Va Ya Con Dios!

By Go Pal

This book is about my life but honestly that is not what the reader cares about! The main interest would depend upon what one gets out of it? Therefore I am writing some wise words of great masters which actually played vital rolls in my checkered life! I hope my grandkids and/or readers would learn from my knocks in life, and how I overcame my nerve wrecking and dilapidating days of my scuffle with Lady death on more than two occasions. I am thankful to Lady Luck plus my attitude, and character built at childhood. Remember we have two ears and one mouth, use them as such. Guard your tongue, for it is highly dangerous. Unguarded words can cause terrible distress. A wound caused by fire can eventually heal, but scar caused by tongue never does!

I must neither take failures to my heart or successes to my head. Other ideas you can take away from this little book can be:

Slow and Steady is won the race. Overconfidence leads to inaction and defeat. Dont postpone to tomorrow what you can do today, and do todays chores NOW! Do not gamble under the influence of greed, nor fall for tips. TIPS ARE FOR THE WAITERS. Double up the discipline of Perseverance, Persistence, and Professional Patience. We must refuse to be lifted off our feet. A drowning man cannot save another. What lies before us or behind us is small compared to what lies inside us. I wish to live, because life has within it that which is good, beautiful and that is LOVE. IT TAKES A VILLAGE TO RAISE A CHILD.

• Language: English
• Publisher: AuthorHouse
• Release date: Nov 21, 2011
• ISBN: 9781463439781

Go Pal

Born in India 85 years ago. The British dished out my birthplace to Pakistan as a parting gift. Till then sun never used to set on the British Empire but these days it hardly rises there. That made my family and I, a refugee from 1947 onwards. Decided to become a world class citizen. Traveled all over the globe from age 26 to date. Been in USA permanently since 1977. Delayed writing my memoirs, till pushed by teachers of my grandkids at community service centers. Friends like Bashar, the rich Lebanese who was mesmerized by my daring story of saving his countryman from the gallows in Libya, so he could escape 200 miles in the dead of the night to safety into Chad. He also wanted me to publish right away. Finally our joint friend, the well-known actor, and a noble soul Sydney Poitier, gave me two books authored by him and said I must be true and open. The common link between Bashar, Sydney and I, is the desire to help others through community service and volunteer work for non-profit charities. They also knew how I have come out unscathed from the 2008-market downturn and the severe recession caused by drying up of credit, job losses, and declining Housing Market. They said publishing my life story would help build the much-needed Faith amongst those suffering from economic depression. A pioneer always has the courage to undertake new challenges, they declared. I had an Engineering background, and graduated twice. First B.Sc. from an American Campus in Lahore, Second from University of London, in Electrical and Mechanical Engineering, in 1948 (a 56 month course in 18 ½ months, with scholarships.) I received the Diplomas from the Queen Mother and her uncle at the Royal Albert Hall; Sir Thomas Beecham conducted the Orchestra. Only 26 were successful, and I had the honor of a dancing swirl with shy Princess Elizabeth (the present Queen of England,) because Princess Margaret quickly tapped my shoulder and whisked me away, to dance with her.

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Prologue

Since April 15, 1977 after my landing at J.F.K airport, in this wonderful country I have had several opportunities to freely exchange my views with so many enlightened people. I met some of them during my social work assignments. I came across others at work, at parties, at school, at random huddle-up meetings. On all these occasions I was urged to pen down, my thoughts on several subjects as well as my wonderful experiences and personal views in a book form.

I received a birthday card from my grand kids on my 83rd birthday and I quote hereunder verbatim what they wrote:

"We can honestly boast that our grandfather is our best friend + Great Inspiration. We know of no one who possesses so much knowledge of the World History, Arts, and Sports-A TRUE Renaissance MAN!

We look up to him for help in all our endeavors- with love, respect, and gratitude. We hope he writes his memoirs!"

I witnessed a miracle escape by a smart Lebanese contractor from being hanged in Libya. He was forever grateful to me for warning him and providing him with the opportunity to escape. He drove overnight 200 miles in the desert to CHAD. I wished him

VA YA CON DIOS!

I met the famous Sidney Poitier at Bashar and Debby’s house. I dined with him and his beautiful wife and danced with his beautiful daughter, who stood tall and majestic!

