REST IN PEACE PAPA

It’s exactly been two dark moons since papa passed away.
Sri Ram Kumar Singh, fondly called Lapetu Singh, born 6th of July 1948 at village Maniyarpur, District Vaishali, Bihar passed away on the 3rd of May, 2011 at around 1 A.M, inside the sanctum sanctorum of the age old Shiva temple the family deity, in a rather dramatic way, like his life had been lately.
Ever since, the episodes of last year, his perhaps only goal in life now appeared to be the resurrection of the dilapidated temple, in a record time of 10 months he had managed to construct a 81 feet, 3000 sq ft structure and was about to do the final rituals a few days later.
None of us were pleased with this single agenda program of his and had hardly cooperated. We didn’t see this coming, except for a lesser dangerous ailments like epilepsy, atrophy of the right brain and high blood pressure, he was a normal physically and a normal death would have been at least 20 years later.
But of course, rationality is subjective and in the most suited manner the man with the utmost pride walked out of his house in the middle of the dark night, prayed to his ancestors and worshiped his deity, seeked forgiveness from the souls he was leaving and slept the deepest slumber ever in the foot of his god with an absolute calm and peace on his glowing dead face.

Born to a 53 year old father Sri Nagina Singh and his second wife Uma Devi an 18 year mother, he was the only son and hope for the seven families of brothers and cousins who had no issues or hope left of continuation of their lineage, the family together owned 1200 acres of Zamindari then.
Father Nagina Singh had no interest in the property and lived with the British in Patna, running a motor company, in his early days he had lost his wife and kids in an epidemic and it was only in his last days of his life that he came back to the village, denouncing everything he had earned.
Papa lived his early life in Patna, but would travel often to the village and was pained to see his cousin grandfather the then “Malik” blowing wealth and the inhuman treatment he meted out the lower strata of society.
Papa turned a communist and would often boast to us later the big names he was associated with while running the communist party elections in Patna. After the death of the then Malik, Shree Panchu Singh, who ruled with an iron fist and, his father had no choice but to return to Zamindari.
Papa dropped out of his college pursuing the science degree, much to the annoyance of his father and engaged himself into the matters of property.
Soon the communist had turned into a Zamindar himself fighting the Government against land ceiling and the “parcha’s” distributed of his property to the poor he stood for against his grandfather a few years back.
He made his father stand for the elections of “Mukhiya” and had him uncontested take that post for next 20 years till his time of death. The government till date has not been able to acquire a single inch of land from the property he inherited, though my father must have sold at least 800 acres of land in his life.
Married at an early age of 20, he was broken the news of his wedding two days before his wedding, my mother Asha Singh, was 19 then, daughter of a Doctor and also came from a family of zamindar. Just that the priorities were different there and here. Back in their family, they would go for shikaar, have partridges and wild boar for dinner almost every day and sold land to have a feast.
While here, there were widows of seven families to be taken care, their sisters and some two dozen rustic managers. Husband had turned into a full time farmer, ploughing land as he could not sell due to the land ceiling cases. There would be an army standing every second day to violently settle the border issues of landed property.
But life was good for them as everyday was an adventure.
Father to two sons and three daughters, all been provided good opportunity for education, in different corners of the country, in a situation in those days, with hardly any civil society around, guns were one thing, we have seen in our early days, people walking with spears and other improvised arms walking around in their daily routines, bullock cart and horses and boats for travel as far as 20 kms to Hajipur the nearest Kasbah, all of this was till the late eighties. Father had the vision to send us all out in those days, when he was still grappling with a double barrel gun and an army of spear men to perform his farming.

Given the situation, he excelled in his work, he was one of the active forces of the green and white revolution, the way he used the laws to save his property, in fact to an extent to reclaim what the family had lost over the years, is nothing short of brilliance.
Somehow, his lateral approach to life, though led to excellence in the projects he overtook, he lost out on a few essential things in life.
Passion, love and happiness.
He was a simpleton who still wore a lungi at home and a polyester shirt he must have bought in seventies. All the Arrows and Marks and Spencer’s still have the collar pins intact, the ones he was being gifted by friends and family.
Neither was he able to spend time with family nor did he make many friends and thus turned a loner till late. Living a solitary life in Maniyarpur,happy with his quintessential marijuana and bhang trying to make a heaven here, he forgot that home is where heart is. It’s made of humans and not of bricks and mortar. He was a friend of the latter, built a 20 inch thick 20 ft tall wall around his 2 acre campus, a three floored house with some 12 rooms and as many toilets and large halls and balconies for two people to live.
Various small and big halls and stores were continuously being made every year.
It was this affinity of his and that I had used to get my factory constructed without me spending a penny.
He must have spent a very handsome amount of money in his lifetime and the reason he had a few thousand rupees in his savings. He was just a spender.

Over the years he has left a very well organized and a consolidated empire of real estate, which could be taken to a next stage, but he has left a long list of people who kept waiting for his hugs and kisses and some good words.
He was an intense human being, extreme and unpredictive. But then who says all has to be well.
We have formed a trust yesterday, “SRI RAM KUMAR SINGH MEMORIAL MANIYARPUR SHIVALAY SAMITI TRUST” and wish to continue a little of his wishes of maintaining the temple that he was committed to and much more like building schools and hospitals and meeting out other human needs good in nature.
Many people will have many words for him; there were thousands to walk barefoot to the Ganga for his last rites, women who brought their children to touch his feet, mostly people he had never met, poor who could get sweets and feast only when someone like him dies. It is these people whom the trust will address to.
You had a right brain atrophy, which restricted you to think right.
The least we can do is think for your deeds.
REST IN PEACE PAPA.