Sunday Special -- A Million Dollar Question !

A Million Dollar Question!

I Joined Thapar Engineering College Patiala (Now Thapar University),in the year 1959.At that time there used to be a mixed lot of teachers.W.R.C.Coode Adams Was the Principal of the College and taught us Physics.T.H.Terry used to teach Electrical Engineering.( both were from UK) Humanities teacher was Prof. Wadhawa Ram who used to support a white turban.I had a unique position in the class,Firstly I was lone Sikh in a class of 60,Secondly I was the only student who played  Hockey and Captioned the team,and was considered  a'Dabang' and naughty,The Professors while taking attendance never called me by name,if they see a turban would mark 'P' in the register otherwise 'A',I was at a disadvantage too as No body could be a proxy for me.

In the First year among all the dry subjects,the cool subject was 'Humanities'.I asked Prof. Wadhawa Ram what has Humanities to do with Engineering? He replied they want you to become better engineers not machines Humanities encourages the students to think creatively and develop informed and critical citizens.He was right.

This subject and game of hockey paid me rich dividends in the very first year as they suited my nature.

It so happened That for Viva voce exam the external examiner was from Bananas Hindu University, a very well educated ,learned and super intelligent.The scenario outside the room was that most of the students were having guides or notes in their hands and doing revision of what they have been taught in the class especially the one's being asked by the examiner.

Every candidate was made comfortable in the chair facing the two examiners across the office table and the following conversation took place between the examiner and examines:-

"What would you like to discuss?" was the one and only question put to every student;

First Candidate was Khurana.

Q. "What would you like to discuss?"

Khurana," Sir let us discuss Cinema"

(He thought, he would ask about movies and movie stars,but he started asking questions about Accoustics,Sound ,Projection,Cinematography)

Khurana couldn't answer the question and walked out fully dejected.

2nd candidate was Harish Chadha.

"What would you like to discuss?"

"Sir let us discuss Novels."

" What novels have you read?"

" Good earth by Pearls Buck,Ninety Three by Victor Hugo,Tess by Thomas Hardy,Pair of Blue eyes by Thomas Hardy."

( Chadha had not read a single one only had crammed names from the Guide)

The examiner started asking situations,

" In such and such novel,Such and such Character was justified in saying so and so?"

Chadha looked blank

" Sorry sir I told a Lie I have not Read any one of them."

Chadha came out wiping sweat from his face.

Ramesh Kapur was the next.

" What would you like to discuss?"

" Sir let us discuss politics."

" How many China's are there?"

( must be more than one he thought) Without,answering ,saying sorry ,he came out and told the waiting candidates about the question put to him and his reply,

he told," I kept mum and like a good politician staged a walkout!"

I was the fourth in line an( was known especially for ability to create confusion by lengthy narrative and " Jawab mei.n hi sawaal ho". type answeres)

" What would you like to discuss?

"Sir,I have interest in Sports and games."

" Outdoor or Indoor games."

" Outdoor games Sir."

What game do you play?"

'Hockey sir.'

'Which position?"

" Inside right Sir."

"Alright,Name any five Olympic players?"

"Which Olympic Sir,Helsinki,Melbourne,Amsterdam,Berlin,Los Angeles,Rome?"

" Say of recently held Rome Olympias"

Sir,of which country? Belgium,Kenya,Holland,Australia,Spain?"

" Say of India."

"Sir should I name the entire squad,or those who actually played?"

"Oh no no,only those who were fielded"

The situation so developed,the roles were reversed,I was asking questions he was at the receiving end.

Instead of popular names, Udham Singh,Bal Krishan,Jhaman Lal,Raghubir Singh and Erman, I gave their names as: U.S.Khullar,B.K Grewal,J.L.Sharma,R.S.Bhola andE.K Bastian.Respectively.

( Exactly in the same manner,as I Instead of referring first four sikh Gurus, Guru Nanak Dev,Guru Angad Dev,Guru Amar Dass, Guru Ram Das and Lord Krishana and Lord Rama as: N.D.Bedi,A.D.Trehan,A.D.Bhalla,R.D. Sodhi,K.Yadav and R.D. Raghu respectively)

The external examiner as well as internal examiner started scratching their heads,and were at a loss to know,whether my reply was wrong or right.

" Ok gentleman you are done" and signaled me to see the door.

(I thought he meant," Tu tou gaya!")

As I came out I was encircled by candidates awaiting for their turn and asked me," what did he ask?

I replied," the same Million Dollar question," what would you like to discuss?" and I said," Game of Hockey."

20 minutes passed no candidate was called in.

There after the internal examiner came out ,he was asked ," Sir what happened ,why is the Viva stopped?"

He pointed finger at me and said," ask him."

" Sir i have no clue,what went wrong?"

He explained," after you left,he shook his head, drank water,asked for a cup of tea and taking a deep breath,uttered in low voice," One can not be master of everything,I learnt this lesson from this boy and also meaning of the Punjabi word 'Panga'

Thereafter business resumed as usual(Viva resumed san Million dollar question,Pattern of questions changed ,strictly related to the subject of oral examination.

'Pride hath a fall', is the Moral of the Story!

' Aap- beeti'(Not Kahani) by Tejinder Kamboj