Justice GN Sabhahit: BMHS friends shower praises and gratitude

Thanks to the reunion of the 1976 Batch classmates on 29 February in Dharwad the get-together also became an event to recollect the contribution of the late Justice GN Sabhahit's family in shaping the lives of many classmates. It looked not only surprising but astonishing at the way the late state high court judge played a pivotal role in transforming the lives of friends and classmates of his son Narayan G Sabhahit.

Best and worst moments of life: To begin with the annual meeting had a kick start as usual with the usual exchange of pleasantries and courtesies. Addressing in the typical, rustic Dharwad style deploying all possible euphemisms pulling each other's leg went on for a while it took some time for all those who had committed to turn around. When the session was almost halfway through Narayan G. Sabhahit proposed the idea of expressing the best and worst moments of life so far. Although there looked to be some reluctance on the part of a few dissidents the idea was welcomed by and large giving momentum to share.

A courtesy call leads to a career: Edwin D'souza, retired Deputy Conservator of Forest (DCF) and also the host of the day initiated sharing the best and worst parts. Edwin just gave a courtesy call to the Sabhahit's house as he had been doing whenever he visited Bengaluru. But this visit proved a game changer for his life and career as he fondly shared the graphic details of his joining the services with the Forest Department.

At his sarcastic best: Edwin, generally known for his soft, gentlemanly nature appeared to be in his best of moods. Usually, he desists from using commonly used words, phrases and slang unnecessarily. But, on that day it looked like he had decided to become sarcastic to the core. Very silently in his typical soft and humble tone, he started taking a dig at Sanjeev Kulkarni and gave his interpretations on what it means if the latter is not picking up the call or not even replying the following day.

Passed SSLC, thanks to Nani: Srikanth Badiger, a former cricketer narrated his by and large daily visits to the Sabhahit family and the close ties he enjoyed with the family members. He also announced his successful completion of matriculation because of the help and encouragement extended by Nani.

A regular visitor: Hanumanth Badiger, a cousin of Srikanth recalled his association with the Sabhahit family and his almost daily visits to their Judge quarters adjacent to the Lady of Lourdes (German) Hospital. He became emotional taking note of the learnings in the company of Nani and his mother's hospitality without any inhibitions.

Rs Eight Lakhs house sold at Rs Five Lakhs! Sanjeev Kulkarni's revelation of having bought the house he stays in now at an unimaginable price of Rs Five Lakhs instead of the quoted Rs Eight Lakhs, a few decades ago stunned everyone. This was made possible when he introduced Narayan as his friend and the house owner Manohar Emanuel Sons got it confirmed that the latter was the son of Justice GN Sabhahit.

Trapped in a conspiracy: Manohar Emanuel Sons was a Chief Civil Engineer with the KSRTC, a public sector undertaking transport organization. Despite being an able, honest and committed officer, he was trapped in a 'scam' and suspended. He moved to the district court in Karwar and came to Scott free while the judgement quashing the corruption charges was delivered by the then district judge GN Sabhahit. So he took the unbelievable gesture of parting with his house for less than three lakhs of the quoted rate.

My children are my assets: Narayan turned sentimental as he had a flashback of the events in his life. He recalled an instance when the late chief minister Ramakrishna Hegde, an LLB batchmate of his father visited them. RK Hegde, in a lighter vein, wondered why the senior Sabhahit had not made a home of his own in Bengaluru. Then Justice GN Sabhahit had plainly remarked-"My children are my assets". The worst part he underwent was the predicament of his mother who spent her whole life struggling, sacrificing and suffering, bursting into tears.

Producing Engineers an achievement: Suresh Radder, who has spent most of his life in Dubai working for the American University of Sharjah in the United Arab Emirates (UAE), felt producing engineers for the American University of Sharjah has been his pride moment. Ashok Naik felt satisfied to be present to pay his last respects to his grandmother in Dharwad in whose house he has fond memories of schooling. Ananth Deshpande and Ravindra Joshi also shared their experiences.

First night's best moment: Sunil Hiremath who sprung up a surprise by turning up at the last moment sent the audience into a peal of laughter as he exclaimed: The first night is the best part while refusing the same is the worst part! Jagadish Dharwadkar told the progress of their legendary Arya Durga Kirani Stores now Six under different names and brothers. He also remembered how Sunil Hiremath's grandfather was instrumental in getting the first outlet before the Ankola Kirani Stores where his father was working for a livelihood.

Rank brought tears: Vishnu Yaligar told of the hard way of coming up in life. His father was expecting him to score a rank in the SSLC, which didn't happen. However, he realized his father's dream by way of coming up with flying colours at the university level and his father being honoured on the occasion brought him tears. There were three attempts of murder while working with different firms but was not deterred as he had done no wrong all along.

Sunil Nadkarni draws accolades: Thanks to Sunil Nadkarni, so far Ashok Shiramgond and Vishnu Yaligar now including me a few more of the previous batch have jumped onto the seniors' bandwagon discreetly. The practice of Sunil Nadkarni making it a regular practice to visit Dharwad has taken many friends aback. Sanjeev Kulkarni confessed: In fact, I was supposed to be in Goa with the family for four days starting from today. But, when I heard that Sunil Nadkarni was coming from Gujarat postponed the Goa trip to tomorrow.

Next GTG with spouses: Sunil Nadkarni as usual had come carrying a big bag with the two types of Bharuch groundnuts and sweet packets to everyone. So had come Narayan, Ashok and Sanjeev with spirits. Narayan also ensured the buddies enjoyed prawn and fish preparations, thanks to Gajanan Bhai's better half. Sunil also offered to make arrangements for the next get-together with spouses in Gujarat either in October or November. As another Sunil (Hiremath) had expressed in the first-ever meeting, it's high time pals give it a try to communicate without using the typical terms abundantly used in the North Karnataka region. A communique in this regard was made viral on WhatsApp some time back!

Dissidents have a mini-meeting: Well, as this session was on one side of the table there was another parallel mini-meeting in progress. Ravi Megeri, Gajanan Kamat, and Venkatesh Hosamani were engrossed in their meeting. Ravi informed me of going through my articles late in the evening but complained about them being too long. Hence, tried to attempt to listen to his advice in vain. As they keep saying, old habits die hard! Forgive me, Ravi.

-Manohar Yadavatti