Unstoppable

by Sonu Bhasin

  The boys with whom he used to play table tennis at the sports club found this out very early in their relationship. The sports club loved his winning habit. ‘I was grabbed by all groups because, first, I was from Delhi and from DPS and, second, I was a good player,’ said Kuldip. He grinned boyishly as he remembered the days in Amritsar.

  As Kuldip also had many cousins in Amritsar—Surjit Kaur’s extended family and Amrit Kaur’s sister lived in the city as well—the children ended up spending time with each other. Close bonds developed between cousins and these bonds have lasted over the decades. The cousins from Delhi and Bombay also visited during the summer.

  Harbans, one of Kuldip’s cousins, now lives in Florida. He spoke to me from his house late one night, and once he started speaking, he could not stop. My questions seemed to have opened some recesses in his mind. The memories poured out, and he struggled to find the words to match the speed of the memories.

  Harbans was almost ten years older than Kuldip. He remembered Kuldip as a boy who did not like to lose. Kuldip also wanted to be the leader in all the games they played. The cousins understood early that if they wanted to irritate Kuldip, all they had to do was to ignore him. ‘Kuldip would sulk and go and sit in a corner and say petulantly, “Maine nahin khelna tuhadde naal [I don’t want to play with you guys],”’ laughed Harbans.

  Kuldip also had a low threshold for getting teased. ‘I had a dog called Tony,’ Harbans chuckled. ‘When the cousins got together, they took perverse pleasure in calling out to the dog, “Tony, Tony, aithe aaaa [come here]” or “Oye Tony kithe gaya hai tu [where have you gone?]” or they would make a phewwch sound, rubbing two fingers together and gesturing for the dog to follow them. This would really anger Kuldip.’

  ‘My pet name at home was Tony and everyone would call out to the dog while looking at me,’ Kuldip said. As Kuldip’s irritation rose, so did the cousins’ cacophony. They’d call out even louder to Tony-the-Dog! ‘Only when I would start running after them and beating them up would they stop,’ said Kuldip seriously, adding, ‘Only physical violence got their teasing to stop.’

  The cousins learnt their lesson and Kuldip learnt his. ‘If anyone puts me down or makes fun of me, I get angry and I will get my own back,’ Kuldip said.

  ‘How do you deal with your competitors? Some of them may also want to put you down in the market,’ I asked.

  ‘Oh, competitors? I think of them as my enemies,’ he replied with complete seriousness. Many of Kuldip’s competition can vouch for this.

  Between studies, games, cousins, friends and family, the two years in Amritsar passed in a flash for Kuldip. The two shops in Amritsar were doing good business. Sohan Singh would sit at the Hall Bazaar shop and Kuldip would often go there after school.

  ‘I learnt my first lessons in selling, sitting at the shop as a schoolkid. Of course, I learnt much more when I came back after graduation,’ said Kuldip.

  Even at a young age, Kuldip knew how to build loyal clients. While Sohan Singh was naturally more reserved, young Kuldip had no qualms about striking up friendships. People loved the enthusiastic, friendly young boy at the shop and would come back again and again not only to buy more but also to talk to Kuldip.

  ‘In December 1963, the day my ISC exams got over, my brother said to me, “Aajaa hun baith dukan tey [Come and sit at the shop now],”’ laughed Kuldip. ‘My brother was just waiting for me to finish my school.’

  Sohan had wanted Kuldip to join him since the business was doing well, and he wanted to start manufacturing paints. In order to do so, he needed Kuldip to handle the sales end of the business. But Kuldip wanted to study more. ‘At least graduation to karni thi nah [I had to do my graduation],’ said Kuldip.

  But Sohan Singh had other ideas. He told Kuldip, ‘Dekh, maine IIT se civil engineering kari hai. Phir bhi baitha to dukaan te hi hoon nah. Tu ne bhi dukaan te hi baithna hai. Ki lodh hai padhai-shadhai karne ki, hain? [See, I am an engineer from IIT, but I am sitting at the shop. You will also have to sit at this shop. What is the need for all this education?]’ As Sohan Singh’s word was law in the house, how could Kuldip not listen to him? Kuldip was in a dilemma.

  ‘If Kuldip decides to do something, he makes sure that it happens,’ is a comment I’ve often heard. Sixteen-year-old Kuldip had decided that he wanted to study further before coming to sit at the shop. ‘I thought chemical engineering karoonga, paints da business hai—kaam aa jaayegi [I thought I would study chemical engineering, we have a paints business—it will be useful],’ he said.

