PAPAJI

PAPAJI

Dr Himanshu Shekhar

Sc ‘G’, Director(Admin)
O/o DG(ACE), Dr Homi Bhabha Marg

Pashan, Pune - 411021

Dr Himanshu Shekhar - PAPAJI - 1

PAPAJI

A book by Dr Himanshu Shekhar
First Edition: 2020

(c) : Dr Himanshu Shekhar
Address: 230/2, Armament Colony, Pashan, Pune -
411021
Ph: 912029514678; Mob: 919422004678
E-mail: [email protected]

Typesetting, Publication and Author : Dr Himanshu
Shekhar

“PAPAJI” by Dr Himanshu Shekhar

2 - PAPAJI – Dr Himanshu Shekhar

CONTENT

PAPAJI ..................................................................................... 2
PREFACE.................................................................................. 5
Introduction to PAPAJI........................................................... 7
PAPAJI as Student................................................................. 19
PAPAJI on Discrimination..................................................... 33
PAPAJI a game-changer........................................................ 45
PAPAJI: Source of Ideas........................................................ 57
PAPAJI the Perfectionist....................................................... 71

Dr Himanshu Shekhar - PAPAJI - 3

Respectfully Dedicated to

Dr Kiran Shankar Prasad

My Father

:: :|

: : ||

4 - PAPAJI – Dr Himanshu Shekhar

PREFACE

PAPAJI is my cry for my Father and I have an inner urge
to express my gratitude, my salutations, my feelings and
my accolades to my PAPAJI for shaping me, the way I
am. At the same time, this book interprets an ideal
father, through my eyes and the way of creating a son is
worth explorations. Although I have first-hand
interaction with my PAPAJI, but the art of shaping a son
is still unknown to me. Through a verbatim narrative, I
have sincerely put my efforts to express my
interpretations of deeds and words of my PAPAJI at
various occasions, in order to motivate, imitate and
illustrate ways and means of becoming a successful
father. As his son, I am fortunate to be in his immediate
successor lineage. I cherish my luck in this regard and
try to explore my father, in light of my experience with
life.

The book by no means, claims to be a biography of my
PAPAJI, but a collection of fatherly deeds necessary to
preach sons through examples, not through mere
sermons. I am considering PAPAJI as an abbreviation in
several ways and each is suitable to express my father.

 Present Action Plan After Judicious Imagination
 Policy Articulated Power Adjusted Justified

Imagination
 Prayer About Positive Agile Juvenile

Interpretation

Dr Himanshu Shekhar - PREFACE - 5

This book is a collection of acquired human traits, for
leading a successful life and also watching future
through current. If a father can express his own life to
son in such a way that way-out from each difficult
situations can be thought, as repetition of events,
already taken place in the life of father, this becomes in
true sense “Life Already Lived”, abbreviated as “LAL”,
meaning son. This has happened in my life and each
episode of my life is found to be related to some
narratives, some incidences, and some expressions,
described by my PAPAJI, inadvertently, beforehand to
acquaint me with the jugglery, called life.

Clarence Budington Kelland – “My Father didn’t tell me
how to live. He lived and let me watch him do”

The book is dedicated to my father, who, in an attempt
to make his son superman, became a super-human,
himself. Although, I am referring to my PAPAJI, the
method of inculcating good habits to kids is indirectly
illustrated in the book. The book is about any father,
who makes himself, worthy for a future world in the
form of his son. Hope that the book will be beneficial for
all sons to become good, adorable and impressive
fathers.

Place: Pune Dr Himanshu Shekhar
Date: 10 March 2020

6 - PREFACE – Dr Himanshu Shekhar

Introduction to PAPAJI

Tom Daley – “If I can be half as good a father as my
dad was to me that would be my greatest
achievement”.

Father is repersonified in every person and it is said that
father takes birth as son to continue living in the world.
Each person is an incarnation of his father and many a
times a duplicate in habit, personality, liking, disliking,
behaviour, voice, gait and thought. I am privileged and
honoured to get Dr Kiran Shankar Prasad, as my PAPAJI
and to become me, it is mandatory to have him as
father.

I am a scientist by profession and an engineer by
academic qualification. Science and technology have
clouded my ingenious and innovative thinking, making
me an apt follower of what is already told by great
scientists or whatever is invented designed or
developed by somebody else. Newton has told, Planck
has told, Tsiolkovsky has told, Goddard has made, Von
Neumann has told, and so on are stated to end any
argument in the world of science and technology, as if
these great minds acted, stated or invented as panacea
to defend against any situations. A scientist, a
technologist is more focused and the internal urge to

Dr Himanshu Shekhar - Introduction to PAPAJI - 7

argue in words, to innovate in logic and to evolve new
definitions, dies in course of time. Contrary to this an
arts student can continue to argue and this special
feature granted to arts, only led to several versions of
Ram-Katha, each varying with other in many details.
This is the reason, why each literary work is researched
again and again, leading to multiple explanations of the
stated facts. I strongly feel and my PAPAJI is behind this
strong belief that perusing science stops our thought-
process and makes us slaves of developed, researched
and stated sentences, minds and scholars.

I treat Indian Mythological epics, the Ramayana and the
Mahabharata, as war-stories with no scientific
explanations to science of making weapons. In the
Ramayana, Demon king Ravan was killed in the end by
31 arrows, one for stomach, 10 for 10 heads, 20 for 20
hands, but neither arrows manufacture is explained nor
its working principle is available anywhere. Whether
these arrows were of any special variety and such
technical details are totally missing, because the war-
story, written by a literature expert can make it
readable and interesting, but not ecologically complete.
Similar is description of war in the Mahabharata, where
these details are equally missing.

This is because, these epics are written or propagated
by non-scientific literature experts, who can have
multiple explanations for an incident, but focused

8 - Introduction to PAPAJI – Dr Himanshu Shekhar

information sharing is missing. This is because the art of
writing is considered inferior by scientists and
technologists in India and they write only when forced
to write for any review meetings, design document,
failure report, research papers etc. There is no urge in
India, to write for the sake of society or the
understanding of society. Scientists have language, have
words, have knowledge, but they lack courage to write
because of their lost interest in society and lost
knowledge of writing. Overall, they lack writing skills for
general masses. That is why great discoveries of India
remained unreported unnoticed and unrepresented in
the world. In India, we have history, we have literature,
we have philosophy, we have devotion, we have
memoirs, but science of archery, maze-fight, aeroplane,
medicines, mathematics etc are either missing or
unclear. Science in India remained a closely guarded
secret and this is the reason why many forms of
scientific traits vanished in course of time from India,
because it was not propagated to next generation. The
neutrality or passivity of scientists and technologist
were prevalent from olden days in India and the same is
continuing now also. That is why, original research, high
citation index publication, innovative product of Indian
origin, all are descriptions of the past. It is clear that
literature can make epics, and multiple explanations, it
can express thoughts, direction, criticism and
elaborations in a better way.

