Dr. Anand - an unholy person born in 1932 in the holy town of Nankana Sahib, central Punjab. A lawyer father, a doctor mother. Peripatetic childhood - almost gypsy style. Many schools. Many friends, ranging from a cobbler's son (poorly shod as the proverb goes) to a judge's son. MB from Glancy (now Government) Medical College Amritsar, 1958. Comet 4 to Heathrow, 1960.
Widower. Two children and their families keep an eye on him. He lives alone in a small house with a small garden. Very fat pigeons, occasional sparrows, finches green and gold drop in to the garden, pick a seed or two and fly away.
I was born in to a family that did not hold with priests of any sort, to put it mildly. In my childhood, we did not go on teeraths or yatras (religious trips). Nor did I ever hear teerathees approved of or criticised. These were people - other people - who did what suited them.
One of my grandmothers was always on the move through the length and breadth of Hindustan - as it was known then. She contributed her mite to the care-takers, or whatever they were called in the local lingo, of the mandirs (temples).
My mother used to recite JapJi, Sukhmani Sahib every day. My father used to read Sukhmani Sahib, printed in Farsi (Urdu script). I still have his copy, courtesy of my sister.
We did go to a local Gurdwara on religious occasions, and sometimes without a conscious reason.
