A Tribute - Dr John Harris Hala - Dr. Anil Wilson

I first met John Harris Hala in the year 1989 when he was co-opted to the Board of Governers of a well-known school where I was a member. I looked forward to the presence of a senior academician on the Board whose members were people from other walks of life. However, he sat through the first meeting quite impassively and appeared to have nothing to contribute. Yet, towards the end of the meeting an issue concerning the karamcharies came up and suddenly Dr. Hala came alive and espoused their cause with great vigour. This set the pattern for subsequent meetings. Mundane matters of management and organization left him quite cold but when it came to human issues, particularly those involving the underdog, Dr. Hala was passionately concerned.
This is the John Hala that I came to know - a man with a heart of gold, generous to a fault. The fact that many took undue advantage of this quality did not deter him from walking the extra mile with them even in a hopeless cause. In the process, however, he made friends in strange places. Around a week after I joined the college and was sharing the Principal's house with him both of us were invited to a wedding reception in a banquet hall in the Jama Masjid area. He offered to drive me there and not being familiar with Delhi I accepted the offer gladly. Dr. Hala was a good driver and we reached the banquet hall exactly on time mentioned on the invitation card. However, much to our embarrassment, we found that not only were we the first ones there but the hosts too were unprepared to receive guests. (This was my first experience of the fact that in Delhi there is no greater social faux paus than to be on time for a party.) Noticing the confusion our arrival had caused Dr. Hala took charge of the situation and explained that we had not come for the party and were on our way to meet someone else and had merely stopped by to check where the reception was to take place. With this he bundled me back into the car and drove off. I thought we would return home. But to my surprise he turned into the Delhi Railway Station. He parked the car right outside the Police thana and strode into the place as if he owned it. Full of the uneasiness that afflicts law-abiding citizens when going into the police station, I followed him wondering what was happening. Dr. Hala ordered the constable on duty to tell the Station House Officer that the retired Principal of St.Stephen's College accompanied by the present Principal were there to meet him. He made it sound as if the Pope himself had come to give darshan to the hoi poloi. The thana in-charge rushed in and greeted Dr. Hala with great affection. He took us inside the police station. There a couple of pickpockets were being interrogated with the customary police thoroughness that leaves one no option but to agree most vehemently with whatever the interrogator is, not-so-gently, suggesting. In the midst of all these goings-on Dr. Hala and I sat there for more than an hour enjoying the refreshments that Dr. Hala insisted on being served with (and the Station House Officer was more than willing to oblige, such was his obvious affection for Dr. Hala), before it was time to get back to the wedding reception!
The little that I knew Dr. Hala endeared him to me through his qualities of simplicity and forthrightness. He could (to borrow from Ruydard Kipling) "walk with kings nor lose the common touch" and could "fill the unforgiving minute with sixty seconds' worth of distance run." I enjoyed his ready wit as also his ability to come up with an encouraging word for everyone he met. The number of Old Boys and friends who turned up at his Memorial Service adequately testified to his popularity, if ever such a testimony was required.

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