  Kuldip began a process of negotiation with his brother. ‘I could not outright refuse to listen to him,’ he said. ‘How could I? He was my elder brother—it is not our family culture.’

  With his mother and bhabhi as his supporters, Kuldip persuaded Sohan Singh to allow him to go to college for a bachelor’s degree. Relenting, Sohan Singh said, ‘I need you very badly, but go and study. Magar jaldi jaldi aa jaana [come back quickly].’

  Kuldip did return to Amritsar but not jaldi!

  1964–67

  ‘Kuldip is single-minded when it comes to pursuing his objective. There is no obstacle that can stop him’—Kewal Khosla, a college friend.

  Ten

  ‘I Was the King of the College’

  Kuldip graduated from school in December 1963 with honours in both studies and sports. He was sure that admission into a college and course of his choice would be no problem. And he was right.

  He went to Chandigarh in the summer of 1964 armed with his mark sheets and sports certificates. He had trophies and certificates for athletics, high jump, shot put and table tennis. Government College Chandigarh immediately gave him admission to his preferred course, BSc honours in chemistry.

  Once he got admitted into the course of his choice, Kuldip wanted to move to Chandigarh immediately. He realized, however, that there was a gap of a few months before the academic session began. He decided to go to Delhi rather than stay in Amritsar for that period. His cousins were in Golf Links and he went to spend time with them.

  ‘When I reached Delhi, my cousins said, “Oye Kuldip, tu chandigarh kyun jaa raha hai? Othe tu kinnu jaanda hai? Dilli, asi saare aithe hagein aan [Oye Kuldip, why are you going to Chandigarh? Whom do you know there? Come to Delhi, we are all here],”’ said Kuldip. ‘I thought what they were saying was correct,’ he added. It was true that he did not know anyone in Chandigarh but in Delhi he had not only his cousins but also his school friends. Also, he had lived in Delhi and liked the city.

  Everyone liked the idea of Kuldip studying in a Delhi college but there was a problem—the admission process for Delhi University was over! But Kuldip had made up his mind to study in Delhi. All he had to do was to find the way!

  He spoke to various people and realized that his sports certificates and trophies could come in handy to apply under the sports quota. He asked his cousins which was the best college in Delhi, and the unanimous answer was St Stephen’s College. Kuldip went to St Stephen’s and met the officials. The college offered him a BSc general course immediately. But Kuldip wanted BSc honours in chemistry. The college told him that they could not offer him a seat in that course.

  ‘I asked them, “Phir main kya karoon? Mujhe to chemistry hi karna tha [Then what should I do? I wanted to study chemistry],”’ said Kuldip. He was told to go across the road!

  Kuldip went to Hindu College and met the admission officers there. The college told him that they would admit him immediately in BSc general under the sports quota. However, as and when a vacancy came up in the chemistry course, he would be given the option to move there. ‘There was one sports master, Mr Sondhi, who was very keen that the young sportsman join his college. He said, “Join kar le, chap, phir dekhi jayegi [Join the college, chap, and we will see later]!”’ laughed Kuldip.

  ‘I thought that at Stephen’s there was no chance of getting chemistry but in Hindu there was a slight chance,’ said Kuldip.

  As he was thinking about the probability of a v
acancy opening up soon, Kuldip was distracted by a loud shout. ‘Oye Kuldip, what are you doing here? Are you joining Hindu College? Oh good, we are all here.’

  Kuldip turned around and saw his schoolmates from Delhi Public School walking towards him. ‘They had all got admission into Hindu College and some of them were even in the hostel,’ Kuldip said. Ever the people person, Kuldip decided that it was going to be Hindu College for him. He signed up for BSc general and went to the hostel office to get a room.

  It did not take much time for Kuldip to settle down in his new surroundings. He made new friends as he played table tennis and hockey at college.

  Subhash Saigal and Kewal Khosla were among the first friends he made at Hindu College. ‘This was my group!’ said Kuldip, still sounding like a college boy fifty years later. ‘Pradeep Bhagat was also part of the group,’ he continued. Since the boys had formed an instant bond, they decided to have hostel rooms allocated in the same wing. In the 1960s, the boys at Hindu College had the luxury of single rooms in the hostel. Kuldip used his persuasive skills and managed to get rooms 4, 5 and 6 allocated to his gang, so they were in rooms next to each other.

