The Legendary Dhyanchand and a Gandhian Cop

SHAHARNAAMA Jabalpur-19

TEXT: DINESH CHOUDHARY ( English Translation by Lakshmi Kant Sharma)

Gone are the days when people at large didn’t sell their self esteem. And so were sportsmen who were not auctioned like horses and people’s representatives.They focused only on exhibiting their skills on the ground and played for their country in true spirit. They were the real gems and not like the ones who are today cut and polished by the market and used to sell goods to the people. The phrase “Spirit of Sportsmanship” is the remnant of that bygone era. 

Indian Hockey team under the stewardship of Dhyan Chand had become victorious in the Berlin Olympics of 1936. And Dhyan Chand returned to India with the international laurels. He was at Pachmarhi for some refresher training. Pachmarhi was then a very important training centre and a Cantonment of Indian army. The incident of Dhyan Chand’s meeting with Adolf Hitler was already in the air.Germany had defeated India in a practice match before the final Hockey tournament. And naturally Germany had great expectations to win in the finals. Germans in great numbers were there on the ground along with Hitler. Indian Hockey team started raining goal after goal and good sense prevailed upon the Führer and he left the ground. India had won the final match by 8-1 goals. Coincidentally, it was 15th August that day. Hitler called for Dhyan Chand and offered him very high positions in Germany. Dhyan Chand refused to accept and didn’t compromise with his self pride. With freshly donned crown of fame Dhyan Chand was in Pachmarhi. Here, he was to play a match with the team of Satpura Eleven under the captainship of a Jabalpurian.That Jewel of Jabalpur was B.L.Parashar from Indian Police Service. 

Parashar’s team had only local players and they all were novices. Very few of them had shoes otherwise all others were barefooted. Parashar was playing centre half and Sallu was the centre forward player. Sallu was a Bhistee by profession and he didn’t look like a player even. He had never gone to school. His simplicity and background could easily be judged from the fact that he had never seen a train what to speak of travelling by a train !!. Other players were just somehow arranged to form a team like the cricket team of Amir Khan’s Lagan film. And lo and behold! This makeshift team was facing a well trained team of the Army having the world famous Dhyan Chand by its side. The match started. Before the legendary Dhyan Chand could show his magic Sallu had transported the ball across the goal post of the opposing team. This was the first goal and it was unbelievable. No body had even the slightest inkling that a man like shabbily Sallu could do so. Perhaps the Army team had not taken Sallu seriously. And before they did take note of him, Sallu registered his second goal. The ground was packed to capacity and people had come from far and wide only to see the magical charms of Dhyan Chand. Dhyan Chand got a bit embarrassed and played some sort of “rough game” against his principles. At one point he stuck his stick with that of Parashar and say sorry too. The Army team could anyhow manage one goal. The Satpura Eleven had won the tournament. Later Dhyan Chand mentioned about this memorable hockey match in his autobiography:The Goal. 

Dhyan Chand already did have good acquaintance with Babu Lal Parashar and this acquaintance in course of time grew into intimate friendship.Their friendship lasted for life. Few people know that Roop Singh, the younger brother of Dhyan Chand, was also an international Hockey player and he was born in Jabalpur. Dhyan Chand’s father was posted in an army batallian at Jabalpur and Dhyan Chand spent a long time of his childhood here. In Jabalpur only, Dhyan Chand learnt the basic tricks of Hockey from Subedar Bale Tiwari. But Parashar was more impressed with the younger brother.He always considered Captain Roop Singh technically more equipped in Hockey but Dhyan Chand fetched more popularity and prestige. Dhyan Chand whenever came to Jabalpur, would definitely meet Babu Lal Parashar and always maintained the family relationship. Parashar carried out the liability of marrying off his daughter from Jabalpur only. Dhyan Chand offered Parashar to join the Hockey team of the Indian army but he couldn’t do so due to family obligations.