He sent me a gift of his 2 books, autographed with the following best wishes.

May the wind beat your back in All your undertakings. And May the most you wish for be the least you receive from a long Happy and Useful Life.

Bashar insisted that I must tell my life story and experiences in my BOOK, without holding back on facts, and emotions. I must try to be generous on truth. He said that my story would give the much needed Hope and Courage to the millions of Americans, including my Grandchildren.

It would help build the much-needed faith amongst those suffering from economic depression, started in part by the sinking housing market.

I plan to describe my childhood (of crawl, walk and run), and adulthood (to-date). I would also refer to my close encounters with Mahatma Gandhi, Pundit Jawaharlal Nehru, our First Prime Minister, Dr. Rajinder Prasad, the first President of an Independent India, Lord Mountbatten India’s last Viceroy, Raja Gopalacharya, India’s first governor, and dozens others, who made a difference in my life.

I have had the great fortune of being invited into the visitor’s gallery at the British Parliament on the very day they had a heated discussion, debated back and forth, and finally declared India’s well-deserved Independence.

I met the great Winston Churchill with his famous V for victory show of fingers, soon after his crude remarks about Mahatma Gandhi calling him that Bloody fakir in loincloth. I also met Clement Attlee and Sir Stafford Cripps on behalf of Indian students in the University of London!

I was also invited to the rose gardens of the old Viceroy’s Palace, which became the residence of the first Indian President Dr. Rajinder Prasad to meet General Eisenhower, the then American President. This exclusive opportunity was in part possible because my father-in-law was the Director General of Health Services under the Health Minister Rajkumari Amrit Kaur.

I had met Dr. Rajinder Prasad in the village of the top industrialist Mr. Birla at Pilani Engineering College near Chirawa for a month long Political huddle meetings, before Independence and before I went to England.

I am really proud to befriend those who help the less fortunate to live longer and respectfully I always had the desire, capability for, and did volunteer work for several years. I believe there is more gained by giving! I have also described in this book, little incidents, when I faced life-threatening emergencies.

On the nerve wrecking and dilapidating days frequented during my tryst with Lady Death between 1933 to 2009, I was left humbled and thoroughly defeated!

On an actual final hour at 8-30 p.m. on August 10th 1946, I was being picked up by, a staunch Hindu-Hater, Muslim covered in clean white Brahmin attire and convincing big white Tikka on his forehead, representing Lord Vishnu- a real wolf hiding in sheep’s clothing! He pretended that he was there to protect me from the Muslim murderers and headhunters!

While he actually was a Muslim murderer himself. He had planned to chop my head off! A real Lady Death-in -waiting.

Those indeed were the violent days when the British were leaving India, and on the eleventh hour agreed to mercilessly sub-divide the country-a scorch-earth policy in a way.

Pakistan and Bangladesh were split as far apart as geographically possible. The carved India was sandwiched between these two man-made Pakistans. This Resulted in massive anarchy, devastation, and Genocide.

It became the biggest refugee crisscross in the world history, amongst the survivors of the annihilation, of each other, by each other. Continuing with my miracle survival story! I am certain that short Sikh taxi-driver who literally snatched me away from the Jaws of Lady Death- represented by the Muslim marauders, was my Lord Luck! Please go to the chapter on:

My Scuffle with the Lady Death.

_–––—_

My own Canny Nanni once told me that: When the going gets tough, the tough get going. She also told me the story of the Hare and the Tortoise, The motto of these stories are

a) Slow and steady wins the race

b) Overconfidence leads to inaction, ego, and defeat.

I used the only weapon I possessed in my arsenal and said with folded hands

VA YA CON DIOS!

I went into one of my serious pensive moods, which swirled me into Action Stations!

Now or never! I declared

VA YA CON DIOS

Yesterday was the PAST;

Tomorrow is the FUTURE,

Today is a GIFT, That is why,

It is called a PRESENT.

During my Youth Camp Days with Mahatma Gandhi at age 17 we were taught to Act now and here!

"Yo Kaal Karna hai, Wo Aaj Kar le,

Yo Aaj Karna hai, WO Aab kar le!"

When translated it means, "never postpone till tomorrow what can be done today and act on today’s agenda right now!