Dr Himanshu Shekhar - Introduction to PAPAJI - 9

I am also handicapped by the prevailing work ethics and
culture of India, which prevents a scientist from writing
an essay, a description or multiple illustrations about a
person, place, event, journey, experiments or live
reporting. Despite these known facts, which are
inculcated in me by my PAPAJI, I dare to write a
narrative, a verbatim experience and a monologue
memoir called “PAPAJI”, my father. I am just trying to
break this passivity, prevailing in India by writing about
fatherly acts, needed to shape the life of a son. This may
not be science but this may be an attempt by a scientist,
a technologist, an engineer to write in the domain of
literature and arts, to write without referring to any
great scientist.

I was told by my PAPAJI that there exists a locality
“SENAPAT” in the city of Darbhanga in Bihar (India), and
it is named after one of my ancestors, called “SENAPATI
SINGH”. Name of my city DARBHANGA is distortion of
“DWAR Banga”, meaning “the gateway of Bengal”.
When moving from Delhi towards Bengal, the city can
be interpreted as the gateway to Bengal. The language
predominantly spoken, there is “Maithili”, which
resembles Bengali. SENAPAT is a lane behind Darbhanga
Municipal Corporation and it was once upon a time our
ancestral property. I heard that my great grandfather
“Chandrika Prasad” owned arms making factory during
1930s-1940s. Swords, spears etc used to be made here
by smelting iron and forging. It used to be supplied to

10 - Introduction to PAPAJI – Dr Himanshu Shekhar

military. However, the factory was destroyed by
Britishers, suspecting supply of arms to the freedom
fighters. The business was destroyed and subsequently,
the ancestral land was sold to rich merchants to meet
the livelihood. We were left with very small land and his
son Maya Shankar Prasad could not study well and was
unemployed throughout his life. He did some sundry
work to earn petty cash, throughout his life. During first
part of life, he was dependent on his father and during
later part, he was dependent on his son.

My PAPAJI was born in scarcity. He was brilliant, but
poverty was a challenge. He was suppressed by
influential rich relatives, but his stubbornness and
commitment made him rise high. He once told that the
sellers, outside his school, knew him, as a boy, who has
never procured a single chocolate, lemonchoos, lollypop
or bhel from them throughout. The pinch was really
tremendous and the courage to face this fact is equally
amazing, considering the fact that the current
generation takes extreme steps for denied gadgets. He
did well in studies in school-days but due to cash-
crunch, joined arts-stream, despite having good marks
making him eligible to secure a science-career. Science
stream required extra money for practicals and
payment of regular fee was itself a great problem, for
my PAPAJI. In arts also, he did well and joined a new
college, because scholarship could be arranged. He
completed Intermediate and joined for graduation.

Dr Himanshu Shekhar - Introduction to PAPAJI - 11

During graduation, topper of one of the renowned
colleges of the city of Darbhanga, was competing with
him. But after appearing for few papers, the so called
topper withdrew claim of superiority. My PAPAJI was
First class First during graduation in HINDI literature.
There was no facility available in the city for higher
education. So, my PAPAJI had to go to Muzaffarpur for
post-graduation in Hindi Literature.

During post-graduation, financial crisis deepened, but
he managed with forced fastings and private tution.
Ultimately, he completed post-graduation, where he
was downgraded to first-class second, because he does
not belonged to Brahmin community and head of the
department wanted to maintain the tradition of having
a Brahmin boy, as topper of Post-graduation in HINDI.

Great country, where equality is preached and complete
knowledge of Brahmastra is not given to Sutaputra
Karnas by Parsurams. This is the country where Eklavya
is downgraded for the rise of a relatively less competent
Arjun. This is the country, where Duryodhana is
crowned as king by Dhritrastra, despite presence of a
more competent and able Yudhisthira, because
Duryodhana was the son. This is country, where Bali is
punished for the sake of Sugriva, on the name of ethics,
although the matter may be treated as a family feud.
However, the tradition is not a universal fact and it
cannot continue to dominate in all facets of life. My

12 - Introduction to PAPAJI – Dr Himanshu Shekhar

PAPAJI was appointed through public service
commission, as Lecturer and the first-class-first of his
post-graduation days worked under him for many years.

After post-graduation, my father started applying for
jobs, as it was a dire need, at that time. In how many
jobs, he was selected, is not known, but one secured job
of IB came to light, later, after the date of joining has
lapsed. He was selected, appointment letter was
delivered, but it was kept in hiding by my grandmother
(his mother), fearing that my PAPAJI may leave
hometown to join the much needed post and my
father’s parents were not ready to leave him. He was
also selected as executive in BATA company at Patna,
but in vain. Although, it was destiny, but a poor family,
who has no regular source of income and who is in need
of a regular source of income, to let their ends meet, for
even certain basic needs, is rejecting a job-offer.
Ridiculous! Inhuman! Illogical! Height of Selfishness!

Unemployed father and adamant orthodox mother
added to the financial misery of my PAPAJI and even in
his own house, there was nobody, with whom he could
share his life. Left all alone, under threat of my great
grandfather, who once asked my PAPAJI to take care of
his family. The so called family of my PAPAJI is said to be
consisting of that of my grandfather, who happens to be
son of my great grandfather. My PAPAJI was
desperately in need of a job, an earning, a livelihood

Dr Himanshu Shekhar - Introduction to PAPAJI - 13

and a continuous source of income. After great efforts,
my father got lectureship through direct recruitment of
Public Service Commission, where so called Parsurams
were unavailable to belittle Karnas and where under-
the-table dealing was not very predominant. A poor boy
getting a job is possible, only when merit counts, else
places of great accolades are full of caste, creed,
region, money, influence and recommendation based
appointments. Even Nobel Prize is given on
recommendation.

Once job is secured, myriads of marriage proposals
were received and my father selected my mother only
because she was doing post-graduation in mathematics.
My father gave study, knowledge and education, the
highest priority in life and it dominated his decision in
selecting a not very fair but educated match, as his soul
mate. My father remained firm to his decision,
throughout his life, to support my mother in all ups and
downs. Do it right first time is a modern philosophy in
industry, but my father has mastered this long back. He
has mastered the art of making things right, even if
things are not right at first place. Additionally, the
ordinary things can be made extra-ordinary and my
father honed the skill of my mother to a great level. My
mother did post-graduation in Physics and also
doctorate in Physics due to unconditional support of my
father. My mother also became lecturer through Public
Service Commission and has been elected as Dean in

14 - Introduction to PAPAJI – Dr Himanshu Shekhar

the University Governing Council, at the end of her
teaching career.

