Mr D.T Singh: Devoted to Science (2E4 Aditya's Dad)

My father was born in 11^th April 1956. He specializes in agriculture, genetics and plant breeding. He has visited many countries during his job as a scientist. He still travels to foreign countries regarding his job. Let me tell you about my father’s life in India.

Mr D.T Singh was born in Bapatla which is a coastal town in South Indian state of Andhra Pradesh. He was born into a family in which the head of the family was his grandfather. My great grandfather (my father’s grandfather) was a retired civil servant (Imperial administrative service). My father was cared for by his grandparents most of his life. He was the eldest child among his siblings. He was also the first child among his generation of the whole family. He has seven uncles and four aunts who now live in different parts of the world but when my father was still a child, they used to live with him so as to help to take care of him.

My father was home-schooled till class three and from then on he went to a local school which was situated near his house. He was double promoted when he was class four. As a result, he skipped his class five and went straight to class six.

 During his life in a coastal town, he faced many events that affected him dearly, internationally and personally.

1.   The Indo-China war broke out in India in 1962. My father was only 5 years old when the war started. The war took its toll on and eventually resulted in the sudden death in 1964 of the first ever Prime Minister of India who was loved by many. Mr Jawaharlal Nehru was hailed as the architect of modern India.  He is now a historical personage of India.

2. The Indo-Pakistan war broke out in 1965. My father was 8 years’ old and he had just started school!   Tragically India’s second Prime Minister died immediately after this war. His name was Lalbahadhur Shastri. He was also a loving minister who led the country well.

3. The death of two historical ministers of India resulted in Indira Gandhi becoming the next Prime Minister of India.

-The two wars which broke out during my father’s young age resulted in a disturbance in the way he thinks as he used to hear of many people dying and blood shed.

4. My father’s mother died suddenly when my father was only 13 years old. As his father used to travel a lot in those days, his grandmother alone took main care of him as his grandfather had died during the Pakistan war.

5. My father joined the local junior college which was situated a few kilometers away from his house (he used to walk all the way to school!) and took Biology as his major subject. As his mother had died when he was young, it forced him to seek the meaning of life and death. As a result, he has devoted his life to science to understand the molecular basis of life! This eventually led to him becoming a molecular scientist.

In my father’s family, all of the family members are well- educated and have a good grasp of general knowledge. Even the women in the family are well-educated and this was rare during those times.

       Well, so far it has been a sad story but my father’s life wasn’t all sad. He used to be a playful kid and was good in his studies. His major past time was reading books,  which was a good habit. He liked both fiction and non-fiction books. His second hobby was playing cricket. Cricket is a game which is extremely popular in India even today. In every Indian's heart, there is cricket. Therefore everyday after he came back from school, he went straight to play cricket with his friends. He also liked to watch movies in the theatres.

       He was a member of many student organizations such as the All India Student Federation which had leftist leanings. He also joined the RSS (National Volunteer Organisation) which had rightist leanings. If you realize, my father had joined both the rightist and the leftist organizations one after another. He is a person who is willing to learn from everyone. Unfortunately, he was not very well-liked among his Rajput peers as he was willing to learn from even non-Rajputs. Rajputs were of a higher caste. They were families of Kshatriyas (Warriors). As a result when they touched or even talked to any other caste (other than Brahmins) it is known as a disgrace to the Rajputs. Therefore, he wasn't liked by many elders who were Rajputs.

       Presently, my father is an agriculture scientist because of his devotion to science, his own father being an agriculture scientist and lastly because he was born in a family of landlords. My father owns a large field and a house in Bapatla.

       He has just passed his 50^th birthday.

                Done By:

Aditya Narayan Singh