105. “Compassion was P.P.Doctorjee’s Hallmark”

In the early days of Sangha, a day’s “Sahal” (outing) had been organized at Telumkhed, for all the young Swayamsevaks, from Nagpur and Bardi Shakhas. Everyone was expected to bring his own lunch box.

Some of us from the remote villages were staying at hostels to attend school in Nagpur city. There was no “mom” to pack a lunch box for us! We did not eat dinner the previous night, poached the food into boxes and took it with us to the Sahal next day.

The outing went off extremely well. We all hiked, played games rigorously, and eventually became extremely hungry. For us from the hostel, the small quantity of previous night’s dinner was nowhere enough – it disappeared, leaving us still hungry. The city boys were going home. They could eat at home again; we hostel boys had nothing.

Sensitive as he was, P.P.Doctorjee had sensed this, and he had brought extra food with him. Unbeknown to us, he also gave us his own food. Our stomachs were full and we enjoyed. Only years later, we realized what an affectionate gesture that was from Doctorjee, who was so poor that he himself went hungry several times in a week. 

Narrator: Shri Haribhau Pingale (He was a Swayamsevak from Bhandara. He was the General Manager of a publishing house “Vindhya Prakashana Limited”).

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