I have used quotes from the book by Thames and Hudson on INDIAN WISDOM 365 DAYS, –

VA YA CON DIOS!

An indirect effect of over use of paper, made out of pulping trees, along with hot and foul gas emissions from vehicles and industrial giants has melted glaciers south of the border down Antarctica way. That in turn became a death knell to millions of penguins and innocent creatures. These mountains of ice turned into rapids of ocean water submerging parts of islands, a diminishing and damaging process which will devour things in its way at geometric proportions in centuries belonging to our great grand children and their future generations.

The following are few of the highlights of my life.

1) My own income from my printing business had been dropping with the advent of home computers and portable 3-in-one copiers/printer/fax machines resulting in, our having to pay rents from our past savings- for the rainy days!

2) Over the last 18 months, w.e.f. Jan 2009, I spent hours researching each stock to build up a recession- resistant portfolio. This allowed me to keep my head above water and come out unscathed from the current disaster in the American economy.

3) Basically you have to be alert 18 hours a day, I did find that I had to do a lot of homework and research to stay afloat in the stock market.

4) Do not gamble under the influence of greed! Do not fall for Tips on individual stocks! Hoping to get rich quick!

5) Remember that TIPS are for the Waiters.

I also doubled my discipline of perseverance and persistence, calm and thorough analytical approach to solve problems at hand with professional patience. This element of my character did help in later life to overcome dire circumstances and increased my chances of success.

I enlist a few incidents e.g. my brief encounters with some world figures and personalities, and my faiths, which are described in full details in chapters that follow.

• On a get together of student volunteers in Pundit Nehru’s place I met with Lord Mountbatten’s daughter Pamela.

• My chapter: "MY FACE –TO-FACE WITH Col. Gaddafi (His FLASH CRASH @ BFRC) describes my brief encounters with Mohammer Gadhafi. He called me Professor, since his schoolteacher was an Indian Gentleman. He could call himself a Commander-in-chief or President but he chose , because that rank joins the soldiers with the General. It is a rank for a popular person, which he proudly thinks he is! We discussed his Green Book vis-à-vis the Hindu philosophy. He has an overpowering and overimposing authoritative personality.

• I was one of the 26 who graduated in Engineering from the University of London in June 1948. The Royal family attended the ceremony for this occasion. The uncle of the Queen mother, in Royal Albert Hall awarded my University of London Degree; Sir Thomas Beecham Conducted the Orchestra. I danced with the princesses, Elizabeth (that was before her coronation as the Queen) and Margaret.

• The chapter on The Launching of our Deepak Chopra. Tells the facts about, my son-in-law Deepak Chopra- a top executive of OSIS, an international multi-million dollar industry, for the start-up of which I had put in the seed money, along with another friend. The credit he still gives me is the fact that I risked every penny, and that there would have not been an OSIS, if I did not act like a PIONEER!

• I was also a member of the London Vegetarian Society along with the famous George Bernard Shaw and Sir, Stafford Cripps (the British Home Minister.)

What lies behind and what lies before us? Are small compared to what lies within us?

My faith in VA YA CON DIOS has redoubled

My mental build-up and what kept me going was the inspiration derived from the following verse.

I wish to live, because life has within it that which is good, beautiful and that is love.

− − − −

THIS IN MY HUMBLE OPINION IS THE PURPOSE OF WRITING THIS BOOK, AND NAMING IT

VA YA CON DIOS

I always use my middle name in signing as an artist on all my paintings.

I will do the same as the author of this book with a LITTLE TWIST,

I.e. –—Go Pal.

(I THANK, HONOR AND GIVE CREDIT TO, SEARCH ENGINES LIKE GOOGLE, WIKIPEDIA and THE GREAT AUTHORS /GURUS/ TEACHERS/ MY ELDERS/ MEN OF WISDOM FOR ANY QUOTATIONS/ SAYINGS/SLOGANS/POETIC VERSE, I HAVE USED IN THIS BOOK. I CERTIFY THAT THE MAJOR CONTRIBUTIONS ARE FROM MY MEMORY. SOMETIMES I DO FORGET NAMES AT AGE 85. THEREFORE I APOLOGIZE IF SOMEONE HAS NOT BEEN SPECIFICALLY NAMED FOR CREDITS! IT IS ABSOLUTELY UNINTENTIONAL. I ASSURE YOU THAT EVERY WORD IS WRITTEN EXTEMPORANEOUSLY, MANY THOUGHTS WERE TYPED AS THEY CAME TO MIND IN EARLY MORNINGS, DURING DREAMS, OR IN A PENSIVE MOOD! Every Attempt has been made to avoid plagiarism at all costs.)

