Baburao Lakshmanrao Pathak worked in a bank in an era when there were not many industries in India. Banking in those days was considered a highly valued and respectable profession. And as was the norm in those days he was transferred quite often and used to move around with his wife and 5 children, the youngest of whom was my mother. He was affectionately and respectfully addressed as 'Babuji' by everyone in our family.
I have some vague and some very clear memories of my childhood with Babuji. Annual summer vacations in school used to be the time to visit the home of our maternal uncle and maternal grand parents. I used to really look forward to those visits, mostly because of the excitement of being with my cousins and playing with them all day long. It was during these visits that I have my earliest memories of seeing Babuji.
On these visits I vividly remember hearing these words from Babuji, always. In fact every child that ever visited that house would have heard those words. They were, 'बेटा पढाई खूब मन लगाके करना', 'खूब मेहनत करना', 'कोई भी काम हो, पुरी ईमानदारी से करना' and finally 'हमेशा जूते पोलिश करके स्कूल जाना' which loosely translate into 'My child, always study with utmost dedication', 'Work hard always', 'Do any task assigned to you with complete honesty', and 'Always wear polished shoes to school'. I can still listen to him speaking those words in my head. When I grew up and started working those things changed to 'ऑफिस में पूरी मेहनत और ईमानदारी से काम करना। तुम्हारे बॉस को कभी तुम्हारे काम की वजह से शिकायत नहीं होनी चाहिए।' which again loosely translates to 'Work hard and with complete honesty in office. Your boss should never get a chance to complain about your work'. He always stressed on honest hard work and on being in a neat and clean attire. He used to stress on the same things whenever we talked on phone. In fact, such had become the norm after some time that every time I see him or talk to him on phone I used to repeat those words of his. I don't know if that used to make him happy or content, but deep down I feel it was not about him or his happiness. He just wanted to ensure that we inculcate those values of honesty, integrity and hard work that he had lived by all his life.
One other aspect that I learned from Babuji was gardening. Every time he visited us he used to work in our small garden. He was old and could not sit or crouch easily but he'll still work in the garden in the heat for hours. He was one of the people who made me appreciate gardening and develop a love for nature. He also had a very deep knowledge about plants and their uses. I remember there was a vine in our backyard. It was a wild plant that I had allowed to grow for decorative purposes because of its beautiful red and green leaves. On one of his visits he spotted it and asked mother to make bhajiya with its leaves. So from being just a decorative wild plant it turned into a delicacy. And that is how I discovered पोइ ना भजिया. He was also very fond of भट्टे की सब्जी among other things. He was a diabetic and was not allowed to eat all the dishes he loved. But whenever he visited us he used to get a chance to eat some of those prohibited dishes because he was able to convince my mother, who as it turns out cannot be strict with anyone. Least of all her father who she used to see only once in a while.
There are many other fond memories of Babuji, but every time I think of him the first thing that comes to my mind is his unwavering focus on honesty, integrity and hard work. Those words that I have heard since childhood. I don't think of them as his expectations but as the values that he lived by all his life and I hope that we all can live by the same.
