SINGH SHAIB

It is very difficult to impress a few people as they have X-ray in their eyes and scan through you thoroughly. My daughter is one such person, as she will always dig deeper to understand the reason for each and every utterance & actions. When some one like that was singing the praise of "Singh Shaib" I was doubly curious to meet that person. Ever since our daughter got married and whenever she visited her in laws she was always picked up and dropped by Singh Shaib.

Thus in my opinion Singh Shaib was a good taxi driver and probably because of his prompt service and courtesy he has won the heart of our daughter. It turned out that only after a year of waiting we were destined to meet Singh Shaib in Kolkatta when there was a party to celebrate the wedding anniversary of our daughter.

We were introduced to Singh Shaib ( SS) by our Sambandhi Prof. Roy. Singh Shaib was a bit of short man may be 5 feet 4 inches, well built and had a receding hairline. When I shook his hand I could understand the hard work they had done for years. We excused ourselves and moved to a corner away from other members of the party so that we could talk freely for some time. I am reproducing below the conversation and all that I had learnt in the one hour I spent with him !

SS was originally from a Godforsaken village in Bihar's Dharbangah district. He was forced out to migrate to Kolkatta as dependency on farming and agricultural oriented livelihood was not very encouraging due to failed crops, lack of rains etc. SS could get a job as an ambulance driver in Kolkatta Medical college hospital.  This gave him a small one bedroom flat to reside within the hospital premises. SS brought in his wife and two children from Bihar to Kolkatta. Despite a steady government job the monthly income was barely adequate to meet both ends. Children were put into schools and his wife started doing odd domestic work for the doctors residing in the premise.

It was from one of the doctor's house she got an old Doctor's kit bag and stethoscope which were discarded by the family. Since then it became a constant companion for the daughter of SS's family. She was always found to be wearing the stethoscope and testing who so ever came to home or with her playmates. SS found this very interesting.

As advised by one of the resident doctors SS took his wards to the office of The Principal of one of the leading Christian Convents nearby. Despite repeated pleas The Principal refused to entertain his requests for admitting his wards in that school. Heart broken SS returned home and was cursing his bad luck.

But lady luck had some other plans. There was an accident in the road and SS was returning after dropping someone in his ambulance. SS rushed the injured to the hospital and took great care to see to it that everything that was possible was done immediately. The injured was a teacher in the convent where SS was trying for admitting his wards. When the Principal came to visit the staff he was introduced to SS by the family of the teacher as Savior of their bread winner. The Principal then changed his mind and admitted the wards of SS in the convent.

In order to meet the growing family needs SS took to driving taxis in the free time and managed some extra money for the family. The children were bright and committed. Thus after topping in 10th and 12 th in Kolkatta SS's daughter got admission in medicine in the same place where they were living. This gave the girl extra time o spend in wards, library and in the company of other doctors. Thus when she was finishing her MBBS degree she was the topper of the university. She was chosen by AIIMS ( All India Institute Of Medical Sciences) New Delhi for Neurosurgeon course.

After the course she was chosen to go to Oxford for specialization in Micro Neuro-Surgery.  When she was awarded her degree there was an invitation for SS to attend the convocation. In his over enthusiasm SS suffered a mild stroke in the convocation hall itself. But there was timely treatment for him to recover fully.

SS's Daughter went on to study further in UK and after her courses now she has an office in Delhi and another one in London. She is supposed to be doing some special work in research in Neurosurgery field. SS became popular and there were stream of visitors form press, television etc. To meet them a flat has been purchased by his daughter. Now he stays and operates from there. This came in time when he got retired and had to vacate the quarters.

Now SS has a fleet of cars which are being used to ply as taxis. His son passed B.A in Economics and followed the same with a PG from IIM Kolkatta. He is now working in Thailand with some MNC company.

There were many alliances for his world renowned daughter. But SS left the choice to his daughter. She has chosen a family of doctors who are operation out of Gurgaon.

There is a proverb in Tamil which loosely if translated means " A farmers Karma / Poonya can be seen from the type of harvest he gets from the field" ! I strongly believe our Singh Shaib is certainly a truly blessed soul with bountiful of Poonya ( Good deeds) to children like this !!

I saluted him and took leave. But next day, when I was about to go to the air port, SS was in the driver's seat with his taxi. On enquiring, during the drive, he told me politely that that was his way of repaying the kindness and courtesy extended by my sambandhi who was a constant source of motivation when there was no light at the other end of tunnel !!!