My Canny Nanni!

I was born on July 1st. 1926 in India’s Northwest, in the Punjab (The land of Panch = five +AB = Rivers), in the village of Badhni Kalan (Out of interest, The present Queen Elizabeth of the United Kingdom was born same year, in April 1926.)

There were no hospitals within 20 miles. The midwife would travel to the expectant mother’s house, to help with the delivery using any timely transportation available. In emergency a messenger had to search and fetch any available midwife, if at all possible.

However in case of a rush delivery the expectant mother would be taken to the facility of the midwife, as and when possible. Following modes of transport were available in those days,

I) Bullock cart - a crawling and rocking contraption pulled by a bull or buffalo! or

II) A bone-shaker Tonga -a Horse Cart

Both of which were unsuitable for transporting a lady, ready to deliver a child.

Actually what happened was that with the jerks and heavy shake-ups of the rickety horse cart on the rough and uneven and unpaved dirt road to the hospital, I was born en-route in a nearby bush.

So as usual I came into this world unassisted, and continued to face unusual incidents throughout my life as a self-starter, self made man had to!

In many ways I learnt the Life’s Lessons through the Lens of Time, and because of it, I think I am a lucky guy.

FUNNY STORY OF MY REAL BIRTHDAY

I used July 1st 1926 as my birthday for the next 52 years.

In the year 1965 I had reached the top of my career with Burmah Shell Oil Company. There were rumors of layoffs. I applied for a Green Card to migrate to USA, and White Cards to 4 provinces of Canada. I was awarded all of them in a short order.

However on the eve of the dinner given by my Shell Boss to celebrate my being selected to head the BURMAH OIL COMPANY I met a beautiful girl outside the Taj Mahal Hotel in Bombay. She was offering her body for ten rupees ($0.25). I paid her just to listen to her life story. She was the only child of a multimillionaire American, and was under the influence of Hippies. She was convinced that she would get happiness through Transcendental Meditation in India. That plus the advice from the Counsel General of USA, who was my close friend and co-director on the Board of the Breach candy Hospital, dissuaded me from going to USA, especially when my daughters were at the impressionable ages of 7 and 9 years. I probably became the only Indian who had the guts to turn down the Green Card as well as all the White cards for Canada. Twelve years later in 1977 when Indira Gandhi was taking the country to Totalitarianism, my friend, the Counsel General of USA prompted me, to migrate. He arranged all my papers fast and got my actual Green Card delivered to me at the entry point. The application needed the official translation of my birth certificate from Urdu to English. The Official Municipal document showed the date of filing as July 2nd, 1926, but the translator made a mistake and recorded July 3rd, 1926. Since 1977 I have used that as my birthday.

All my friends tease me saying that I gave BIRTH TO THIS NATION ON JULY FOURTH.

IT TAKES A VILLAGE TO RAISE A CHILD.

I remember my grand uncle taking me out for walks (while I was perched up on his shoulders), enjoying plucking wild berries from treetops. I did try to avoid finger-pricking thorns sometimes- learning nature’s lesson in self-preservation! Earlier, however I braved these pricks at the tender age of 4 years, but my grandma thrashed my grand uncle for being so irresponsible.

Here I would like to clarify that my real grandparents died when my mother was few years old and she was brought up by one of her aunts.

This lady was a spinster, and she adopted me the day I was born. So far as I am concerned she was always my, Canny Nanni, very smart Grand Ma! As to my grand uncle he was married to my grand mother’s other sister, who had passed away. They were seven of them, bless them!

Next day my Grand uncle took me to a local garden full of rose bushes and sat me down where he could see me.