Babulal Parashar was the second in a family of four brothers and three sisters.The elder brother was in forest service and was posted at Chandrapur.The family of a widowed sister was also living with him Dhyan Chand was of the opinion that if B.L.Parashar joined military service he had more chances for his selection in Indian Hockey team. He had great passion for sport.When he was posted at Hata, he would go to Damoh for playing Tennis by cycle everyday after office hours. He had only a cycle at home and he would fit a dynamo in the cycle for lighting before leaving for Damoh in the evening. The distance between Hata and Damoh is near about 35-40 kilometres. This was no mean task to cover such a long distance after doing day long hard work, play Tennis and then again peddle home the same long distance. It was undoubtedly a great feat which only a man of Parashar’s grit could accomplish. His fame as an extraordinary and passionate sportsman spread far and wide. When Prakash Chandra Sethi was the Chief Minister he offered Parashar to join his government as a minister for sports. But it was more than enough for a nice man like Parashar to be in police department. He declined the offer and refrained from falling prey to political allurement.

B.L.Parashar had earned a great name in the fields of sports, sports journalism, Hindi literature and Urdu poetry. But above it all he was known for his commendable work in police department. Owing to his inimitable style of working he was known as the Gandhi of the department. It is common knowledge that police usually use third degree method to elicit confessions from criminals and other wrong- doers. Mahatma Gandhi always stressed on moral force instead of the physical one. And this very moral force was the quintessential weapon of Babulal Parashar as a policeman. Let me tell a tale about his Gandhigiri. He was a man of literary orientation and had set up a library at home. To him books and money both were at par and money was never given more importance than books. So envelopes containing currency notes were also kept amongst books. Who had time for maintaining ledgers!!. One day he smelt something like some notes were missing. Whom to blame? There was only one servant at home but without evidence putting finger at him, no way ethically. Only a person endowed with higher sensitivity can think so. So Parashar wrote on a few envelopes in bold letters : TO STEAL IS To Commit A SIN. And a miracle happened. The servant prostrated at the feet of this Gandhian cop confessing to his crime and begged for pardon which was instantly granted.

Mr.Parashar used his “sin technology“in police department on many occasions. One day he was travelling to Gadarwara by train accompanied by his grandson Pankaj. Pankaj was then just 7-8 years old boy. His father had passed away at an early age and his grandfather was not well. For Gadarwara one had to leave home very early in the morning to catch Jabalpur-Itarasi Shuttle train. So both the maternal grandfather and the grandson started off in a rickshaw to reach Madanmahal railway station. They were just half way through and they were obstructed to move by two ruffians on way to the ralway station. One of them put a knife at the neck of young Pankaj. Parashar counselled them that it’s not fair to attack an innocent child with a knife. However, he handed over his bag to them and also whatever cash he had in his pocket. Further, he added : the kid’s grandfather is seriously ill and if he is not able to see him then only they had to bear the sin. This “sin technology” worked again and the duo returned the entire belongings to Mr. Parashar keeping just rupees fifteen with them.

The stories of B.L. Parashar had become much talked about legends by now. He was posted after independence in Ambikapur. During his posting here he once chanced upon making a visit to Nagpur. A member of the princely State’s family approached his house with a huge loads of costly gifts. Such was the custom those days in order to establish relations with the officers. But this was a strange thing for the Parashar family and it was natural for the family to get uncomfortable. The Maharaja of Sarguja State was in Banaras then. Upon his return from Nagpur, Parashar came to know about the undesirable presentations and he visited the Maharaja to return the gifts. The Maharaja was pleasantly surprised and overwhelmed by the demeanour and noble gesture of Mr. Parashar adding that he had not seen such an officer so far.

