By Jagmohan Singh Barhok

(1920-1991)
The very experience of grief of losing one’s father never easily ends but we can reduce the pain to celebrate his life & legacy reexamining the changes that have come into our life after his passing away. My father was a prolific writer. He was an ardent reader and read no less than 6-7 prominent newspapers daily, besides listening to radio and watching television, to keep him well informed in regard to various happenings around the world. He was well conversant with Urdu, French, Persian or Farsi & Punjabi. He also knew French ,though he mostly contributed in English ever since he took to writing.

He contributed to over 100 newspapers & magazines in the pre & post independence period until his death on this day in an accident when a scooter jumped & hit him when he was standing within a median strip (at the safest place) near the intersection of Sector 34-35 at Chandigarh. Coincidentally, I was transferred to Jalandhar on the material date & had left Chandigarh early in the morning at 9.15 am. He met the accident by 10.45 am. As I was not around no one took pain to find out. My family lived separately at the accommodation provided by the Bank.

I saw my father work in The Imperial Bank of India & meet eminent personalities the likes of JRD Tata, Homi Bhabha, Akbar Ali, Birla, JK Singhania, Sumitra Nandan Pant, Firaq Gorakhpuri, B. K. Nehru, Rajkavi Inderjeet Singh Tulsi, Balbir Singh Senior , Secretary & Treasurer, including several bureaucrats. He mastered the Chinese, Persian, Russian , Latin ,Italian, & English idioms, phrases & sayings often using many adjectives & verbs in a sentence. I took decades to follow his style of writing. No other member from our family could follow his pursuits. Years have passed but the mark my father left has neither weakened nor diminished.

Today is the Death Anniversary of my father late Amrik Singh Barhok. My wife, as usual, did the daily rituals also preparing lunch & buying some food items like milk, sugar, fruits to be given at the local Gurudwara in the morning. It was followed by lunch served to some of our neighbours, presser or ‘presswala’, maids and others.