He taught me to differentiate the good from the dangerous. He told me where there are roses there are thorns. This has stuck in my mind and I am always analytical-not to judge a book by its cover, a rose by its delicate frontal beauty or Houdini’s super-speedy shuffle- Now you see! Now you don’t. He taught me to handle those beauties with care, so that I do not get pricked by the thorns that guard the delicate petals of the roses from intruders like me.

He told me to use similar precautions when plucking sweet berries, while riding atop his shoulders, where he could not see my mistakes! Boy did I learn fast!

"In Nature, actions and reactions are continuous.

Everything is connected with everything else.

Not one part, nothing, is isolated.

Everything is linked, and interdependent.’’

I used to love the clean open air, green fields and the Mother Nature opening her arms and the little snippets of the village history taught by my grand uncle!

I learned that:

Greed is evil. Happiness and contentment with what you have, obtained through your own hard work and intellect, is the joy of your Life, and above all there is the Almighty guiding you.

I was always happy and grateful for my little possessions and stayed away from habit-forming distractions. Kabir the poet wrote in Hindi which when translated means Be satisfied with a piece of dry bread and a fresh water from the well, than be jealous of the neighbor’s Parathas (buttered, creamy tortillas) and their rich and luxurious life style.

These crude but great principles came in handy and helped me ride over the rough waves dealt to me as I passed through the rough seas of my life.

One beautiful morning we went for a walk in the small track full of a variety of trees.

He stopped under a Neem (Azadirachta indica) tree whose trunk exudes a tenacious gum and has a bitter bark used as a tonic and whose fruit and seeds yield medicinal aromatic oil.

By then I was almost old enough to learn to brush my teeth. I was trained to break a small 6-inch long twig of the Neem tree, wash and chew thus the liquid I swallowed exuded chemicals as well as formed a small toothbrush at its end. This was called Dattun, which is derived from the Urdu word Daant, meaning teeth!

The beauty of this process was that I got the natures best toothbrush and toothpaste all built-in one and available in abundance.

Brushing teeth inhaling fresh air and walking which I did a lot as I grew up were good for the teeth, lungs and health all around!

When I became older we used to go out with a gang of friends and pull out the fresh gum from several tree barks and learnt to use it in many ways. We experimented in making little toys! We also developed the art of making Indian Ink, from gum collected from special trees. Long walks, hard work, chores of farming, ploughing were some of the things, which helped, build close friendship between a few of us kids.

One day our long walks ended up in a small field of sugar canes. This was a hardy crop of thick shell, heavily knotted ¾ to 1-inch diameter, and 4 to 6 ft. long.

You really needed very strong sharp teeth to peel off these shells and further bite a piece of the super tasty sugary cane. Well at our age it was not easy but we soon developed very clean and strong teeth!

To this day at age of over 84, I am blessed by perfect set of white teeth without any fillings the like of which my grand kids have! I must admit that part of this is also due to not smoking, or chewing tobacco! We used to compare serious findings from each other’s elders.

We also learnt that the sugar extracted from these canes (GUUNAAS!) is not harmful like the manufactured sugar cubes you buy in the stores.

The main reason is the whitening process involves using bones in the centrifuges and an element of hydrogen is removed thus changing the organic chemistry chain from Fructose to Glucose. Also some preservatives can damage the natural organic chemistry.

We actually saw how the juice extracted from tons of GUUNAAS was put in a huge elephant size caldron atop a mighty flame generated by burning dried wood!

Four strong women did the stirring continuously! After several hours the juice was set into smooth paste like consistency and on solidifying they made up hundreds of small cakes of this natural organic brown sugar large chunks! What a Joy! Called Gurrd!

Our small group of young kids had inquiring minds and our conversations were never argumentative but always full of intelligent questions, demanding answers for the unknown like scientist do! In my mother’s case, she had seven sisters just like in my grandmother’s family. Amongst my aunts they had no male offspring’s.

So that made me the most desired kid amongst two generations of female relatives.

My grand aunt insisted and successfully maneuvered bringing me up in her small village in the Punjab, in northwest India.

She was uneducated but street smart, had a sharp wit and lots of practical experience.

She basically used her facial expressions and eye language to pass on a bit of wisdom to me and I have never forgotten those teachings.

She once asked me by sign language as to the number of ears I have and I promptly replied two.

She then asked me how many mouths I had and I said one.

