Harlal's humanitarianism, distress
By Vijay Mohan
Tribune News Service

CHANDIGARH, Nov 9 — From the tribal belts of the North-West Frontier Province to the battlefield in Italy during World War II, from the glamour of the tinsel town to the hustle and bustle of a modern city, it is a story of a humanitarianism and adventure coupled with distress and mystic.

For the 86-year-old war veteran, Capt (Dr) S. S. Harlal, it has been a six-decade-long itinerary across three continents, nursing the sick and injured. His alert eyes and impeccabale hearing belies his age as he stands erect to receive visitors who troop into his small office at Sainik Rest House in Sector 21.

Having settled in the city since 1973 and presently engaged in providing consultancy to ex-servicemen and their families seeking medical assistance, Captain Harlal says that his life has been spent in extending assistance to fellow humans and working for the good of others during which he has had some wierd and unusual experiences.

Having joined the Army in 1940 as an emergency commissioned officer after completing his diploma in medicine from Amritsar, Dr Harlal was first posted to the Combined Indian Military Hospital at Wazirstan, about 5 miles from the tribal areas inhabitied by the Afridis. ''There was a 72-mile-long road from Bannu to Razmak — the last Indian cantonment. The road had to be protected and small posts were established en route. For security reasons, the road used to be only for a few hours,'' he recalled. ''Once, while deputed to the Saidgi outpost, I had come down in an ambulance to draw medical stores, not knowing that the road had been closed. On realising this, I told my driver to put his foot down and not bother to stop at anything even if it meant crushing someone. When I did not reach back in time, my Commander sent an armoured car to look for me and that is how I survived,'' he added.

Recalling another encounter in 1941, he said that tribesmen took to sniping at their positions, forcing them to launch a counter operation called Dodda-Chhina Operation. He was then the Regimental Medical Officer of 1/11 Sikh Regiment. ''I was on horseback and along with other men, crossing a rivulet, when a volley of fire came from the hills. Bullets flew all round me, but miraculously neither my horse nor I was hit,'' Captain Harlal said. '' Several jawans received gun-shot injuries and I applied 'first field dressing' and gave them opium injections,'' he added.

In 1941, he moved to Basra with an advance party and thereafter proceeded by river to Baghdad. After a few days he went by train to Mosul oil fields to take up his new assignment with the 28 Combined General Military Hospital. ''The train was hauled by a German locomotive and the hospital was functioning in tents. There was so much snowfall that winter that water pipes burst, cutting off water supply to the hospital. We had to scrape snow off the tents and boil it to get water,'' he said.

Captain Harlal's experiences in World War II also included a stint with a hush-hush unit called the X-Camoflauge Unit. ''They used to manufacture dummy tanks — cars with canvas and wood attachments. ''I was not allowed to meet anyone there nor allowed to go out of the camp,'' he recalled.

Moving on to Damascus in the Suez canal area with the 31 Combined General Hospital, he served Yugoslav refugees, running a clinic in a camp housing over 35,000. This was followed by a stint in Cario and then, after completing the malaria course he moved to Italy in 1943. ''While our ship was approaching Malta, it was chased by a German submarine. It was a harrowing experience for over two hours. We were asked to go near the life boats and issued life-jackets. It was the first time I saw everyone praying,'' he recalled.

In Italy, he worked as a laboratory in charge with two hospitals, 31 Combined General Hospital and 69 British General Hospital. ''I was the only Indian there. I thought of myself as an ambassador of India and that the Europeans had to judge the culture and conduct from me. They were also kind and social,'' he stated. ''In 1944, my boss, Major W. Steward, took me along to Rome when he got posted there and during Christmas that year, I was among the thousands who attended the midnight mass by the Pope in St Peter's Church Square,'' he said. Captain Harlal said that he had to adapt himself to European food and the only problem was that he needed an alternative for beef.

It was there that he received a professional grading, classifying him as a laboratoty specialist. He returned to India in October, 1945, and carried on in service till the Partition, working as laboratory in charge at hospitals in Belgaum, Pune and Bombay.

''I hail from Harlal village, near Rawalpindi. It was on March 11, 1947, that my home and hearth was burnt down. All my relatives became refugees,'' he recalled, sadness writ large on his face. ''I left the Army and started my own practice in Bombay,'' he said. There, Dr Harlal said, he became personal physician of actor Shyam Chadda, and due to him, 50 per cent of his clientale was from the film industry. ''I treated actress Shashi Kala when she was 14 years old and a few years later married her,'' he claimed.

He left Bombay in 1955 and in collaboration with a lady doctor set up a nursing home at Karnal. In 1963, he become the resident doctor at the newly set up Sainik School at Kunjpura where with additional duties as a liaison officer, he had a chance to look after personalities like Indira Gandhi, Field Marshal Carriapa, Gen Kumaramangalam and Air Chief Marshal Arjan SIngh.

He came to the city in 1973 and after appointments in several schools and colleges set up a clinical laboratory in Sector 35 in collaboration with four other doctors. In 1995, Dr Harlal said, the place was sold off and he became unemployed.

The following year, his wife, who had been suffering from arthritis, died. ''I am the only one of my family left. I have no children and all my brothers and sisters are dead,'' he said.

''I had been earning just enough to run my family and take care of my ailing wife and had no bank balance left. I applied to the Zila Sainik Welfare Officer for assistance and came on their payroll this year,'' he said, adding that he is being taken care of by his brother-in-law's nephew.