Bauji's : a shadow of his former self

Bauji had returned to his base in Amritsar a few months after the surgery. Sickness had taken the wind out of his sails. The Amritsar business was now mainly handled by Ajit Bhai Sahib and Pawan. Though Bauji eventually joined them, he was not very active. In the meantime, Pawan was to get married, and the responsibility to arrange it fell on Ajit Bhai, who lacked such experience. He spent 30,000 on the marriage, which was a huge amount for the family. It was decided that I would fund 50% of it. I worked hard in Delhi to arrange the money to get my elder brother married. 

I always traveled in the third-class railway. This was all I could afford. Out of nowhere, once I got curious about experiencing the second-class railway compartment. Without a second-class ticket, I entered the second-class railway coach. It was fascinating. Then I entered its washroom. First, I was excited, and then scared, and I ran back immediately so that no one would catch me. Those stolen 5 minutes left a lifelong lingering desire to be rich enough. 

With that ambition, I started my journey to earn more money, which I will narrate in my own story. Life was somewhat back on track, and in due course, Bauji purchased the family's current house in Amritsar from Sh Shadi Lal ji of Bombay (the Sharif) for Rs. 20,000 cash and 5,000 every year for the next four years. This was our first family asset. Our Amritsar family shifted to this new home. We rented out the ground floor to a family and the top floor to a school. In Delhi, we rented the Roop Nagar house for 500/= per month. That story, I will also narrate later on. 

Chai ji was tormented with Ajit Bhai and Pawan Bhai's behavior in Amritsar. Incited by their real maternal uncles, both of them used to routinely blame Chaiji, their step-mother. I will talk about that as well later. 

In due course, Raj and Suraj shifted to Delhi as well. Babuji's health was not improving much. As warned, he developed diabetes and urinary problems. Chai ji wanted to shift to Delhi permanently for treatment. Babuji was around sixty years old at that time, but his life was now marred with many medical complications. Even though I knew very little about the medical field, I was the sole caretaker of the family's medical problems and even of relatives. Somehow, people far and near trusted my judgments and courage to take medical decisions. It all rooted from a well-known fact that I would never let laziness, inconvenience, or lack of finance come in his way to get the best medical treatment available for his people. If I would have to, I would readily go to the deep end of the planet to unearth the best possible cure.

I started getting treatment for Bauji with the best doctors available. However,  During this time, he underwent an operation for prostrate glands from a top doctor in Delhi at a private clinic in Rajouri Garden. Bauji would give in to his cravings for sweets and it made his condition worse. He developed a gangrenous condition in his left foot, which required amputation. Unfortunately, during this time, I experienced a sudden fall in my business, resulting in a loss of 20 lakhs. Regardless, best medical treatment for my father was nonnegotiable, and I decided to get him admitted to Ganga Ram Hospital under the care of Dr. Talwar, who had recently joined the hospital.  When it came to taking medical decisions, I think I behaved like a dictator as no one in the family challenged my calls. Looking back, I find it as terrible and ridiculous attitude on everyone's part including me. At that time, all six of us were running our separate businesses but our finances were still not completely segregated. It was my call to get the expensive treatment at Ganga Ram for Bauji, but Sushil funded it all! And now, I have introduced my brother Sushil in this book.

Babu ji was admitted to Gangs Ram for gangeric treatment, but he had a heart attack. We had to immediately halt the gangeric treatment, and tend the heart first. Dr Khanna, the chairman of the hospital was enlisted to take care of the heart issues.  Bauji started experiencing the urinal problems as well  So at one time, three doctors of different fields were attending to Bau ji. All my seven siblings left me in-charge to handle the situation; none of them was interested in opining. I visited the hospital twice everyday talking to various doctors, while Chai ji was permanently there by her husband side.

In due course, the heart and urinal problems were controlled and Babu ji was ready for gangeric operation. Dr Talwar was then qualified as a vascular surgeon in Ganga Ram. Before the operation, he informed us that Babu ji's foot might need to be amputated, otherwise, there was a risk of the disease traveling to his legs. Luckily, only two fingers of his foot had to be removed.

We brought our father home; but not all of him.