Types 1,000 Copies in One Night!

After a year or so, it was a coincidence that Sardar Nanak Singh shifted to our office and was given a room hardly 6’ x 6’. He got his letterheads beautifully printed— “Delhi Iron Syndicate”. He called me one day and asked me: “Can you type five to ten circulars every day for me to be sent out to all the contractors?” I asked him: “How many circulars do you need?” He said: “Why do you ask that? I need about 500 or even 1,000. But it is not essential. You type, whenever you are free.”

Of course, I was not an employee of the Delhi Iron Syndicate. Probably that was the reason why he was requesting me in that way. So I said, “All right.”

After the office was closed at 5 o’clock that evening, I started typing at night, and made 1,000 copies and placed them on his table!

Lala Diwan Chand used to go every day on horseback for a ride—early in the morning at 4 o’clock. So when he came, he saw that the light was on and he heard the sound of typewriter as I was typing. He was surprised. “Who is typing at this time?” In those days, as I was the Secretary of the Arya Kumar Sabha, he did not have the courage to come and open the door and ask me what I was typing. He went away.

When Sardar Nanak Singh came at 10 a.m. the next day, he found 1,000 copies lying on his table. He was very surprised. He called me angrily and said: “From where did you get these typed?” I said: “I typed them myself.” He said: “How is it possible? No person on this earth could type 1,000 copies—I gave it to you only last evening.” He looked through and through and found that they had been typed only on one machine. He said: “You tell me the truth.” I said: “What truth can I tell you? The whole night I was typing and I have typed them.” He said: “It is very strange.” He took those 1,000 copies and went to Lala Diwan Chand and told him about it. And he also said: “Yes. When I went for a horse ride at 4 o’clock in the morning, I saw him typing. It is true.” So it created a great sensation in the whole office and naturally all people had a great regard and respect for my hard work. But it was a character of my life. Whatever it is, I would do every work like that with ‘fire and fury’. In the whole city, if there would be any fire and I could see some smoke, probably I would be the first person to rush there and help in extinguishing the fire. That was the spirit in me. I cannot explain why it was, but it was there.