After joining in the college, my father slowly populated
our house with all gadgets and facilities. Starting from,
getting manufactured wooden beds, septic tank and
washrooms, provisioning of electricity and fans, carving
out dedicated space for kitchen, cemented flooring of
kitchen, step-by-step flooring of living rooms, my father
slowly made the available house more than mere land
and some walls. I witnessed these things from my
childhood, not knowing that we happen to be so poor or
my childhood was that of a poor kid, decorated by love,
affection, blood and soul of my PAPAJI. The dedication
to achieve impossible and give next generation a better
life made my PAPAJI work, more than his capacities. He
made all monthly children magazines like Champak,
Nandan, Parag, Bal-Bharati, Chanda-Mama, etc available
to me to inculcate a habit of reading. I am never asked a
question for buying any book. I used to visit book fares
and used to purchase books of my choice, without
knowing the ultimate source of those hard earned
money.

As our home at SENAPAT was shrunk to a very small
piece of land, my PAPAJI acquired another land in
Darbhanga and slowly constructed a two-storeyed
house on that land. I have seen the downfall of the so
called influential rich relatives, who failed to maintain

Dr Himanshu Shekhar - Introduction to PAPAJI - 15

the pace of progress of my PAPAJI and later ended up
taking help of my PAPAJI, for their status. My PAPAJI
improved his public relation in college and has made
himself very influential in the university teachers
associations, without holding any post. He has clearly
made statements that “I am not contesting election” or
“I do not require your vote”. This made people freely
discuss issues with him and he became like advisor to
many office-bearers. He has been consulted on all issues
and his critical suggestions were honoured by people.

While narrating a live story, my PAPAJI told that long
back, he could not get the prasadam-offerings after Puja
in a community chitragupta puja, a socio-communal
function. He vowed to take control of the society,
organizing the Puja. Slowly, he took control of the
society and remained very influential in that community
gatherings. He influenced the governing of Darbhanga
Chitragupta Sabha for more than 20 years and when
Akhil Bhartiya Kayastha Mahasabha was promulgated,
he was unanimously chosen as district president. The
community matters and he made the community rise to
such an extent that bargaining on various front could be
made with political parties and other organizations. The
first-class second position in post-graduation, because
he was not Brahmin, made him work hard to create a
situation, where benefits, on the name of his caste or
creed called Kayastha could be gained. Bringing entire
Kayastha community under one umbrella in the localilty

16 - Introduction to PAPAJI – Dr Himanshu Shekhar

and city was his aim, which was executed seamlessly
over a period of time.

He was popular amongst students and is recognized as
an expert in the linguistics. His explanations in the
science of language have been understood by students
and he continued to help poor students to rise high,
independent of caste, creed, region and money. He has
never charged a penny to any student. He used to sing
in younger days and has played flute also for self-
exploration. I have a small window of time to see these
creative artists in him. He motivated me to play carom
and Badminton and I still remember playing Badminton
with him, as a young kid. That time getting Badminton
Racket is really a great investment. I was not aware the
financial crisis at that time, but looking back, now I feel
really suffocated to find my unwanted expenditure, at
that time, on so called Badminton.

My PAPAJI was regular writer in magazines and has
contributed significantly through narratives on All India
Radio. His presentations were praised at all fronts and
they were broadcast time and again for wide circulation
and on public demand. He has participated in many
conferences, delivered many keynote speeches, chaired
sessions and also organized many events of social
nature. My PAPAJI has touched all facets of life and
these descriptions are background for the later
chapters, so that the authority of my PAPAJI on various

Dr Himanshu Shekhar - Introduction to PAPAJI - 17

aspects of life, society, environment and thought can be
made more emphatic. The book by no means a candid
outburst of a son but an attempt to figure out imitable
characters to make life of our future generation secure,
safe, and like a cake-walks against all odds of family,
friends, relatives, society and infrastructure. I am not
asking readers to adore my PAPAJI or follow my PAPAJI.
I am just narrating the incidences of life through my
understanding of my PAPAJI and requesting readers to
filter out the similarities of incidences in their life, and
adopt remedial measures in light of narrated Golden
Rules.

18 - Introduction to PAPAJI – Dr Himanshu Shekhar

PAPAJI as Student

Umberto Eco – “I believe that what we become depends on
what our fathers teach us at odd moments, when they
aren’t trying to teach us”.

I have not seen my PAPAJI as student, but have known it
through his narratives. He has never told the stories as
his story, but has presented it to me, as and when
needed, so that the impact is greater on my personality
and the incidences are embedded in my mind forever.
Reading children magazines might have been a dream
of my PAPAJI, during his student-days and he has made
it a point that I am not devoid of this facility. Such
magazines keep young minds busy and give positive
impact through story based preaching. Every month end
the newspaper hawker used to come for taking money
and the cost of magazine and newspapers are paid in
my presence. This has served two purposes at the same
time – first an indirect hint of expenditure and second is
motivation to read them in a month time. This made me
an avid reader and knowledge starts with reading
ability, which is imbibed through this simple non-
authoritative means. Now-a-days also, a free concert is
seldom attended but paid concerts are always
overwhelmed with responses. The human mind always
judges anything with cost and a costly item or service is

Dr Himanshu Shekhar - PAPAJI as Student - 19

always considered coveted. So, payment must be
adhered to any action sought.

Golden Rules: Payment inculcates sincerity.

Another important thing to notice was associating time
with the activity. All time-bond things are completed,
but if time is relaxed, work is never completed. It is truly
said that work expands to fill the time available and so
indirectly it also says that time compresses the action
time for a work and it enhances efficiency, in real life.
When a person is assigned work worth 80% of his
capacity to be completed in 100% time, the person tend
to become lazy and slow. The reduced workload
remains incomplete, most of the time. Contrary to this,
if he is given work worth 120% of his capacities, the
probability of completion improves and the efficiency of
the person also improves.

Golden Rules: Assign Time for every work.

Additionally, a work, which can be done by anybody
remains incomplete, because everybody thought that
somebody will complete it and finally, nobody did it.
The work assignment is also important. As reading a
book is a personal activity and reading by other is by no
means a substitute for reading by individual, the action
is to be executed by individual, only. Such assignments
are necessary for the real office matters, also. Nothing
happens automatically and somebody has to do to get it

20 - PAPAJI as Student – Dr Himanshu Shekhar

done. Homework is given to kids at schools and it must
be done by kids, only. It should not be executed by their
parents, as is done, at present. The learning by self-
doing is different. If I was reading the magazines, my
reading speed improved and my thought process has
changed. Such action is not possible, if somebody else is
reading the book for me.

Golden Rules: Inculcate Habit of Self-doing.

In the current era of internet, where information is
available on mouse-click or finger-press, the knowledge
in current generation is not preserved in mind. This
“Just in Time” approach of acquiring “knowledge on
need” is keeping current generation light without any
burden for preserving knowledge in mind for “retrieval
on demand”. This prevents alternate use of acquired
knowledge and the world is becoming more oriented
towards science and technology and the biggest sufferer
in this gamut of activities is innovative thinking, which is
eclipsed, by such volatile knowledge acquisition. It is
true that a knowledge acquired through “Just in Time”
route evaporates also with passage of time. Next time,
requiring same or similar knowledge, may initiate a new
search exercise on internet. Such duplicated search,
volatile knowledge and prohibited innovative thinking
make the current world less prone to original
explorations. One part is clear that modern mind is
losing its ability to preserve knowledge.

