Diversions of a Busy Lawyer continues....

In order to remove my wife from the surroundings where my daughter had died, I sent her also to Dharamsala. I followed her with the children as soon as the High Court vacation started in the month of July. While I was away at Sujanpur attending the wedding of my cousin, Hans Raj, my son Pran Nath was born on the 9th of August, 1929. The Hon’ble Miss MacNaughton—daughter of Lord MacNaughton—who had taken to missionary work in the Kangra Medical Mission, was looking after my wife during her confinement. She named the new born child Lat Sahib. That is probably why he behaves and acts like a Lat Sahib!

I suffered from an acute attack of malaria about this time. I had hardly recovered from its effects when my mother died. After the funeral ceremonies were over, we moved up to our orchard at Talnoo and spent sometime there. This proved to be father’s last visit to this place. After a short stay at Bhadwar we left for Karachi in order to get father away from the surroundings of his bereavement. In Karachi we stayed with Maharaj Sunder Lal, an old friend, a big landlord and also a physician of great renown. He was 80 years of age then but looked as healthy and strong as a youth of 30. I returned to Lahore for the reopening of the High Court after the vacation.

In October. I had to preside at the Amritsar Session of the Mahajan Conference. Father also came down from Karachi to see me in the place which he had himself once occupied. He stayed with me till about the beginning of December. Owing to a wedding in the family he left for Bhadwar and was unfortunately taken ill on his arrival there. This was his last illness. He gave strict injunctions to everybody not to inform me about his illness. It so happened that I had to attend a case in the court of the District Judge. Dharamsala.

to be continued

( This account is maintained by Har Anand Publication)