What an amazing gift from the Almighty was K. C. Sharma for humanity!
Gustakhi Maaf Haryana – Pawan Kumar Bansal
By our enlightened reader Balbir Singh
What an amazing gift from the Almighty was K. C. Sharma for humanity!
Late Shri K. C. Sharma, IAS, was a multi-faceted genius. Today, I wish to touch upon a very significant and relatively lesser-known trait of his personality. The very mention of his name fills my heart with happy memories of the time spent together, the good thoughts we exchanged, and the constant urge he had to mitigate the sufferings of the poor and downtrodden sections of society.
With love and affection, he used to address me as “Bhai Sahib” publicly, despite the fact that hierarchically there was a vast difference between a Divisional Commissioner and an Executive Engineer. Many of his contemporary colleagues were not aware of his golden heart, which always yearned to help the underprivileged. It would not be an exaggeration to call him the “Daanveer Karna” of our era. No needy, helpless, or hapless person ever returned empty-handed from his house or office.
His desire to help the poor was so strong that at times he even borrowed money from friends and colleagues to fulfill his mission. He was also very generous while paying people for their services, whether it was a barber, a rickshaw puller, or anyone else.
One day, I was sitting with him at the Commissioner’s residence while he was having a haircut. After completing the job, the barber asked for twenty rupees. Appreciating the good work done by him, K. C. Sharma gave him forty rupees. At that moment, I felt somewhat ashamed of myself, as I could never imagine giving a tip of more than five rupees.
On another occasion, when Sharma Sahib was about to leave Rohtak for Chandigarh, I handed him two hundred rupees to pass on to his wife, Smt. Maya ji. Suddenly, I realized that the money might never reach Maya ji because Sharma Sahib was likely to give it to some needy person on the way. Since I had earlier borrowed that amount from her, I immediately asked him to return the two hundred rupees, deciding that I would give it to her personally.
Indeed, what an extraordinary gift from the Almighty was K. C. Sharma for humanity.