Dr Himanshu Shekhar - PAPAJI as Student - 21

Golden Rules: Just in time knowledge evaporates.

Another causality of this internet search is inherent
passivity. The exposure of monthly magazine to kids,
limits the knowledge acquisition to the small module of
the current monthly edition, only. After completing the
magazine, it gives them a sense of accomplishment and
motivates them to wait for next issue to acquire the
same sense of accomplishment next month. On
internet, the searcher is never getting that sense of
accomplishment and all along, searches are always
incomplete, resulting in a sense of incompetence and
helplessness to acquire full knowledge. My PAPAJI has
understood this small psychological sentiment and has
seen that the sense of accomplishment is achieved by
his son, multiple times in a month by purchasing many
monthly magazines.

Golden Rules: Inculcate reading habits into kids.

I have come across a kid, who at the young age of 3, was
given a computer like device, where letters and words
out of these letters were spelt on mouse-click and many
quizzes on recognition of letters and words were
available. Very good illustrations in sketches and
pictures were also there and quizzes were so interactive
that it gave kid chance to correct their earlier answer,
appreciated the kid for correct recognition and
motivated the kid to correct the wrong answer. The kid
was brilliant in acquiring the capability of recognizing

22 - PAPAJI as Student – Dr Himanshu Shekhar

letters and words. I was really surprized to see the
progress of that kid. But problem came, when the kid
was admitted to school and letters were to be written
by pencil on plain papers. The performance of kids was
not comparable to the performance displayed by
pressing keys of the computer. For the hands of the kid,
all letters were having same hand movement that is
pressing of a key but in writing them the movement of
hand has to be different. Such cognitive change has
deteriorated the performance of the kid. Additionally
the kid stopped speaking, as the act of speaking was
executed by the computer and kid was only a silent
listener. The kid was expecting all real world
interactions, also in similar way and the response was
assumed to be that of a mouse-click, only. This affected
the speech of the kid, and attitude to respond orally
was relegated to secondary status. The writing was
completely an unwanted activity and development of
that capability required more efforts than their other
counterparts, which were trained without any
computer. First impression is the last impression and if
study is initiated with computer for a kid, the other
means of acquiring knowledge is relegate to secondary
status in later part of life.

Golden Rules: Adopt methods for long lasting
impression.

Dr Himanshu Shekhar - PAPAJI as Student - 23

I read more and understood that oral habits can be
better acquired by such modern tools but writing ability
needs the old traditional conventional method of skill
acquisition. Computers can help in acquiring
information but knowledge acquisition requires age-old
technologies. Solving quizzes on computers make kids
think that everything is limited to 4 options, like “Kaun
Banega Carorepati (KBC)”. Bringing kids out of this
pseudo-world makes them disoriented, also. The major
problem comes with such fast acquisition of knowledge
is that mind is burdened more than its capacity and the
kids mature fast. As mind develops in slower pace and
knowledge acquisition surpasses it, the kid becomes
more knowledgeable than their physical age. Such kids
either become silent, due to burden of extra carried
information or become verbose, blabbering
unconnected incidences, showing their superiority of
acquired knowledge, which depletes after some time.
Such kids suffer psychologically either with inferiority
complex (silent) or superiority complex (verbose). To
prevent kids from going to imaginary world of
computers, where relatives, emotions, feelings, etc
becomes keys, it is apt to inculcate the habit of reading
magazines. Each age has a fixed set of acquisition and
enhancing this is detrimental.

Golden Rules: Hurry makes worry.

24 - PAPAJI as Student – Dr Himanshu Shekhar

The scarcity is never an excuse for non-performance.
Kids now a days need pocket money, which they spend
in buying items or eatables from their school-college
canteens or nearby sundry vendors. My PAPAJI was
never having any money to purchase anything from any
vendor during his school or college days. These are two
extreme cases. Scarcity of money for not able to
purchase popular toys, mobiles, or other items is
reported in newspaper, as cause of extreme steps taken
by kids. Bay blade not purchased, mobile not purchased,
prevention from talking on mobile, Pokémon not
purchased, cartoon serial not subscribed, etc are some
stimuli for extreme steps by kids. A kid, who has never
seen any scarcity, will never understand importance of
money and availability of items before it is uttered
makes the kids extravagant and adamant.

In India, when a child tries to walk, in first attempt, fall
is inevitable. After fall and listening to the false cry,
mother will jump to lift and love the baby for his failure.
The kid, in India at an early stage, understands the
importance of crying and continues to adopt it as a
tool to get unwanted love and lifts. The attitude of
getting paid for a failure is prevalent in India but is a
wrong practice. My PAPAJI has made it a point to
reward the success, not failures. He lived in scarcity of
money, but nurtured in me the value for money. How
was it done is a secret, which I have not understood yet.

Dr Himanshu Shekhar - PAPAJI as Student - 25

I have failed miserably in making my kids, understand
the importance of money in correct senses.

Golden Rules: Kids should get love and lift for success,
not for failure.

Scarcity is neither a boon nor a curse. It is just a state of
affair, which may change with time. If the change is
brought by individual action, this gives sense of
accomplishment. My PAPAJI rewarded me for all
accomplishments, be it sports, be it academics, be it
some competition, or so. He believed in making me
competent and not use influence in achieving the
success. He lived in scarcity without referring or signing
songs of scarcity. Time and tide waits for none and
every black night is followed by a bright day. Rather
than preserving black in mind, it is better to act and
praise the brightness. A perishable matter must not be
given a long-lasting impression of words and deeds.

Golden Rules: Scarcity need not be highlighted.

Once, he narrated me story of one of his cousin brother,
say Bhushan, who was born with silver spoon. Bhusan
was given a separate room on first floor, where he used
to go in the evening for so called study. He was not
getting good marks, and his father was sceptical about
his activities in the assigned room. His mother used to
call (not on mobile but just with raised voice from
ground floor) him every half an hour to ensure that he is

26 - PAPAJI as Student – Dr Himanshu Shekhar

awake. Invariably, the response used to stop after eight
o’clock and after that the angry outburst of his father at
raised voice used to be heard up to several houses
away. The evening chanting were regular incidences and
the same has resulted in visually fake conflicts with son
trying to justify his point and father scolding for
inappropriate attention of son. Mother used to pacify
the son to remain in house for the sake of family. Such
spoilt kids were plenty in and around my PAPAJI, but my
PAPAJI was contented with his scarcity and was waiting
for a turn-around of his fate. He has told me several
times, a sentence, which I will present as next Golden
Rule.

Golden Rules: Do the best but be prepared for the
worst.

