Diary of a

Trillionaire Traveller Hargovind Pant

Published By Invincible Publishers

Published by Invincible Publishers 201A, SAS Tower, Sector 38, Gurugram – 122003 Phone: +91-124-4034247, +91 9599667779 www.invinciblepublishers.com Sales: Office No. 8, Street No. 19, Near Radha Madhav Mandir, Ansari Road, Daryaganj. Delhi-110002 Phone: +91-11-40198405 Email: [email protected] This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and incidents are either the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to real persons, living or dead, or actual events or locations, is purely coincidental and the publisher does not hold responsibility for the same. First edition – 2021 Copyright © 2021 by Hargovind Pant ISBN: 978-93-90542-16-1

All rights reserved. The moral right of the author has been asserted. This book or any portion thereof may not be reproduced or used in any manner whatsoever without the express written permission of the author except for the use of brief quotations in a book review of a scholarly journal. This book is sold subject to the condition that it shall not, by way of trade or otherwise, be lent, resold, hired out, or otherwise circulated, without the publisher’s prior consent, in any form of binding or cover other than that in which it is originally published.

Dedicated to my parents, late Dr. Damodar Pant and Mrs. Kalawati Pant.

(iii)

A Book of Gratitude

A recent google search indicates that a total of 130 million books have been published till date and the number keeps growing by the day. The American library of Congress itself boasts of its collection of more than thirty-two million plus books. The next logical question that comes to one’s mind is ‘why another book’? Could there be any logic in it? I admit there is no logic behind most such questions. It is like asking why one more breath? Why one more child in the world? One might state that I breathe because I simply wish to live on, but then who decides whether and how long one should live? There may or may not be any logic behind such questions, but I have a plausible answer for myself. When one has gone around the Sun 73 times, covered a distance of billions and billions of km, have taught (and learnt from them all) and interacted with thousands of students and their parents during the course of 48 years as an educator, made countless friends, and in addition lived (v)

for 26780 days (till date) on this planet, one would naturally have many things to say and share. In this particular case this seems to me a likely answer. The first caveman who etched a few images of his times on the cave wall might have felt the same - nothing logical but just an urge. I have been fortunate in having visited this planet of ours, lived using its resources, and in having met many wonderful people, hence this book of gratitude. I am indebted to my parents, late Dr. Damodar Pant and Mrs. Kalawati Pant, who gave us all- their children, good upright upbringing. I owe Thanks and most sincere gratitude to a lively, vivacious young girl Prem (Pammi) whom I had the good fortune of meeting fifty-two years ago, and then she graciously agreed to become my partner for life. During our fifty years of wonderful togetherness, she has been my pillar of unquestioned support, my best friend, an honest critic, and a loving mother to our two wonderful children. Then to life’s longing for itself, Yamini and Kumaril our two loving children, to their spouses Arif and Aditi, and our three grandchildren (Grand indeed) Sahil , Sania and, (vi)

Arjun. I bequeath this earth to them. Yamini Virani, besides being a loving, affectionate daughter which only daughters can be, has also been a hard taskmaster, coaxing me, and setting deadlines for me to strictly adhere to. To say I am grateful to my nephew Rajesh Malik would be an understatement. He has always been there for me. I just can’t thank him enough. A special Thank You to my brother Rajesh Pant for his help with technology, and with creative inputs to make this effort more presentable. My thanks to my publisher Ajay Setia, to Ms. Saba and TEAM Invincible for their valuable input in giving this book its present shape. And not to forget my students, and many other fellow passengers on this spaceship who I met and interacted with during this long voyage. Thank you all for enriching my life. Last but not the least - a Very special THANKS to you all who hold this book in your hand for sparing your valuable and precious time in this era of speeding life. I take this opportunity to wish you all a wondrous stay and a beautiful journey on this blue green world of ours. Thank you all for being such wonderful co- passengers. (vii)

Contents

A Book of Gratitude

v

Prologue

xi

1 How lucky

1



2 The longest serial ever

8



3 View from here is not the same as from here

12



4 Ashwatthama Hato, Naro Wa Kunjara

19



5 Our world as well

27



6 Do not trample upon the lowly grass

36



7 Gods’ report—Presentation on a research project in progress

40



8 A trillionaire CEO

62



9 Zeus has the last laugh

68

10 Artificial intelligence and common sense

75

11 Eko Aham Dwitiyo Nasti

85

12 Becoming immortal

91

13 The Supreme Mother

97

14 Bringing up the young Homo-sapiens

104

15 Myth ya Mithya

113



(ix)

16 Education - more FORMATION than INFORMATION

119

17 The greatest miracle on earth - the art and science of making multiple copies

127

18 Perfect time to live

133

19 Ginkgo biloba

141

20 On hindsight

147

21 Dihydrogen- monoxide

152

22 Freedom or Freebies

164

23 Surya Namaskar

175

24 Dining with the King

182

25 A BIG Thank You, My Body

190

Epilogue

202

(x)

