Midnight’s children & their children: Chandigarh

Vinod Trehan was four months and three days old when Independent India was born. The year 1947, which witnessed human values crumble under t...

Vinod Trehan was four months and three days old when Independent India was born. The year 1947, which witnessed human values crumble under the bitter, bloody test of Partition, saw the Trehans packing their belongings and memories of their home in Okara, Pakistan, to find a life in India.

‘‘I don’t remember much about Partition,’’ says Vinod, who retired from Kendriya Vidyalaya, Sector 47, Chandigarh, after 30 years of teaching Fine Arts. ‘‘But the charisma the leaders of that time had was reflected in my father, who was so influenced by Gandhiji that he wore clothes made from the cotton he would spin and weave himself,’’ he recalls. ‘‘The politicians of today can’t even dream of such influence. They say something and do something else,’’ he says.

Now, living with wife Shashi in Mohali, Vinod says his memories of the post-Independence days are of Jagraon where his father taught in a school. A career in teaching happened, ‘‘partly due to my father. I saw the respect he commanded. He never gave us any direct education, but we learnt from his actions,’’ he says.

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But it’s different with his son, Amit, an engineer and an MBA working as a senior business analyst with a multinational in Chennai. ‘‘I love and respect them for their honesty, simplicity and the freedom they have given me to pursue a career around the globe,’’ says Amit.

Ask Amit what he thinks is great about India and he says: ‘‘It’s adaptability to change while retaining its basic structure.’’ But he wishes something could be done to rid it of corruption, hypocrisy and dirty politics.

The Trehans also agree that people, especially the leaders, are too casual. ‘‘They just care about themselves,’’ says Vinod. ‘‘Children too are changing. So are parents and their attitude towards teachers,’’ says Shashi, who taught English in the same school as Vinod. ‘‘That’s where we met,’’ she smiles.

Now, the Trehans are all set to re-write history. ‘‘Amit has found his life partner. She is in Mumbai. He has sent us her pictures,’’ says Shashi. ‘‘We haven’t met her, but we trust his decision,’’ they say.

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If there is one thing Vinod — a teacher’s son, a teacher’s husband and himself a teacher — has learnt from life, it is that ‘‘family values count’’. ‘‘And he has stood by them,’’ says Shashi. The first test came when Vinod, then a lecturer at Dev Samaj College of Education, Ferozepur, had to choose between a career as a lecturer or to take up a job as a school teacher in Chandigarh to support his parents. He came home. The second test came in 2001 when he was transferred to Pathankot. ‘‘My son was in Chennai, Shashi was in Chandigarh. If I went to Pathankot, we would be split in three places,’’ he says. He chose to resign. ‘‘Family took priority,’’ he says.