learnt that he has two sons, both doing engineering and his wife, missing his second son, had gone to see him. “Having so luxurious living rooms was the norm of those days,” he remarked about the house. “Now the authorities condemn these aging houses, to be replaced by four reasonably-sized flats.”
Whenever I am in a hill station, I am reminded of the magnanimous Sikh of Lansdowne. I wonder if it was the spacious dwelling, the native Punjabi nature, or just a human concern that makes me think of him.
