Mr. Umar

I am about to write about a person and I wonder if I can do enough justice to his genial personality. Mr. Umar was a graduate of the 1930s period. He joined the Mysore Geological Department (later called The Department of Mines & Geology) perhaps as a clerk on very modest salaries. I do not know precisely in what way, but in some way he felt extremely indebted to my grandfather (B.Rama Rao) who was the Director of the department for thirteen long years. I don't know if my grandfather was on an interview board which recruited Mr. Umar for a post in the department, or whether he had done him any favours in some other way, but I write to convey the deep appreciation of our entire family to Mr. Umar.

Mr. Umar was a lean and tall wiry person with sharp features and a very pleasant smile. He used to be immaculately dressed in a tasteful formal suit and a tie at all times. I've never seen him in casual apparel. His shoes were always polished to a glittering shine. I had a vague  idea that he lived in the 'Cantonment area,' which to us at that time in the fifties meant all of the vicinities of M.G. Road and Commercial Street and extending up to Frazer Town and Cox Town. Perhaps he lived in Frazer Town. He always cycled to work and I assume he was a meticulous worker.

My grandfather had retired from government service in the mid to late nineteen forties. Yet even as late as the late nineteen sixties I would see Mr. Umar rendering selfless service to my grandfather. Sunday mornings would have Mr. Umar cycle all the way from Frazer Town to our house in Vishweshwarapuram and he would arrive at our house by 9:30 or 10:00 a.m.  He would come all the way to wash my grandfather's car, check the water level in the radiator, drive it to the nearest petrol pump at Minerva Circle to have it refuelled and have the tyre pressures checked. He was an expert mechanic and would ensure that the vehicle was kept in excellent repair. I've never seen anybody serve another with such dedication, especially so when he had nothing to gain from my grandfather. My grandfather had a short fuse and even if my grandfather lost his temper, Mr. Umar bore it all with tremendous restraint and never appeared flustered.  Even after 15 to 20 years after my grandfather's retirement Mr. Umar was always readily available when my grandfather had to make short trips to Tumkur and Mysore in the car. Such trips meant that Mr. Umar had to apply for leave of absence from the office, yet he would ever so willingly do it. In 1956 when I was a small kid of four, Mr. Umar applied for a long leave of absence of almost a month to accompany our family on a South Indian tour by car.

Even when I was a lad of fourteen or fifteen, I had never realised the value of Mr. Umar's service to my grandfather. My friends would say mockingly "That man! He wears a suit and a tie and shoes and comes and washes your grandfather's car!" and I don't remember to have prevented such things.

My grandfather died in 1970, and at that time Mr. Umar was posted away from Bangalore. My grandfather had a wrist-watch which he had valued while he was living. I felt like possessing that watch after his death in his remembrance. But my mother thankfully was firm. She said that the watch should go to Mr. Umar as he had done so much service to my grandfather.

When Mr. Umar eventually visited Bangalore and thence our house, my mother presented the watch to him. She went over to the kitchen to prepare some coffee for Mr. Umar, and when she returned she found him weeping like a child.

Perhaps by now Mr. Umar would have passed on but I wish there was a way of letting his family know that we keep thinking of him and this article is a hopeful way of re-establishing contact.