Scarcity is tempting and it is favoured way to get
sympathy. Rather than sympathy, if gain of knowledge is
attempted, it will be long-lasting. Despite all scarcities,
my PAPAJI continued to follow his dreams to quench
the insatiable thirst of knowledge. There are always
means to overcome the deficiencies. Everyone is given
equal fortune, only the appearances are different, some
are given in the form of money, some are given in the
form of knowledge, some are given as property, some
are given as relatives, some are given as acquaintance,
some are given as strength, some are given as courage.
Everybody lacks in one aspect or the other. Rather than

Dr Himanshu Shekhar - PAPAJI as Student - 27

cribbing for the deficiencies, identification of strength
and converting it to change the fate should be
attempted all the time. My father has great mind but
less money, but he converted knowledge into money
and survived the scarcity hit student-life and childhood.
If someone is educated to handle their deficiencies,
handle their failures and come up from down, then only
survival is ensured. If insects come out of their eggs
without struggle, their body will not be strong enough
to survive in environment and they may die early. So,
struggle from beginning makes the future.

Golden Rules: Be contented with what you have.

My PAPAJI also preached me to concentrate on
acquisition of only those which cannot be taken away
from you. Do not crib for more money, but search for
knowledge, acquire skills, practice building your inner
strength. What my PAPAJI did was worth imitation and
it must be the ideology to be contented with everything
except knowledge, study, education and personal
development. Be contented with your money, with your
property, with your relations, with your look, with your
position but never leave an opportunity to get new set
of mental development curriculum. There is no end to
studies. My PAPAJI went to that college, which was not
number 1 in the city. My father took arts (literature),
not science, despite securing good marks because of
money-problems. My PAPAJI has not procured anything

28 - PAPAJI as Student – Dr Himanshu Shekhar

from road-side vendors because he does not have
money for that. My PAPAJI studied hard and changed
these weaknesses into opportunities through alternate
means. There is never a situation, when all roads are
closed. It must be remembered that if we have reached
a place, at least there is one way to reach the place, and
that is the gate by which we came there. If no other
route is possible, at least a route to go back exists. If
there is a closed chamber, we cannot go to that
chamber.

Golden Rules: We limit ourselves, not the
surroundings.

As student, concentrating on studies is the only
requirement. If students start doing other things, the
study is definitely compromised. The time, which can be
used to study, is utilized in other activities. There is
another aspect to this. As students, there is daily plan of
study and after completing this, time must be spared for
rejuvenation. This rejuvenation activity may be writing
story, writing poetry, reading newspapers, acquiring
some skill or playing some games, but it must be kept in
mind that main activity is study for a student. My PAPAJI
studied as students, but what type of rejuvenating
activities, he was perusing is still unknown to me. I am
not aware that my PAPAJI used to play some games in
childhood. He said that if you do not know, it is better to
accept the same.

Dr Himanshu Shekhar - PAPAJI as Student - 29

Golden Rules: Ignorance must be accepted.

My PAPAJI continued to visit his professors and
teachers, probably as gratitude and as a mark of respect
and honour to them. He has always has high regards for
all his teachers. He has been supported by teachers,
during his student-days and he remembered it after
getting his regular livelihood. I have known his teachers
through him and such student-teacher bond is possible
only if teacher has gone out of the way to help the
student. My PAPAJI has narrated stories of how he was
helped through library, through fellow students and
through management by various teachers. My PAPAJI
has repaid the same by being available to his teachers
all the time. A materialistic world, where people forget
obligation like a flip of eyes, my PAPAJI maintained his
affection for his teachers and I am exposed to this
through narratives. This also inculcated in me a sense to
respect and honour for my teachers. In the poem
Rainbow by Wordsworth, it is told that “Child is the
father of Man” and the main theme was child becomes
a man, with properties, virtues and vices, acquired
during childhood and the man can be understood, if his
childhood is explored. I am exposed to a childhood,
which was more than of my PAPAJI than mine and I am
in true sense, what my PAPAJI tried to make me. As
student my PAPAJI struggled for a descent life and I felt
the pinch during my childhood also, although I never
faced any financial crisis at any stage of my life, due to

30 - PAPAJI as Student – Dr Himanshu Shekhar

my PAPAJI. In fact my PAPAJI worked hard on my behalf
also, so that my life is secured. A father, who keeps his
son safe, from all scarcities, is difficult to find in this
world. During my first year in Engineering, while writing
an essay on “Honesty is the best policy”, I have written
that Honesty is a heavenly virtue and it can be found in
heavens, only. I wrote these lines in sarcasm, but for my
PAPAJI, he is a heavenly soul and I am lucky to have
him on the earth for me. His student life was not a bed
of roses, but he has made my student life a cake-walk
through boosted morale, financial abundance, honest
guidance, angelic presence and divine support. My
PAPAJI as students has been successful because he
worked hard for this. My student life was successful,
because my PAPAJI worked hard for this. Student life is
the first step to life and introduction to world is gained
during this period. My PAPAJI kept me closely guarded
during this period so that exposure is limited to the
needed domains only and no negative emotions could
touch me. A person, who himself is not given enough
protection or support during his student life by parents
is supporting his son to spoon-feeding extent is a
marvellous piece of self-acquired worldly traits, which
can be displayed by my PAPAJI alone. I have seen many
fathers, who were better off than my PAPAJI, but they
could not bring their sons to the level that my PAPAJI
has planned and brought me to. To be me, it is
mandatory to have him as father.

Dr Himanshu Shekhar - PAPAJI as Student - 31

This chapter is named PAPAJI as student, but it is more
about my acquisitions as student from my PAPAJI and
from the narrated stories of my PAPAJI. My PAPAJI is an
amalgam of patience, motivation, encouragement,
positive-thinking, innovative ideas, competence, and
talent. Being under his guidance and umbrella, is my
luck and no one can preach me, other than books, more
than what my father taught me about science, arts, life
and love. The collection of Golden Rules is summarised
at the end, which are philosophy of my life.

 Payment inculcates sincerity.
 Assign Time for every work.
 Inculcate Habit of Self-doing.
 Just in time knowledge evaporates.
 Inculcate reading habits into kids.
 Adopt methods for long lasting impression.
 Hurry makes worry.
 Kids should get love and lift for success, not for

failures.
 Scarcity need not be highlighted.
 Do the best but be prepared for the worst.
 Be contented with what you have.
 We limit ourselves, not the surroundings.
 Ignorance must be accepted.

32 - PAPAJI as Student – Dr Himanshu Shekhar

PAPAJI on Discrimination

Tom Wolfe – “He adopted a role called being a father,
so that his child would have something mythical and
infinitely important: a Protector”.

My PAPAJI was very clear about ethics prevailing in
modern society. During various interactions, I came to
know the facts and found that most of his philosophies
were true. He was having great foresight and he used to
understand the situation, well in advance. Indian
constitution says that there exists right to equality and it
has been explained by my civics teacher during standard
eight that there should not be any discrimination on the
basis of caste, creed, gender, religion and region. I have
understood it, the way my teacher explained me, wrote
the same in examination and got good marks. But being
with an innovative thinker like my PAPAJI, the thought
process went in other direction, later.

