Ashok Sharma
Men are here and men are there,
But great men are very rare.
Captain Balbir Singh fondly called’Captain Sahib’ by the local residents and friends lived in the sleepy village of Chak Rakwalan, about 14 kilometers to the south east of Tehsil and District Headquarters of Udhampur. He belonged to the band of those selfless people who sacrifice their everything-comfort, money and even life for the social cause. Born to Sant Ram on Jan15, 1926 in village ChakRakwalan about 14 Kilometers from Udhampur,he lost his mother at a young age.He received his early education at various places as his father served as a Nazar in the Revenue Department during the Maharaja’sregime and he served at various places in the then Jammu &Kashmir princely state.He said that he received his early education upto 2nd standard from ‘Katra’ school at Udhampur.During this period, he was the classmate of LalaShivCharan Gupta, the veteran BJP leader of Udhampur, who left for his heavenly abode a few years ago. He passed the 4th class from Azad Kashmir andthe 10th class from the then Govt.High School Udhampur.However, it is very much certain that he studied at Prince of Wales College (now G.G.M.Science College, Jammu) and obtained the degree of B.Sc(Non- medical) from Lahore university in 1946.After graduation,hewas recruited in the Armed Forces of J&K.When the princely state of Jammu & Kashmir signed the Instrument of Accession with the Republic of India, he joined the Indian Army to serve in Army Education Corps.It is said that he also applied for Commissioned Officer in the Indian Army but being married, he was found ineligible to join the Indian Army as commissioned officer.It was in the Army Education Corps that he developed Interest for teaching, which lasted through out his life.He retired as Subedar Major(Hony. Captain) in Feb,1974 after serving for 28 years in the Indian Army and devoted himself wholeheartedly for social work , especially for the promotion of education in his native village of Chakrakwalan which had only a Primary School functioning in a single ‘kucha room’at that time to cater to a large area and population.
To begin with, he constructed a room for the local primary school out of his own money.The late Dev Raj Gupta ,the then Tehsil Education Officer Udhampur was so pleased with his dedication and selfless service that headded 6th class to the school in 1975.Captain Balbir Singh hired the services of two local educated young persons to teach the students, in addition to the Government appointed teacer.The school was raised to the level of 7th class in the year1976 and he started devoting himself fully to the teaching activity and himself took all the six periods in the Time Table.He also constructed two more rooms out of his own moneyto accomodate the increasing number of students.Not only this,he donated Rs 10, 000 (a huge amount in those days) in 1982 to Govt. High School Krimachi where his daughter was studying in the 10th standard,in order to upgrade the Sc. laboratory of the said school . It was primarily due to his untiring and sincere efforts that the Chakrakwalan school was raised to the 8th standard in the late seventies and then upgraded as High School in 1992 which was his cherished dream. Now he would spend all his time in the school teaching the students. He also helped the poor students in pursuing their education and encouraged the brilliant students by giving them rewards in the form of dictionaries, books, uniforms etc. He donated aboutsix kanals of land to the school and constructed many rooms. Besides devoting full time to the school and taking all the periods,he would assist and guide the teachers including the writer as to howto maintain the school records and offer them his valuable guidance and help, especially in teaching English, Mathematics and Science.He would never disclose how he arranged money for the construction of rooms but it is believed by the people close to him that he used to deposit a major amount out of his pension in the bank in the name of the school and as the deposit amounted to about Rs 50000-60000, a new room for the school would be constructed.In this way, he constructed many rooms for the school though he, alongwith his wife, daughter, one of the sons,daughter- in – law and grandchildren used to live in a kuchhahouse.It was only after a lot of persuasion and when the old house crumbled down that a pucca house comprising 3-4 rooms was got constructed perhaps in the late nineties.
He was the highest example of simplicity and would always wear white PVC sleepers, trousers and often sky blue shirt.He would buy a new set of clothes and shoes only when the old got torn.He never craved for name and fame.Once, some eminent educationists of Udhampur including the legendery acadaemician and administrator Dev Raj Gupta, decided to honourCapt.Balbir Singh for his outstanding and exceptional services to the society.As soon as,he came to know about this fact, he stopped coming to school saying that he didnot deserve any reward.It was only after he was told that no award would be conferred on him that he restarted coming to school.Whenever somebody told him that he was doing a great service to the society, he would say that he was just whiling away the time as a selfish person.He continued to render this selfless service for 31 years after his retirement when he suffered an injury at home and was rendered incapable of going to school.He also started the construction of two roomsand erected the walls but before he could complete them,he breathed his last on Sep30, 2007 at Jammu and his mortal remains were consigned to flames at DevikaGhatUdhampur.God rewarded him for his services in His unique way.He is survived by his two sons ,one of whom retired as Colonel in the Indian Army and two daughters, one of whom named Dr.Rani, is serving as Professor of Physics in the University of Jammu.His wife and his elder daughter – in -law left for their heavenly abode only a few months ago.My respectful tribute to such a noble soul who was a saint in the real sense of the word.Few people will believe that such a noble soul ever existed on the earth and contributed so valuably to the society.He led a life of detachment from wordly pleasures and sacrificed his everything-money, time and even life for the promotion of education in the rural areas of Udhampur.He earned legendery stature in his native village and Udhampur and commanded envable respect among the people.People often quote him as the highest example of selflessness whenever there are discussions in literary ,social,educational and other circles.May his soul rest in peace and may people derive inspiration from the life of this great man!It will be a befitting tribute to this great man if a memorium is constructed in his honour to inspire people to emulate his ideals and serve humanity with a selfless and missinary spirit.
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