Sardar Patel had initiated a vigorous campaign for the unification of princely States. Nizam of Hyderabd was not listening and wanted to stay free. Rumour had also spread about Hyderabad going with Pakistan. The steely Sardar launched Operation Polo to crush the rebellion of the Nizam. Police action was also in the offing. Honest and brave officers were in urgent need. Sardar Patel spoke to Pandit Ravishankar Shukla who recommended B.L.Parashar. Parashar went to Aurangabad and recruited 300 policemen. Here also he was in his own mode of Gandhian police action and became very popular. While returning he was given a grand send off at the railway station and the compartment he was travelling in was laden with garlands galore. Back at Jabalpur station a multitude of people were waiting for their hero. The train had halted “out of course “for several minutes. He had reached Jabalpur with promotion. People were anxious to know as to what gifts he had brought from his prized posting and Mr. Parashar showed them the baskets of bouquets. It was rare for officers returning from such coveted postings. No money no material but only fragrance of flowers was his gift.

Those were the days when Jabalpur was in great demand for its bricks and tiles apart from other items. Once Pandit Ravishankar Shukla had such requirements and he called Mr. Parashar on the phone. Had somebody else been in his place he would have just asked the minister about the volume of requirement and obliged. But he was not the typical bureaucratic Babu but Babu Lal Parashar who just enquired about the rate and informed Pandit Ravi Shankar Shukla. Later the D.G. Police phoned him and advised to take care of the protocol but at the same time dittoed his action of not compromising with his unswerving principles .

The chair has much fanfare that lasts until the man stays there. If the man in the chair happens to be honest and upright he is held in esteem even after his saying bid a diue to the chair. This was true with Mr. Parashar. The year 1984 saw communal riots across India and Jabalpur was no exception. There were several shops in Napier town owned by Sikhs. The rioters reached there to indulge in arson and loot. Alarmed and scared the Sikh shopkeepers phoned Mr.Parashar for help. Mr. Parashar was retired then and was nearly 80 years of age. He rushed to the spot as if on a morning walk reminding a scene in the film Deewar in which Shashi Kapoor with both hands in his pockets goes to a bunch of hooligans in a carefree manner. Seeing Mr.Parashar in their midst the rioters got their feet in the cold as if a hard hitting headmaster had come in front of some naughty students. Their plans failed and they saluted him and quietly left the scene. Such was the stature and influence of an eighty year old retired policeman in the area.

The policemen are hard nut to crack. They are made of such metal which can neither be cut by arsenals nor melt by fire. They never give even a damn to rough weather and stay vigil even in hard times. They do not care for a mask either during epidemic or pandemic. Thus, they follow the philosophy of the Gita which advocates disinterested attachments. And the department also takes serious note of it and doesn’t grant them leaves very often. Frustration with not getting leave leads to carelessness and dereliction to duty boomerangs with punishment. So one day such a dedicated constable approached Mr Parashar with a request to help him go on leave. Start parading, he was ordered. Both hands up having a gun held tight the constable got further instruction to move forward which he followed as a committed constable. On the very spur of the moment Mr Parashar’s wife yelled from inside gesturing him to come which he obeyed as an equally committed husband. After doing his duty at home when Mr. Parashar came out he could not see the constable. A search began but to no avail. The policeman returned after many days having shabbily grown beard. Where were you all these days ? pat came the rebuttal. And lo and behold ! Sir, you ordered me to move forward! And no further order to rewind so....... In fact the policeman had gone on his desired leave on duty kudos to the cop with a difference !!!

K.F.Rustamji was a renowned police officer of India. He made an honourable mention of B.L. Parashar in his book. Not only Rustamji but Mayaram Surjan also recognised him in his book. After his successful innings in police department, B.L.Parashar devoted his time to sports journalism and literature. Robertson College was working on a souvenir the publication of which had become a Herculean task. Some sort of superstition was in the air that whosoever edits the souvenir doesn’t live long. Nobody came forward. Unfazed, B.L.Parashar took the challenge and did the editing.The college administration sent it to Press. But the Gandhian Cop left for his heavenly abode before the souvenir saw the light of the day.