It allowed me to think that these are the discriminating
factors and on the basis of these, discrimination can be
made effective. During this period, my PAPAJI wrote a
story called “Modern Panchatantra”. Let me give a
glimpse of the story (written by my PAPAJI) before

Dr Himanshu Shekhar - PAPAJI on Discrimination -
33

proceeding further with the act and reality of
discrimination.

In the modern era, a king of democratic state appointed
Pandit Vishnu Sharma, of course Modern (PVSM) to
teach the princes, the nitty-gritty of Politics. PVSM
explained the crux of modern democratic politics, using
types of Nouns. He explained that there are 5 types of
Noun to be tackled in the democratic world – Proper
Noun, Common Noun, Collective Noun, Materials Noun,
and Abstract Noun. The first is Proper Noun, which
represents those people, who are influential, who have
control over large voter percentage and who must be
brought together. The proper noun includes influence
by money, power, muscleman or otherwise. Taking
support of proper nouns of the constituency is must for
ensuring victory in an election. The second domain is
that of Common Noun, which represents those people
which belong to a general caste and they can be tackled
separately, probably by invoking caste cards to get
majority of votes. People may say anything, but caste is
the biggest catch in democracy and it is better to always
try luck from the constituency where Common Noun
belongs to your caste. People never forget their
commonness and the same are exploited in winning
elections. Third type of public is represented by
Collective Noun, which needs special care and is used
through special binding mechanisms. The Collective
Nouns have the least priority and for this public

34 - PAPAJI on Discrimination – Dr Himanshu Shekhar

addresses are resorted to, which can lead to positive
swing, if borderline voters are influenced. Fourth type is
Materials Noun, which give vote in favour, by taking
money and they need not be given much attention,
except for some money. The fifth part is Abstract Noun,
which represents exercising purchasing power for votes.
All elections are meant for bargain and it is the
candidate and individual, who compete against each
other to secure votes. Favour cannot be won by same
means and there is no general rule for the same. Some
need cash, some need land, some are interested in
getting position, some are lured by employment for
their next on kins, some needs petrol pumps, and some
need some types of permits. So, these abstract nouns
are in real sense abstract and have multiple shape and
sizes, but mastering the art of bargain to tackles
Abstract Noun component is another step towards
victory in an election. If a politician is able to take care
of these 5 types of Nouns, in democracy, the defeat is
impossible. This story is written by my father as a
mockery of the prevailing system of polling, but it was
true at that time, also and is true now also. The story
clearly highlighted the merits of discrimination for the
benefit of democratic politics.

As a kid, I read this story as a sarcastic comment on the
voting system. Although, the sarcasm may be an
outburst of my PAPAJI after facing some discrimination

Dr Himanshu Shekhar - PAPAJI on Discrimination -
35

but denying the same is next to impossible. My PAPAJI is
clear that the moment a rule is made, enlisting
prohibition of certain issues, the general concern or
opinion goes towards possibility of negating the
prohibition. To support this fact, some general
incidences can be correlated. In movie theatres, during
interval, first advertisement comes on screen is
“Smoking is injurious to health” and after reading this,
smokers get a clue to initiate smoking. In facts, many
smokers wait for this statement on screen to begin
smoking. Once, a theatre owner / display in-charge
forgot to display this advertisement during interval,
surprisingly, the number of smoking was found low. This
may be a coincidence, but it cannot be ruled out that
urge to smoking enhances after reading this
advertisement. Same is situation for “Stick no bills”,
where posters of “No Posters” is pasted at that place,
where no poster is to be pasted. Same is observed for
“No Parking” sign boards.

Actual problem with this prohibitive orders are related
to human brain, which tries to do, what is prevented. It
is really surprising to find abundant boards with “No
Parking”, but very rarely we find a board declaring “Park
Here”. The laws are made in negative sentences only
and human brain is triggered to revolt, inadvertently
and automatically, on observing them. Same is case
with discrimination, the means of discrimination are
given in the statement and people are free to exploit

36 - PAPAJI on Discrimination – Dr Himanshu Shekhar

the same. My PAPAJI has clear opinion about this. In the
modern world, discrimination will remain active and the
efforts to stop it will be exhausted in futile way. He
explained me that the ethics, philosophy and logic are
situation dependent and in current era dishonesty is the
best policy and discrimination is the best tool to
promote it. My PAPAJI gave reference of Sanskrit
scriptures. He explained that Satyam Vada (Speak the
truth) is promulgated long back in some other era, when
virtues were prevalent. Upnishadas start with this
sentence, but in course of time, with advent of new
philosophies, more lines are added to it. Now it is
“Satyam Vada, Na Bruyad Satyam Apriyam” meaning
“Speak the truth, do not speak unpleasant truth”. The
added lines in current context, clearly declares that if
unpleasant truth is not to be spoken, then pleasant false
is permitted. Although, it is not written exclusively, but
inherent meaning is derived in this manner from this
added sentence.

Same is the case with discrimination. My PAPAJI studied
in Marwari College, during Intermediate and
graduation. Clearly, Marwari samaj was having money
and they were ready to invest in the business called
education or college. For them, it was a commercial
venture and being a new college, some good students
were needed. Clearly, it was a win-win situation for
both. College can be benefitted by good students, as it

Dr Himanshu Shekhar - PAPAJI on Discrimination -
37

can get recognition faster and brilliant students like my
PAPAJI can get some scholarship and free books to
peruse his studies. Clearly, the name itself was kept
Marwari College and a graduate from a college, which is
born from the roots of discrimination, might have
forced my PAPAJI to opine and support discrimination.
Although, he was not a Marwari-boy, he was supported
in his hardship, for mutual benefits by Marwari Samaj.
There was no discrimination, but the teaching faculty
and non-teaching staff were chosen from that
community, only. This was not discrimination, but a
convenience and trust, which Marwari samaj has, on
people of their-own community.

The so called own community of my PAPAJI failed to
support him during his days of financial crisis. They were
either silent spectators or an active suppressor, both
resulting in making mockery of the financial plight of my
PAPAJI. The non-cooperation from own community and
finding a better bond in other community, made him
think about the root cause of such practices. It became
clear that it is power, influence and money, which can
make your move for discrimination justified. My PAPAJI
has learnt this in hard way, through personal experience
and has passed it on to me, through illustrations.

My PAPAJI understood slowly that the rich supresses
poor and it is natural, not discrimination. Poor need
money for fulfilling the essential needs life, the food,

38 - PAPAJI on Discrimination – Dr Himanshu Shekhar

the shelter and the clothing. The rich gives them money
in lieu of seeking unconditional favour. The so called
Zamindari pratha or the society of Raiyats has said to be
disappeared in India, but on papers, only. Another
bigger factor of discrimination comes from influence. I
have seen that in a village, the benefits of government
funding, meant for supporting poor graduates, is given
to 8th class pass son of the Sarpanch, whereas other
poor boy perusing B.Com. from same community
existed in that village. Again this is not discrimination,
but a matter of convenience and exercising influence.

