Udai Singh Dalal

The grandmother of father of the Presenter saw a vegetable and fruit seller in her dream.  She bought a sweet yellow mango for her grandson, Hari Ram in exchange of grain. Hari Ram was blessed with a son on 11^th November of 1919, the first child of fourth generation in the lifetime of grandmother of my father. As she saw the fulfillment of her dream, the child was named by her as Udai Singh. He was the eldest son of second generation of Dada Roop Chand, out of 12 cousins of the Presenter.

Udai Singh received his early education in the village and then in village Noona-Majra after that he passed his Matriculation Examination in the year 1937 from Jat High School, Rohtak in high first division and stood first in the class.  Thereafter, he followed his two uncles and got admission in Punjab Agriculture College, Lyallpur and obtained B.Sc (Agriculture) degree in 1941.

In his academic career right from primary to graduation, Udai Singh never missed first position in any examination. He was a topper and a scholarship holder throughout establishing University record in Fellow of Science (F.Sc) in Agriculture.  Similarly, in extra-curricular activities also his achievements were with distinctions.  The Principal of the Punjab Agriculture College, Lyallpur, attached a separate sheet to mention details of the prizes and distinctions in his Character Certificate.

After graduation, Udai Singh was directly appointed as Land Reclamation Officer, Class –I through Public Service Commission in the year 1941.  He did a special course in ‘Soil Salinity Control’ organized by United Nations Organization (UNO) at Lahore. He worked as the Head of the Land Reclamation Department in Punjab and thereafter in Haryana for about 25 years.  The last post held by him was General Manager, Haryana Reclamation and Development Corporation.

It is worth mentioning that bhai Udai Singh was a unique example in the Parivaar, who was always ready to give first priority to help any individual from Dada Roop Chand family at any point of time. During the last period of his service, he obtained L.L.B degree from Kurukshetra University in 1977 by joining evening classes. In fact, he had accompanied one of his colleagues for admission of his son-in-law who did not fulfill the eligible conditions for the admission and the Registrar told that he can be considered in case he wants to get admission. This motivated Udai Singh to improve his academic qualification, obtained admission and completed this task. This was a shift to legal profession after 35 years long service in agriculture to an Advocate and became member of the Bar Association Karnal and subsequently shifted to Bahadurgarh. He left for his heavenly abode on 10^th March of 2014.

Udai Singh was married at a very early age of 14 ½ years in June, 1934 with Dhanno (changed to Mrs. Sunita Dalal after marriage). The couple is blessed with two sons and four daughters. His first son is Dharam Pal Singh, who was the first in the Parivaar to qualify and join National Defence Academy as Naval Cadet but later changed to Army. He was also the first in the Parivaar to join defence forces as commissioned officer in Gorkha Rifles after passing out from IMA. He served in difficult environment at high altitude against China and Pak in J&K areas. His battalion fought Indo-Pak war during 1965 in Sialkot Sector. He was awarded Vishisht Seva Medal (VSM) by the President of India as best Commanding Officer to fight against insurgency in Manipur, when it was on the peak. As a Brigadier, he commanded against insurgency in Punjab. He was appointed President, Selection Centre, Bangalore and later was Commandant, CMP Centre and School before retirement in 1997. Like his father, he was also an outstanding sportsman in hockey & squash and represented IMA. In Golf he won a number of tournaments such as Captain’s Cup. His hobbies were Shikar and Angling and best handicap 7 in Golf. He has now settled in Gurugram with his family and enjoying a comfortable life. He is married to Meenakshi Kumari from Jaipur and the couple has been blessed with two daughters Priya Singh and Divya Singh. The elder Priya, is married to a banker Ajai Singh and settled in Hongkong. They have two sons Adhiraj Singh and Divyraj Singh.  The younger, Divya is Postgraduate from Ohio University (USA) married to Pawan and initially worked in UNO and now on very senior position in IT Company in California (USA). They have a son, Jagat and a daughter, Mira.

The second son born on 8^th January of 1952, Vijay Singh (Kaku) joined Indian Naval Aviation and after taking premature retirement served in a private organization. He was married to Aruna and blessed with three daughters Avantika, Ishika and Siya. He left for his heavenly abode on   .

The eldest daughter Prem (Muni) is the eldest child and married to Bhupender Dhaka from Abohar, who studied in USA and is a big farmer. She was the first girl in the parivaar, who had done Ph.D in Sociology from Punjab University and was Lecturer-cum-HoD in Government College, Ludhiana before marriage. The couple is blessed with three children and the eldest daughter Reena Dhaka is a world renowned designer followed by elder son Rajneesh, who is an engineer in US Manish is the youngest son, who looks after farm lands. The youngest daughter of bhai Udai Singh is Geeta, who is also married to Narender who was in Indian Air Force and subsequently joined Air India and later managed fleet of Jindal Group. He is from the same family of Bhupender Dhaka. They have two sons, Gaurav and Dhiraj and both are pilots in Vietnam Airlines. Narender and Bhupender both the brothers are settled together in Delhi. The second daughter Mohini is married to late Partap Singh an IAS Officer in Haryana cadre who lived a short life. The couple has two daughters Kamyani & Priya and one son Vikram. The third daughter Shakti is married to a business-man who had some business in US and now returned to India and settled in Gurugram. The couple has two sons Sharukh & Abhishek.