It was a big celebrations in our family when my Dad went to our village Badbar at the wheat harvesting time in 1957 and returned with a cash of Rs 1000.00 as his part of earnings from his lands. The income was mainly from Nehri lands, while the produce like peanuts and black/white grams from Maru was hardly of any monetary value from entire land holdings of 100 Acres.
My Dad went to his office next day in the morning and asked me a 12 years old boy to deposit cash of Rs 1000.00 in the Punjab National Bank, Panipat. We had a very good family friend Mahashey Dharam Bir who used to live nearby. After dinner, my Dad took me to his house and explained me the task to be done by simply handing over the cash envelop to uncle. Dharam Bir Uncle encouraged me to contact him straight way after reaching the bank. I had to simply hand over the cash to him and the rest was to be done by Dharam Bir Uncle. So as I entered the bank, uncle called me to his desk and made me sit in a chair. He did the need full himself and handed over the bank receipt to me.
I was thrilled that my Dad had trusted me for handling that princely amount on my own. My mom was always doubtful about my capability and worried till I returned safely from the bank.
This Rs 1000.00 was indeed a princely sum as my Dad's annual earnings were only Rs1200.00. My uncle S Partap Singh often sarcastically remarked that Bhagat Ji( as my Dad used to be addressed) had started getting free pension now. It was the first time ever that such a huge income my Dad had got from the lands.
This small job gave me an immense confidence and pleasure to boost my capability in my life to handle money and use my inherited resources to the optimum. I owe all this to my Dad.
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