My PAPAJI revealed long back that common nouns of
PVSM were very effective in this part of the country.
Brahmins, Rajputs and Bhumihaars were very powerful
and united for their community. Clearly, the benefits
were always given to the people of that community,
whose person has power to disburse that particular
benefit. Brahmins had better control over politics,
Rajput had more muscle power, and Bhumihaars
controlled the land-power. University, administration,
government agencies were flooded with Brahmins.
Rajput controlled police-force, while Bhumihaars
controlled farming-sector. There were occasional
clashes, but the clashes were very rare and isolated, as
they dominated their domain and interferences were
generally avoided. Again this was not discrimination, as
per my PAPAJI.

Dr Himanshu Shekhar - PAPAJI on Discrimination -
39

I remember a story, when my PAPAJI was third senior
among the selected examiners for evaluating answer
sheets of post-graduation. As per norms, there were 6
head-examiners to be appointed and my PAPAJI was not
to be given because of caste concerns, which was not a
case of discrimination. There were other avoidable
professors at seniority number 4, 6 and 8. To avoid
these four people from becoming head examiners, first
person was made head examiner and under him
seniority number 3, 4, 6 and 8 were made co-examiners.
Subsequently, other head-examiners were professors
with seniority 2, 5, 7, 9 and 10, all of whom belonged to
same caste, incidentally. Again this was not
discrimination, but a matter of convenience and trust.
Head-examiners should be senior to their respective co-
examiners, but it was no where stated that they should
be senior to co-examiners under other head examiners.
The moment freedom to select was given, convenience
and trust prevailed and so called natural justice became
practical reality.

The icing on the cake was the first-class second rank of
my PAPAJI during post-graduation, where efforts were
made to influence answer sheet evaluators to curtail
marks of my PAPAJI. After reducing marks, substantially,
in at least three papers (total reduction 42), he could be
made second by a marginal difference of marks
(difference of 3 marks). However, the case of my PAPAJI
became famous amongst Hindi professors of many

40 - PAPAJI on Discrimination – Dr Himanshu Shekhar

universities. Some knew because they were party to the
marks reduction and other knew it as a desperate action
by a head of the department to safeguard the prestige
of his caste. However, it so happened that in the
interview for public service commission, my PAPAJI was
selected and it was taken by my PAPAJI as a
compensation for the so called earlier incidence. Again
his second rank was not discrimination nor was his
selection discrimination.

Equipped with many stories of similar nature, my mind
was ready to accept all the decisions, made by those in
power. In fact, such decisions must be accepted without
any resistance for safety, security, peace of mind and
sound health. During 8th standard, I changed my school,
along with one of my classmates. I was scoring 80-90%
marks, while he was scoring 50-60% marks prior to the
change. My friend’s PAPAJI was principal of the new
school. Suddenly, in the new school, he became first
rank holder and I became second. Again this was not
discrimination, but only an attempt to make
Ashwathama greater than Arjun in the school of
Dronacharya. Dronacharya, in Mahabharata also tried
to teach Ashwathama secretly and separately, but he
could not make him a better archer than Arjun. During
my graduation in Engineering, in second year, one
subject was Material Science and there also I have one
Asthwathama. Dronacharya was teacher of that subject.

Dr Himanshu Shekhar - PAPAJI on Discrimination -
41

In the final examination, I could barely pass (35%), but
Asthwathama and pupil of his caste scored 85% marks
in that subject. It was not discrimination, but an act of
convenience and trust.

After joining a job, I was liked by my superiors for my
hard work and dedications. I used to complete the task
in time, but then I came across another type of
problem. This is called regionalism, meaning supporting
people of same state or region. I found that locals were
supporting each other, and they were going out of the
way in supporting each other. Such regional instinct has
not crossed my way till I got certain promotions. As I
could not get anyone from my state to work with, I was
working in fully professional manner with whosoever I
was attached with. During one of the conferences at
Orissa, I met some professors of IISc. In their opinion,
my organization was dominated by electronics people
and that too from Bangalore. I had never thought of my
organization, from that angle. But it was an eye-opener.
My organization has such regional bias, which need not
be highlighted or stated, as a distinguishing feature.

Once, I was working closely with one Telegu Boss. I
thought, he was happy with my work but when time for
promotion came, he raised his hands. He told me to
take shelter of my previous boss of north. I came to
know later that my Telegu Boss was to support my
Telegu Competitor, because of regional commitments.

42 - PAPAJI on Discrimination – Dr Himanshu Shekhar

He supported the same person again during next
promotion. By this time, I have become matured
enough to understand that it is not discrimination, but a
matter of convenience and trust. So discrimination
should be taken in a different spirit and this alternate
definition is revealed by my PAPAJI through his own
experiences. There is nothing called discrimination and
it only exists in books and laws to recite and pass
judgements.

Discrimination is just last resort to blame lost
opportunities. Caste, creed, religion, region, gender etc
are all existent right from the advent of civilization. No
two human beings are the same, no two have same
traits, no two are equal in response, no two have same
resilience, and no two have same patience, and so on. If
no two are equal, how a job can be assigned to a person
and denied to other. Everything depends of selection
committee and in the eyes of selection committee,
whatever is correct, that prevails. Others have no right
to pass the judgement and state that this is
discriminatory. My PAPAJI made it clear that everything
is incomplete till you complete it. Efforts are made to
complete it. If completion is devoid, it is clear that
either efforts are insufficient or path chosen for
completion is wrong. Climbing a ladder is not sufficient,
it is mandatory to see that it is leaning against correct

Dr Himanshu Shekhar - PAPAJI on Discrimination -
43

wall. Otherwise after reaching the top, hue and cry of
discrimination is made.

One of the suggestions made to my PAPAJI by some
social worker to remove discrimination was inter-caste
marriage. This was stated to break the caste barrier and
discrimination on the basis of caste will be eliminated.
My PAPAJI stated that it is elimination or further
enhancement of discrimination. My PAPAJI elaborated
that any inter-caste marriage will take place between
people of two known caste. Then after an inter-caste
marriage, a third hybrid caste will be generated, which
will increase the number of castes. If there are 3 castes
in the beginning, by inter-caste marriage, there will be 9
hybrid-castes generated, which will multiply further, as
inter-caste marriage progress. So, inter-caste marriage
will not have any effect on removal of caste system.
Regionalism and religious divide will remain effective
and it is clear that India lives under confusion of Unity in
Diversity, but actually it is diversity of piecemeal unity,
which is root behind existence of our country. The spirit
of India is discrimination and so long as process of
natural justice and natural selection remain, the cry for
foul play and discrimination will be made. In my
PAPAJI’s word, there is nothing called discrimination, it
is only mutual convenience and trust, which prevails
and is stamped inadvertently as discrimination.

44 - PAPAJI on Discrimination – Dr Himanshu Shekhar

PAPAJI a game-changer

Frank Pittman – “Fathering is not something that
perfects the man. The end product of child raising is
not the child but the parent”.

