He won gallantry award from Pandit Jawarhal Lal Nehru at the age of 14, but now at the age of 64, he lives the life of an unsung hero in the by-lanes of Chandi Chowk, Old Delhi, India
- An icon at the age of 14 and an insignificant person at 64. This is Harish Chander Mehra, the first gallantry award winner who now lives unsung in the bylanes of Katra Neel in Chandni Chowk.
- The honour was bestowed on him in 1958 by then Prime Minister Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru, whose life he had saved. Still then, the awards are now given to children annually on Indian Republic Day and they pass through Rajpath, near India Gate, sitting on an elephant.
- The reminiscences are stamped in Mehra’s heart and the pain of having been elapsed once the short dalliance with famous person’s status died.
- Recollecting the incident Mehra quoted “On October 2, 1957 evening, during the Ram Lila celebrations in Old Delhi’s Ramlila Ground, Nehru along with his daughter, Indira Gandhi and some foreign delegates was watching the fireworks that preceded the function. Suddenly, some sparks fell on the tent in which they were sitting and it caught fire.”
- The congested place had people running haphazardly to accumulate their lives. Mehra, then a boy scout, was standing at the entrance hall of the pergola. He entered the flaming tent and ran near Nehru and instantaneously pulled him in the direction of the dais. In a fraction of seconds, he climbed on to one of the poles, pulled out the scouts’ knife and cut off the burning tent. In the scuffle, Mehra’s hands got rigorously blistered and he gone unconscious.
- Mehra was presented with a certificate on the nexdt morning by Minister Jagjivanram. After three months, while studying in Class 8, his Principal, Tej Bhan Sethi entered the classroom and took the dazed child to the string of media persons and photographers waiting for him on the school grounds.
- In the same year,The following year, a special programme was organised to honour Mehra and he was presented the Gallantry Award by Nehru at Teen Murti Bhawan.
“Nehru had said that I needed no introduction, as he was himself an eyewitness to the whole account. He said it would be better if we could have more children of undoubted courage,” says the shuddering Mehra.
- Newspapers published Mehra’s profiles and interviews. A documentary film was made followed by an invitation to participate in the Republic Day parade held on January 26, 1959. A civilian boy was made to lead the parade for the first time. Five years later, due to economic crisis, Mehra had to quit studies. He took up a job as Lower Divisions Clerk in Union Public Service Commission.
- After few years he was transferred to the Controller of Publications with no incentive and promotion. He retired from there on February 27, 2004.Apart from the populace in close proximity to him, no one ever since remembered Mehra. Every year, Mehra sits with his three sons and four grandchildren to gaze at the Republic Day parade on TV. The award winning children surpass all the way through Rajpath, memoirs draw closer once again for Mr Mehra.
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- The early flowering tulips….:
- Shah Rukh was enrolled in The St Columba’s School,in kindergarten in January 1972 at the age of six. It is an impressive institution spread over numerous acres of land in the heart of Delhi. Founded by the Indian Province of the Congregation of Christian Brothers, it was started on April 29, 1941 with 32 boys enrolled. The school’s status grew with its size. By 1955, the students numbered 2200, and a new building had been added.
- The demureness of the school:
- The Irish Brothers were well-known for discipline and punishment. Up to the late 1980s, corporal punishment was used at St Columba’s. Minor children were striked on buttocks. Older ones were caned on their backsides — a few whacks meant sitting on a sweater or bag all day to pad the cuts. And the eldest boys were rapped on their knuckles and fingertips. On cold winter days, the canes connecting with frozen fingertips caused on the spot blisters. The Brothers hid canes in their robes. If a rule was wrecked, penalty was instantaneous and excruciating.
- His visits to the hair-dresser:
- The school insisted on snappy nails and tiny hair. Anybody with hair over the chosen length was sent from school to the barber on the sidewalk at the nearby Gole Market. Shah Rukh, blessed with a intense, disorderly wash made this spree frequently. It was seven-thirty A.M and the barber had usually just woken up. He had morning breath and eyes full of sleep but he began the haircut with the same question, ‘What style haircut do you want, Dharmendra or Amitabh Bachchan?’ Years later, Shah Rukh knew he had attained celebrity when hair stylists told him that clientele were asking for the Shah Rukh Khan cut.
- His noutankis:
- Hindi gaalis or curse words bombarded his verbal communication. Fights were not infrequent. Shah Rukh saw knives pulled and blood pour. The image of cane-carrying priests and the prolonged schedule of rules at St Columba’s didn’t dissuade Shah Rukh. He was a master prankster. His best tricks were humorous, overconfident and generally put his burgeoning amateur dramatics aptitude to use. In the ninth grade, he hired an Amitabh Bachchan line from a film called Kaalia to persuade a teacher that his parents and the school administration neglected him.
- The teacher, his saviour:
- The teacher was his solitary unsubstantiated encouragement. Considering this and his tantalizing analytical rank, he told her, she should allow him to leave out some forthcoming tests. ‘Mere liye toh oopar bhagwan hai, neeche aap. Beech mein Yamraj talwar le kar vaar kar raha hai,’ he said. ‘For me, God is above and you below. In between, Yamraj, the Lord of Death, is attacking me with his sword.’ The repercussion being that the teacher was the only one who could save him from devastation. She bought it and endorsed him to overlook the tests.
- Fun with Teachers:
- Whenever they got a new teacher, he would play to have an epileptic fit. The students would pull off his shoes and would force him to walk bare feet. Everybody knew that Shah Rukh was playing consciously. He was really very asinine. He was awarded with the Sword of Honour by the school for all round development.
- His first crush:
- The primordial Church of Goldakhana is closest to the school and attached with its compound is the prominent Convent of Jesus and Mary.
- Gauri (now his spouse) used to study in that convent. It is learnt that they used to come by the same school bus. SRK had a crush on her. During a Christmas show, SRK showed Gauri his fondness to salsa with her. She agreed. Later on to meet her even during school hours SRK used to bunk classes and reached the girls convent to meet Gauri. The sharp Brothers of St Columbus caught SRK’s wayward playoffs and later built a huge compound barrier unscrambling the Convent of Jesus and Mary and St Columbus. Gauri’s parents later shifted her to the elite Modern School, Barakhamba Road.(Now Gauri is SRKs beloved wife).
- His school gang:
- In school there were four of them and called themselves the ‘C’ gang.
- As they were from the C-section. They are still friends and are married
- friends. Like he married Gauri who’s best friend is married to Vikas.
- He has never had more friends and close friends than these three-except
- perhaps, Chikki. Anyway, they were very cool, yanky gang, very American. They loved wearing Nike and they’d have a little spring in their walk, like the Americans and the blacks do.
- The good quality Khan:
- Shah Rukh would return home at nine every night, after taking part in elocution, exhibitions, or rehearsing. Later at night he would play Cricket under the street lamp. He would study at the last minute as he had a good memory.
- The arrogant Khan:
- At college he was quite lost as he came from a sophisticated school. But he was not an artificial guy with an accent like most guys from St. Columbus’s get. He admits that he learnt to be arrogant because of the ambience in school. He had it for 13 years in school. That amount of arrogance he says is excellent. Then that approach continued at Stephens College, Delhi, which he left after a year. He then joined Hansraj College, Delhi and after that he did Masters in Mass Communication from Jamiya Miliya Islamiya, in Delhi, but quit it in a year.
- Time has elapsed, he is a Star now:
- Now SRK is invited as a VVIP to the schools’ prominent and elevated profile shows, but he hardly ever attends those functions. Now only reminiscences are left. At the foyer of the school a big life size snap of King Khan is positioned as a chronicle of the legendry luminary.
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