DEV SAHAB KE SAATH WOH EK SUBAH HOLI KAA

Dev Sahab believed in god and his power over heaven and earth, but he was strongly against all rituals and customs and said that one didn’t need to practice all these rituals if one had complete faith in the god (Dev ) above-  Ali Peter John

He had never really observed the rituals practiced during Diwali which he considered to be a huge waste of money to please a god who he said had never asked his believers to make a noise and sing and dance to please him.

His wife , Kalpana Kartik ( Mona) was a Roman Catholic and Dev Sahab sometimes joined her in the prayer service she conducted at home and celebrated Christmas and Easter once in a way.

He even prayed the Christian prayers when he was alone in his office and I had the privilege of listening to him pray. And if there was one festival he felt distinctly uncomfortable about was Holi.

It was Holi in 1982 when he called me to his house and I had told him that it would be difficult for me because of the crowds playing Holi all over.

He said , “If you fear , you will fear and do nothing in life . Come out of your house, get into a cab and come on over to my house and we will go to my office from there “ .

I followed his “orders” and when I reached Iris Park , his bungalow, he was already waiting for me in his Fiat Car with his faithful driver Prem.

We got comfortable in the car and he told Prem, “Daftar chalo “ and Prem looked at me wondering whether it would be safe for Dev Sahab to go to office on a day when people would be dancing on the streets and getting themselves splashed and drenched in all kinds of colours and people would also be drunk or be drinking on the streets .

There were many attempts made to stop Dev’s car , but Dev asked Prem to just drive and be careful.

As we neared the road leading to Dev Sahab’s office, a large crowd of young men tried to surround his car , but before they could fulfill their mischievous intensions , Dev Sahab just got out of his car and gave the crowd a learning experience telling them that no god had forced them to do what they were doing and they were only wasting their parents’ money and their own health and their future by indulging in such rowdy activities in their name of a god and religion created by men who had nothing better to do.

It was an amazing experience to see the crowd standing in silence as Dev Sahab kept talking to them.

When he had finished his impromptu speech , he asked one of the men to come to him and apply some gulaal on his forehead and the crowd dispersed and were still very silent and looked like little children who were admonished by their teacher.

And Dev Sahab , me and Prem drove to Dev Sahab’s pent house and Dev Sahab who never had anything to eat or drink in his pent house , ordered for coffee, some biscuits and pastries and said , “Holi hai, chalo humbhi Holi manaate hain”

DEV SAHAB KE HAZAARON RANG THE, USSME SE EK RANG YEH BHI THAA JO MAI HAMESHAA YAAD RAKHUNGAA