Aspect of Jainology Part 1 Lala Harjas Rai

Author(s): Sagarmal Jain
Publisher: Parshwanath Shodhpith Varanasi

Page 27

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S. L. Khanna
for full one year and this gave us the opportunity to get to know each other from close proximity. I felt drawn to him because he possessed qualities of head and heart that endeared him to one and all. He led a well regulated disciplined life. Before going to college in the morning he will leave his bed, his table and other belongings arrayed and arranged in proper order, spick and span. He had fixed hours of study and did not believe in wasting time in idle gossip. He never missed to say his prayer before slipping into bed at night and before leaving the bed in the mornings. His sense of tidiness has stuck to him throughout his
life.
Students respected him for his sobriety, affable manners and cheerful disposition so inuch so that he earned the appellation of Taya)senior uncle. Otherwise too he deserved this title because he was a married man and was the father of a son by that time! In the fourth year of our studies at the college, we were again allotted accommodation in the Quadrangle. But this time we were in individual cubicles, Even so, because we were studying the same subjects and our interests were common in sports like Hockey, swimming and boating, we spent longer hours in each others' company
After graduation from Govt. College, Lahore, Harjas Rai went back to Amritsar to join his family business in Guru Bazar, under the guidance of his respected father and in partnership with his brothers, one elder and the other younger to him. Here he was lovingly called Babu Harjas Rai, possibly because of his high education.
I stayed on in Lahore for another two years studying law in Law College. We used to visit each other occassionally and I thus got to know his brothers and father.
At the conclusion of my studies, I took up service in the Police department where I was entrusted with the task of conducting Police cases in Courts. My postings took me to different district towns like, Lyallpur, Sheikhupura, Ambala, Ludhiana, Sargodha and Rawalpindi etc. Distances did not make any the least difference in our relations however and the bonds and ties of our friendship took into its folds our family members as well and it is extremely gratifying that our children, boys and girls are extremely fond of one another.