09/08/2024
Today is my Nani’s 3rd Punyatithi!!!
उन बूढ़ी बुजुर्ग उँगलियों में
कोई ताकत तो ना थी..
मगर मेरा सिर झुका तो काँपते हाथों ने
जमाने भर की दौलत दे दी...!!
My Nani (Grandma) was born in a zamindar family. She was married at a tender age of thirteen. She used to say that her marriage procession had horses and elephants. Her husband, my Nanaji (Grandfather) used to play the flute, harmonium and tabla. He was a singer too who unsuccessfully tried his luck in Bollywood. His father, a manager with Raatu Maharaj, did not approve of Nana’s musical ambitions.
They lived in a joint family in a palatial bungalow called Sahay Cottage in Loadih, Ranchi. The adjoining garden had a pond and various fruit trees. There was a round platform in the garden. Gold and silver coins were dried in the sun on that. There were scores of servants to cater for the needs of everyone.
Nani was blessed with two daughters and a son—my mother, my Mausi and Mama. Life was good for Nani and she never stopped thanking God for it. But soon tragedy struck. When my mother was twelve, Nana expired suddenly.
My Nani’s father asked her to come back to him with her children. Nani being the righteous and self respecting woman she was, refused. Her father offered her to take the zamindari of a few villages to fend for herself. She refused that too. Soon after family feud erupted and she had to move out.
With whatever little money she got after partition, she bought a piece of land in Ratu Road, Ranchi. She constructed a house there and started living with her children. The land had a guava tree.
She joined a women training centre and taught stitching, crosia and embroidery at Khunti, 30 kms from Ranchi. She got a paltry sum of Rs 60 per month. She would take a rickshaw to the bus stand and then a bus. When finances were tight she would walk her way to and back from the bus stand. At home, at times, Maa and Nani would feed Mausi and Mama and chew on the guava leaves to quench the hunger pangs.
Nana always wanted Maa to become a doctor. Nani supported the dream. Maa had to take admission in a Bagla medium school, the only school giving scholarship. Maa finally got into a medical college.
Nani was a devout Shiva-bhakt and did Kanvar yatra (The Kānvar Yātrā is an annual pilgrimage of devotees of Shiva, known as Kānvarias(कावड़िया) or "Bhole" (भोले), to Hindu pilgrimage place of Sultanganj in Bihar to fetch holy waters of Ganges River. Millions of pilgrims fetch sacred water from river Ganga and carry on their shoulders for hundreds of miles to offer it in Śiva shrine in Deoghar in Jharkhand.)
She did it till her late sixties.
Nani was a pious soul. Her hands were always raised in blessings. She was a Goddess incarnate and was always respected as such wherever she went.
I was her eldest Nati (grandson). And she always used to say मेरा बड़का नाती तो हीरा है (My eldest grandson is a gem).
I heard these words again. I have mentioned it in my book:
“After one such talk at the Department of Information & Technology, Mr Sunil Barnwal, the Chief Secretary, an IAS topper, said, “We had planned to invite Dr Shiv Khera for the talk, but now we have found a gem in our town.”
Here is me with Nani and Maa on her 100th birthday, just a few days before her final Kanwar Yatra.