After a pause she told me to use them as such because after all that is the very reason God created these ratios.

She used to really love me! Sit me down on her lap. Her considerations and affections had a deep-rooted effect on my mind.

Once she raised two fingers on her hand and asked me, How many do you see?

I responded to her dismay – Two!

She rejected my response and taught me that it signifies eleven. One to the left and one to it’s right (in parallel). She said that unity has eleven times the strength and the two fingers are jointed in synergy at the bottom.

What she meant was if a couple does things in great harmony (like protons and electrons form a powerful atom), they are joined in every respect.

This thus has the compounded synergistic value of eleven 11

Since the days of my rides, on my uncle’s shoulders, till the time I left for the big city of Lahore, I have kept the motto of those stories uppermost in my mind.

This helped me come out of several hardships and terrible times doled out to me during my teenage years, and the risky ventures through India’s partition days. The sufferance of refugee camps by my family while I had already left for England in 1946!

They say the best way to test gold is to bite it and pass it through fire and beat it to form decorative ornamental jewelry.

Through those roughest times in my life, I dealt with each situation with my heart and open mind and several times succeeded in spite of the near-impossible tasks, on the way to achieve my goals.

I do reminisce that the economic situation in 1930 was very bad, in my own village.

A case in point is the street salesman’s CRIES similar to the cries of London where they sold their product by shouting advertisements in the neighborhood streets. In this instance the salesman of a unique product made of silver plated thin aluminum plate which had a kind of toothpick on one end and a cup shaped ear wax remover on the other was being sold for a paisa!

He shouted kuun khurchuni dand khoolel iko paisa dono mail! in Punjabi poetry.

(Almost like cries of London in old days)

Coming back to values it was sold for $0.00025. In comparison today you will pay $2 for such a piece, notwithstanding the ever-varying currency exchanges my Granny used to tell us that the cost of consumables had shot up 40 times during her 80 years. And today I can pass, similar statement, of course, the rate of inflation should be more like 70 times.

Thus the un-predictable economic cycles remain as the most debated to-date, and will continue so in future!

What I am writing in this autobiography at age 84, is entirely about the memories I retained, of my first birthday and through the rest of my life. I must confess that some times I forget the names or fine details of the incidents involved! I leave them till I try to recollect them in my quiet sleep and dreams! That keeps me awake all nights and when I get it I jump with joy and the great feeling of invigorating jubilation makes me the happiest bloke for those precious moments. However my granddaughter recently alluded me to the art of Googling. Sometimes I do try to follow that, but there is the draw back of tons of time lost in research and sorting out the exact information from bags full of possible options! What I really want to do is to recollect my thoughts, desires, and blow up the picture of my wee little mind at that moment in time and describe all that in First Person, assuming of course that I was a miracle child of the century! I will therefore get off the dream train and pretend and describe in the next few paragraphs, only what I would have been thinking as a kid! My Nanny was watching me when I was in a sorrowful mood, and asked me what was the matter, my child? What would you like to do? I blurted out

Why can I not get boys and girls to play with and discuss what I want to do when I grow up?

She responded. Honey! Please, tell me and we will let you do just what you want! We love you.

I replied I want to play with other kids in the good old dirt, Gullie-Danda! This is a game using an inch long ½ inch diameter, wooden piece sharply tapered on both ends. -The Gullie and a 16-inch long rod called Danda.

Each player has a chance-in turn to strike the Gullie at its edge to cleverly lift it as high it would jump, and while still in flight, strike it hard quickly on the side to send it as far as he can in the direction of the finish line. The closer each player gets the higher the points he gets! My granny quickly agreed and kissed me on the cheek and lifted and hugged me and said that she loved me ever so dearly!

That gave me the feeling of being a born negotiator! So I quickly added Grandma I also want to play till the cows come home.

She said tell me little joy of my life what else would you like to do? and I promptly added Grandma I want to play Hop Scotch! Skip Rope, and Marbles.

As most of you already know these common games but briefly, boys and girls play hopscotch (you must have guessed what I am about to ask Granny next)! You jump on one leg and miss the alternate squares marked with crosses and circles, and try to reach the finish line on one-leg, and faster than your competition!

Skip rope is an art form