Prologue

A quick glance at my mail box which is usually filled with trash and unsolicited advertisements, a sales person exhorting you to buy his product, another luring you with tempting travel destinations complete with beautiful inviting photographs and so many others. Although, labelling these as spam, which saves one the time and trouble, would be the most sensible thing to do, I personally, almost enjoy glancing through these which act as my ready guide to various products and happenings in the contemporary times. I wonder at times as to how these senders know about the barren landscape of my pate. A very knowledgeable person tells me that it is all a result of data mining, which is the equivalent of new gold mining. I, sometimes not in the distant past, out of sheer curiosity, might have either read an article on baldness, or clicked on a hair fall remedy, and presto, the whole interconnected world (xi)

comes to know the state of my scalp. But then, I remonstrate, how do I get a mail from a supposedly pretty twenty-two something who wants to meet with me. Maybe you clicked or paused to gaze at the photograph of a beautiful model, was the quick answer. So, it is the case of an Orwellian BIG Brother watching over all of us lesser mortals! Any way, it is a very satisfying feeling that a young beauty finds a seventy plus man like me attractive and wishes to meet with me. Interrupting my reverie, another mail dramatically announcing the passing away of “Your Friend” catches my attention. A chance meeting at the book store. A pleasant, dignified personality which attracts and draws attention. We were with our grandchildren, buying a few books for them from Narains in Nainital. Sania and Sahil were busy browsing through their favourite author’s newly released books like a research scholar rummaging through a bookshelf in the library, when this gentleman with an engaging smile commented - “it is so nice to see children buying and reading books these days. I have met quite a few parents who would rather take their children to Dominos than buy a book.” With an encouraging “good, keep up this good habit of reading,” he walked out for an evening stroll on the mall. (xii)

Mr. Tiwari, the knowledgeable proprietor, told us that the gentleman was a regular visitor to the bookstore, and was an avid reader himself. Second time, and another chance meeting at the resort in Chaukori, we exchanged Hello with a smile. And then I introduced myself saying, “what a coincidence,” exchanged a few pleasantries about our tour itineraries and bade goodbyes. It is common to meet so many people in life and then customarily move on ahead with a feeling that it was nice meeting good persons. But it is queer that out of so many acquaintances, our brain seemingly reserves a special corner and registers a few people in a special way. So was the case with Dr. Shrestha. I didn’t expect to meet him again in life. But I was WRONG. Hello Mr. Pant, a call from a little distance left me puzzled as to who would know me in a big, impersonal place such as a mall in Gurgaon. Looking back in astonishment, I saw Dr. Shrestha waving at me. Isn’t it strange, he asked me as we shook hands? Meeting three times couldn’t just be a coincidence. May be an invisible power plans us to meet (xiii)

again and again. Could there be a purpose or reason behind these chance meetings? Today, we must have coffee together. Yes, yes, why not? And we found ourselves a quiet corner in a nearby coffee bar. With a little more of getting to know one another, conversation started flowing. Dr. Shrestha, it turned out, stayed in an upscale locality in a condominium complex in Gurgaon. “We are just two of us here, my wife and myself - a daughter and a son, both settled in that perceived land of milk and honey - the USA,” he told me. Having completed his Masters in life sciences, an ancient fifty-three years ago, he reminisced, “those were the times when I could have joined much in vogue civil services, or any such cushy positions but I do not know why I chose to be a teacher. People at that time laughed at me, derided me. But after having been in the world of education, I feel so satisfied and fulfilled. My chosen vocation has taken me to many parts of this planet and given me a different and distinctive perspective on life.” I found him very interesting, and the conversation meandered from the origin of the universe to origins and evolution of life on our earth, to Einstein’s theory of relativity, Tao of Physics and so on. Time passed away unnoticed and soon we realised it was getting late, exchanged our phone (xiv)

numbers and bade goodbye with a promise to meet again, and soon. It soon became more informal, phone calls and a place to meet, and we would chat for hours. His incisive intellect and a truly good sense of humour would keep the conversations warm and witty. “I do not know under what configuration of stars my parents took me to the school. Whereas children leave school after a few years, I was in school for sixty three years, a very dumb boy indeed,” he would laugh. On another occasion talking to some university students, he would introduce himself thus, “those were the days when I was studying for my Masters we would peep out of our laboratory window and could see a few dinosaurs, especially archaeopteryx, flying around.” This piece, to emphasise on how ancient he thought he was, would leave his audience flummoxed. We became good friends and such calls and meetings became more frequent. In fact, I would long for more interactions with him. And then, no calls for a very long time. Getting more and more worried in due course of time, I tried contacting the housing society he used to inhabit, and got a cryptic response that Shresthas had moved overseas after selling their apartment. No one knew their exact address or whereabouts. (xv)