Being on throne, makes people weak. This seems to be
a contradictory statement to the popular belief, where
acquiring a chair, is considered ultimate coveted
achievement. In fact, after acquiring the throne, the
effort to excel subsides and more time and energy is
wasted in maintaining the attained position. So, any
urge to acquire a position is to be controlled to become
a game-changer. My PAPAJI acted as game-changer at
various levels in public domain and has been
instrumental in many political and communal supports,
without being in seat or without holding any position.
The philosophy promulgated in Maharashtra by Late
Balasaheb Thackrey, has been taught to me, since
childhood through practical examples, by my PAPAJI.
People become student-leaders; my PAPAJI became
teacher-leader. The college union, teachers union and
all other type of communal and social areas have been
explored and made suitable and favourable. The
moment, lust to gain power goes, person becomes
powerful. People pray because of expectations. If

Dr Himanshu Shekhar - PAPAJI a game-changer - 45

expectations are lost, prayer is also lost and persons
may become contented. Sher Jang Garg has written

“,

”

It means do not try to become good to all, because
people are ready to fool you, take you for a ride. It is
this philosophy of not being good to all, which makes
even contented people to influence society, so that
safety of self is ensured. Being game-changer is difficult,
but it helps in attaining some sort of immunity from
suppression and ill-treatments. My PAPAJI wanted and
became game-changer with this intension. Bitten by the
matter of convenience and trust (which is popularly
known as discrimination), my PAPAJI wanted to
safeguard his own interests and prevented any further
damage to his hard earned career, money and prestige.
This led him to remain actively involved with each part
of his surrounding and give clear message to those in
vicinity to refrain from thinking of doing any further
damage.

Being contented is one part and being game-changer
may be considered as a contradictory requirement. But
a contented person is also active, not only to gain
something, but to let his presence felt and to intimidate
the surrounding. I have been witness to influence of my
PAPAJI in all domains. During teacher’s agitation in

46 - PAPAJI a game-changer – Dr Himanshu Shekhar

Bihar, I came across two unions FUTAB (Federation of
University Teachers Association of Bihar) and FUSTAB (S
for service). I knew nothing about the head and tail of
these unions, but so called members of both these
unions were regular visitors to my house and I was not
aware at that time, as to why they were coming. I was
finding it a bit annoying to get a gamut of people
gathering almost every evening for a meeting at my
house. The purpose of meeting was not known, but I
was sure that my PAPAJI cannot be an office bearer of
any of the unions. It was because (as per previous
chapter’s PVSM) neither Common noun was in his favor,
nor he was a Proper noun to reckon with, nor was he
powerful enough to exercise the impact of Abstract
noun or Materials noun. So, overall, I was thinking the
meeting to be a futile exercise, but my PAPAJI enjoyed
the role of king-maker. The rag-picker to king-maker
status is what is to be attempted. People may not harm
a king-maker and this immunity was well enjoyed by my
family. This aspect was difficult to comprehend and
manipulate.

This was the aspect that I imitated throughout my
professional career. In my service, I was not having any
Godfather, but with my hard work, I gained a godfather,
who helped me in riding the ladders and I enjoyed
certain immunity also throughout my life from any ill-
treatment. I have adopted both aspects of PAPAJI’s
philosophy. First is being contented with what you have.

Dr Himanshu Shekhar - PAPAJI a game-changer - 47

Work hard but be prepared for the worst and
whatever comes must be enjoyed. Celebrating each
small puff of happiness makes life fruitful and
contented. I learnt it from my PAPAJI and am practicing
it throughout. Being contented is an art, which is
difficult to adopt in daily life. But my PAPAJI made me
adopt it fully. Desire and wish has a thin line. Wish is a
simple statement, whereas desire is craving for the
statement. Desire means seeking possession while wish
is granting something to self or to other. Wish is good
while desire makes slave. People feel honored to
enhance intensity of wishes, while desire at high level
may lead to greed or lust. The contentedness is also to
be taken in same spirit. Being contented does not
devoid someone from action. Action is executed by
contented persons also but the inherent passivity to
result is the main requirement. What is spelt out in
Srimadbhagwat Geeta is true.

“”

,,

To gain more punch to the action of a contended
person, the second aspect is pertinent, which is the role
of a game-changer. God help those, who help
themselves, but creating an impervious shell, around, to
neutralize all attacks, is a crying need for survival. Such
immunity or isolation negates the importance of prayer,

48 - PAPAJI a game-changer – Dr Himanshu Shekhar

completely. After joining at a completely unknown
hostile place for my job, I started influencing my
surrounding with my knowledge. I studied hard and
made an impression of acquiring any type of skill.
Initially, I helped many influential seniors without
anything in return. I made drawings of a production
plant, without visiting that place any time. The credit for
that work was taken by my senior, but that senior
became my silent supporter in all future endeavors. I
proposed many changes in technical outlook of the
office and suggested new infrastructure and worked for
attaining the same very sincerely. Once seniors started
recognizing me for the innovative content and
quickness of services, they started efforts to get me as
their subordinate. After a serious tug-of-war, the most
influential senior got me as his junior. Being game-
changer without any power and exercising power of
seniors to influence decisions was inculcated by my
PAPAJI and I have used it adequately, for survival, as
well as for my safety. Acting as game-changer has been
my PAPAJI’s preaching and I tried to adopt it to the
fullest. When I was junior, my seniors supported me in
all the endeavors and I made it a point to help all my
subordinates to the extent possible, so as to make a
large Collective noun, behind me, who are not bound to
me, due to my credentials as proper noun, common
noun, abstract noun or material noun. They became my

Dr Himanshu Shekhar - PAPAJI a game-changer - 49

passive morale brigade against any possible ill-
treatment.

Helping seniors was one side of the game-changer story.
Another side is inculcating confidence into
subordinates. In the beginning, I worked with
technicians’ turners, machinists, fitters, welders and
labors, to make them feel comfortable with me. I lifted
weights, I did drilling in cast iron pipes, myself, I did
fitting, and in the process, gained the confidence of
those people. Many a time, I was asked about the secret
of extracting work from those technicians, who were
earlier engaged with union activities and had very
insignificant contribution in technical activities.
However, when a gamut of 15 such union leaders was
given to me, within six months, they became very
productive. The simple method adopted by me was
giving them respect, working with them, crediting them
with achievements and making them responsible. The
extraction of work from a rogue gang made me effective
in the eyes of my seniors. I do not know what I suffered
in this bargain, and why earlier people failed to address
the productivity issues with such union leaders.
However, I gained a lot from such behaviour and
subordinates became fully devoted to me and I enjoyed
full faith of my seniors. It became a win-win situation
and a demonstration of extracting work from an
unproductive gang became my signature. This approach
I learnt from my PAPAJI, not through any sermons, but

50 - PAPAJI a game-changer – Dr Himanshu Shekhar