MANY FACETS of Randhawa

Nonika Singh recalls the contribution of M.S. Randhawa, the visionary responsible for accelerating Punjab’s Green Revolution and Chandigarh’s evolution as a ‘green city’, whose birth anniversary falls on February 2

PUNJABIS are known for agriculture not culture — so goes the popular perception. But here was a man — the late Dr M. S. Randhawa — who knew as much about culture as agriculture. This son of the soil, who was born at Zira in Ferozepur district of Punjab, held prestigious offices like those of the Deputy Commissioner of Delhi, Secretary of the Indian Council of Agricultural Research, Chief Commissioner of Chandigarh, and the Vice-Chancellor of Punjab Agricultural University (PAU), Ludhiana. He was an able administrator, a go-getter as well as a caring human being. As Director-General (Rehabilitation), Punjab, Randhawa did exemplary work for the resettlement of refugees after the Partition.

A scholar who authored several books, an ICS officer, an art connoisseur who dug out the Kangra miniatures, a scientist who accelerated the Green Revolution — how would one describe this man?

Dr Amarjeet Singh, former Professor and head of the Department of Journalism and Languages at PAU, quotes William Shakespeare while describing Randhawa:

Rather he goes on to call him a perfect man, and not without reason.

Reminisces Dr Amarjeet Singh, "He was rooted to terra firma yet had a universal vision, adept equally at talking to peasants in their idiom, he could be at home with the jet set crowd, like John Kenneth Galbraith, the well-known US economist, teacher and diplomat." Galbraith, with whom Randhawa authored Indian Painting: the scene, themes, and legends, called him a ‘citizen of the world’.

Multiple roles

Come to think of it, Randhawa was a universal peg that fitted easily and grandly into all conceivable roles so much so that it is impossible to place him any particular slot. He straddled many worlds — from the nitty-gritty of administration to flowers to art — with consummate ease. So diverse were his many facets that often even the well informed believe that there were two Randhawas.

Thus, if on the one hand he was a role model for successors like G.V. Gupta, former Financial Commissioner of Haryana, on the other literary scholar Gulzar Singh Sandhu salutes him as an epitome of Punjabiyat, while well-known journalist Reeta Sharma claims that it was his ‘green’ vision that has earned Chandigarh the sobriquet ‘City Beautiful’.

Indeed, when it comes to Chandigarh, where he was instrumental in setting up the Rose Garden, the Government Museum and Art Gallery in Sector 10 and the Punjab Arts Council, there are two definite reference points. One is, of course, the French architect Le Corbusier and the other is undisputedly Randhawa.

According to Gupta, "It will be no exaggeration to say that if Corbusier gave the city its body, Randhawa infused it with soul."

For art’s sake

The artistically inclined scientist, who believed "what is a city without its intellectual think-tank — its artists" went out of the way to offer land to artists to make them patronise the new city.

There are many stories of how when artists went to him with a litany of financial constraints, he would ease out their instalment plans or even pay from his own pocket. While such gestures made many think he was not a stickler for rules, he was determined to get things done and strongly felt "rules are made by administrators for the people." Indeed, few could equal his ability to cut through the red tape and no one ever doubted his intentions and integrity, which were driven only by compassion and love for humanity. And yet Randhawa was no idealist but a pragmatic administrator. Gupta sums him up as, "A man of action, always on the field, not a file-pusher."

Seriously, did the man reputed to have an eye for all things beautiful have no flaws? Chuckles Sandhu, "Well, he was fond of flowers and flattery."

But Dr Amarjit Singh chips in his defence, "Perhaps he was susceptible to praise. When I wrote an article in the PAU magazine, putting him in the same league as Leonardo da Vinci and Homi Bhabha, he was completely floored. But his reaction was quite innocent and child-like, the praise did not go to his head, only motivated him to do even better." Dr Amarjit Singh insists that he is yet to come across a man so full of optimism and positive energy, determined to make the world a better place as Randhawa was. Whatever he touched, he propelled it with his dynamism.

Take PAU, for instance, the pioneering agricultural research institute which is a testimony to Randhawa’s grand vision. But even this agricultural university is not bereft of a cultural tinge where Randhawa set up Museum of Social History of Rural Punjab. The PAU also has many more of Randhawa’s imprints like H. L. Uppal Museum of Water and Power Resources and the M. S. Randhawa Library, which remains the university’s hallmark. He also helped set up libraries in villages. No wonder that his admirers claim, "If you conduct a random survey, the two Punjabis every farmer knows are Pratap Singh Kairon and Randhawa".

According to Sandhu, who edited a book on Randhawa titled Punjab da Chhewan Dariya, calls Randhawa as the sixth river of Punjab is no hyperbole. Khushwant Singh hails him as the man to whom Punjabis owe the biggest debt of gratitude.

But have we been grateful enough?

Lost in apathy

Reeta thinks on the contrary. She says successive administrations have been more or less amnesic and insensitive in recognising his contribution. Her persistent pleas to the city administration for a Randhawa day or to at least to declare the annual Rose Festival as Randhawa festival have fallen on deaf ears.

But some amends to this oversight are in the offing as Chandigarh Lalit Kala Akademi is all set to organise a function to mark his birth centenary. This will include an exhibition of his memorabilia, coupled with a lecture on art by eminent artist Jatin Das. The academy’s chairperson Diwan Manna is, however, wistful, "Wish we could do more to remember the man who laid the foundation for the city to grow into an art nucleus. He sowed the seed for the green culture that is in every Chandigarhian’s blood today. Indeed, there is an urgent need to remind the present generation about who he was."

Mercifully, textbooks of the Punjab School Education Board have a chapter on Randhawa. Punjab Kala Bhawan’s newly built auditorium is named after him. PAU, whose library bears his name, has already organised several functions in his honour, including the M. S. Randhawa flower show.

In the birth centenary year, an M. S. Randhawa art gallery will be inaugurated at PAU, which will also bring out a commemorative volume in which many Randhawa aficionados will share anecdotes about the great man.

Perhaps all these activities may remind the residents of the City Beautiful while driving through its flower-bedecked roads, embellished with silver oaks, jacarandas, lagerstroemias, mahogany, amaltas, gulmohars and bauhinias that not too long ago a man got up at four in the morning, drove all the way from his farmhouse at Kharar and planted these saplings, several of which he had got from as far as Bangalore. But then visionaries like Randhawa always work for the betterment of the society and not for public acknowledgement or personal gain.

It is time we Punjabis acknowledge and honour the man who gave us many reasons to rejoice and cherish. To borrow from Shakespeare again

I shall not look upon his like again."