  ‘We had adjacent hostel rooms at the Hindu College hostel,’ said Subhash Saigal. We were at the Lado Sarai Golf Course. It was a hot evening and the misty fans were trying their best to bring down the ambient temperature in the small open-to-air cafeteria. But the fans, with their drizzle of almost invisible but cool mist, could not compete with the hard sun beating down the verdant greens. Subhash, Kewal and I decided to scamper off into the welcoming cool of the air-conditioning inside to carry on our conversation.

  All colleges had elections within a couple of months of the new session. ‘Some boys came to me and said, “Kuldip you should stand for sports secretary,”’ said Kuldip. ‘Now, I played sports but did not know what a sports secretary was. So I asked them, “Woh kya hota hai [What is that?],”’ continued Kuldip. He was told that the table tennis room and the hostel common room would be part of his responsibilities. ‘There was also a budget for the facilities,’ Kuldip said. He decided to stand for elections.

  Once he had decided that he would contest the election he decided he had to win it. ‘There was no other way for me! I was elected unanimously,’ Kuldip said with a grin.

  ‘Hostel life was superb. The food in the hostel was fantastic!’ said Kuldip enthusiastically. ‘For just Rs 80 a month we got meat at lunch and dinner and eggs in the morning. And very tasty food!’ he said. ‘Chicken was served once a week, at most twice. But we had meat every day,’ he said.

  For those who grew up after the 1960s, it would be surprising to know that chicken was the expensive luxury then. ‘Roti bhi, chawal bhi, sabzi bhi and we even had dahi [There was roti, chawal, vegetables, even curd]. One rupee extra for a guest. Aur jinna marzi khao, koi rok nahin thi [And we could eat as much as we wanted. No one to stop us],’ he said.

  Life was good. The core group of four friends settled down into their daily routines. Classes were incidental and had to be attended for the mandatory attendance. Activities outside of the class took up their time. There were games to be played, movies to be seen and discussions to be had.

  ‘Because of my interest in sports I got to know many boys besides my close friends,’ said Kuldip. One of the boys was Sudipto Sen (name changed to protect identity). ‘His father was a senior air force officer. But Sudipto used to hang out with the goonda elements. In fact, in those days, Hindu College was known for its goondas,’ he continued. ‘It was also one of the reasons my brother wanted me to go to Hindu College instead of St Stephens. He told me “Hindu goondyon da college hai. Tu othe hi jaa. Stephen’s jaayega to mere jaisa sirf padhakoo ban kar rah jayega [Hindu College is for thugs. Don’t go to Stephen’s as you will become an academician like me],”’ remembered Kuldip with a laugh.

  The goondas that Sudipto hung out with were not students of Hindu College. Some of the students at the college had relatives who were the goondas. Like Kuldip, there were others who had got admission under the sports quota. These were the well-built wrestlers, boxers and shot-put throwers who were now fellow students of Kuldip. Some of their families lived in the surrounding areas and their siblings or cousins were part of the notorious gangs. ‘Some wrestlers were my friends as I was a popular boy in college. Their brothers were goondas but they never said anything to me,’ Kuldip was quick to point out.

  Sudipto Sen was two years senior to Kuldip and prone to pick up fights with people. ‘Ek toh [for one] he was in third year and dooja [two], he had the backing of the goondas of Kamla Nagar,’ said Kuldip. After he joined college Kuldip had had people come up to him to tell him to be careful of Sudipto as he was known to have a mercurial temper. ‘And once he became angry Sudipto could be very violent,’ said Kuldip.

  The main rival for Hindu College was St Stephen’s and while most of the students indulged in healthy rivalry, Sudipto took it a notch higher. Students were wary around Sudipto due to the ‘Stephen’s incident’. ‘Hua ainj tha ki [what happened was like this], Sudipto had picked up a fight with a boy in Stephen’s,’ Kuldip started the story. ‘It all began as a verbal fight. But Sudipto took offence to something the Stephanian had said and launched a physical attack on the boy. I was told that it was a very serious fight. Brick utha kar odhe sar pe maari sigi [He picked up a brick and hit the boy on the head],’ Kuldip said, flinging an imaginary brick. I ducked instinctively. The other boy was badly hurt, had blood oozing out of his head and his clothes were torn. It was only because of quick medical help and the Hindu College boys pulling Sudipto away that the boy was saved.

  The St Stephen’s principal had complained to his counterpart at Hindu. Sudipto was told to leave the hostel and the college. ‘It was only because his father and some senior government officers intervened that he was allowed to stay. But no one took pangaas with him after that,’ said Kuldip.

  However, Kuldip’s friend Satish picked up a fight with Sudipto one night at the hostel mess. The mess had two long tables running down its length. One table served vegetarian food and the other served non-vegetarian. A natural aisle was created between the two.

  Satish is, even today, of average height and small built. However, he did not let this come in the way of talking in an assertive and provocative manner. One evening he heard that Sudipto had said something about the food. Satish walked up to Sudipto and ticked him off.

  ‘Sudipto was a tall, well-built guy,’ said Kuldip. He was visibly unhappy at being spoken to roughly in front of the entire mess. He stopped eating, and slowly stood up, flexing his muscular arms. He was over six feet tall and built like a boxer. Sudipto looked down at Satish and told him to shut up. But Satish was made of sterner stuff. He did not cow down and said something back to Sudipto. ‘Sudipto bent and picked Satish up by the scruff of his neck,’ said Kuldip.

  The entire mess watched, transfixed, as Sudipto dangled Satish a few feet off the ground. Everyone stopped eating and there was pin-drop silence in the mess.

  Kuldip, seeing his friend in distress, rushed to Satish, who was still face-to-face with Sudipto. Satish’s feet were dangling in the air. Kuldip, a tall, well-built guy himself, looked at Sudipto in the eye and physically separated the two. Satish scurried away as soon as his feet found firm ground. Now it was Sudipto and Kuldip who were standing in the middle of the room, facing each other.

  ‘I should have kept quiet after Satish was put down,’ said Kuldip ‘but I have a hot head and in that rush I told Sudipto, “If you want to fight why are you picking a fight with someone smaller? Fight someone your own size,”’ Kuldip pointed to himself as he said this.

  Sudipto did not say anything at that time. Maybe he realized that picking up a fight at that time would be counterproductive. Or he was plain hungry and wanted to go back to eating his food. Whatever it was, Sudipto sat down without a word, put his head down and started eating his food again.

  ‘I did not know that Sudipto would keep that incident in his mi
nd. I forgot about it and went about my life as usual,’ said Kuldip.

  The incident came back to haunt him a few weeks later. After his morning classes one day, Kuldip walked into the table tennis room, where some boys were playing. Sudipto was sitting in a corner and watching the match. Kuldip saw that one of the boys had a new racquet. He walked up to the boy and asked if he could take a look at it.

  ‘Don’t give the racquet to that bastard Kuldip,’ thundered Sudipto from across the room.

  ‘I heard the word “bastard” and saw red,’ said Kuldip. ‘Tu ne mainoo bastard bola? Tu ne meri maa noo gaali di hai? [You called me a bastard? You have insulted my mother?],’ he thundered as he launched himself on to Sudipto.

  The other boys scurried away, not wanting to come between two six-footers who were at each other’s throats. ‘I hit him, punched him, kicked him and pounded away at him,’ said Kuldip calmly. Sudipto started to bleed and Kuldip tore away at his clothes. ‘I even remember the taste of his hair in my mouth as I was biting him,’ said Kuldip.

  The other boys now realized that both Kuldip and Sudipto had to be separated. With great difficulty they pulled the two apart and each boy was restrained by a few boys. Both Kuldip and Sudipto were huffing and were short of breath. Taking large gasps of air, Kuldip allowed himself to be guided to a chair and sat down. Sudipto went out of the room.

  ‘I thought ki fight hui hai, khatam ho gayi hai [we fought but now it is over] and that the matter had ended,’ said Kuldip. He dusted himself, tidied his clothes and started playing table tennis again. The spirit of bonhomie slowly returned to the small room.

  But the matter had clearly not ended. ‘Suddenly there was a commotion outside the table-tennis room. We looked and saw a large group of goondas coming towards our room,’ said Kuldip. Sudipto had gone straight from the table-tennis room to his goonda friends and had showed them his dishevelled state. The torn clothes and blood oozing from the punches taken by Sudipto had angered his friends. They gathered their knuckle dusters, knives and bricks, and a mob of twenty well-built guys accompanied Sudipto back to the college.