Of Grandparents and great-grandparents

 Hello everyone,

                          The word 'grandparents' for every adult usually invokes fond memories of their unconditional love and attachment. Normally,  one has 2 sets of grandparents,  4 sets of great grand parents, 8 sets of great-great grandparents and so on.  In Tamil, we address grandpa  as thatha,  great grand father as 'kollu thatha' , great - great grand father as ' ellu thatha'. The tree starts from parents and spreads out in multiples of 2. It is easy for us to know that there are 2 grandparents for anyone,  as we would have seen and interacted with them during our childhood.  But to imagine that one has 4 great- grandparents becomes a tad difficult.  Depending upon the seniority of a child in a family, one can consider lucky if he/she gets to meet at least 1 or 2 of the great  grandparents.  

                      From my paternal side, I am one of the last among cousins. But that did not matter much as my paternal grandmother passed away when my dad was just 2 to 3 years old! We do not even have a photo of her, and so how she looked like remains an eternal curiosity. My paternal grandfather passed away just before the wedding of my parents. So we were not lucky enough to experience the love of our paternal grand parents. 

                                                    My maternal side

                                                 ---------------------------  

    As if it looked like a compensation, my maternal grandparents lived a long, good life. My grandfather passed away at the age of 97 and my grandmother passed away at the age of 89, though we thought either of them may touch 100! Every summer vacation of our childhood was spent in Chennai as my grandfather settled there after his retirement. And of course, myself and my sister have lots of stories of days spent with them in Besant Nagar. Our thatha who took us to the beach, temples, to libraries, nearby homes etc; thathi who cooked our favorite dishes, snacks. I do not want to deviate much from here describing the valuable time we spent with them. My grandmother  had her own grandfather (her mother's father) who lived in Mandevalli (Chennai) with my grandmother's uncle!! So, he was my great-great grandfather whom I was lucky enough to visit though it was only once!! Unfortunately, I do not have a photo of him. He got so emotional seeing his great-grand daughter who is my mom, and myself (his great-great granddaughter). I remember him blessing me with all affection to grow up, get married and bring him his great-great-great grandchild! Of course, he passed away I do not know when! I got to meet my  great-grandmother (of my maternal grandmother's mom) also only once. She lived in Mumbai with my thathi's brother and his family. I remember that she was gentle and smiling. Of course, just one visit is not enough to get to know more of them. I wish I could turn back the clock to make them come alive and take selfies with all of them!!! During her heydays, she lived near Vechur or Kottayam and my great-grandfather was a landlord. My mom doesn't know whether he had any other job. My amma's  paternal grandparents i.e. my thatha's parents were well off. That ggf (great grandfather) was a school inspector and a famous astrologer. My thatha used to tell us lots of stories of his father's astrological genius. Many of the descendants of  this side are academically and intellectually better off than my thathi's side. One of my grand aunts who is aged 97 has BA honours in Maths (equivalent to MSc these days) used to teach in a college and has good knowledge in many subjects. The senior grand-aunt's descendants are highly qualified and many of them settled abroad to chase their career dreams. There is still a photo of  great grand parents (my maternal grandfather's parents) hung in my uncle's house. 

                            My great-grandparents (my mother's paternal grandparents) 

                                                                    Thanks Suresh                 

                                                 

                                                 my maternal grandparents ....my thathi with her 

                                                          eternal lovely glowing smile.

                                                               My paternal side

                                                          ----------------------------

                                        Forget about my paternal great grand parents, as I mentioned in the beginning we are not lucky to get the love and affection of my paternal grandparents as they passed away very early. My paternal grandfather used to work as an assistant in All India Radio and just earned enough to sustain the family of my dad, my 2 aunts. My grandmother passed away around 1949-1950  and she might have been in her 30s.   My dad and my 2 aunts grew up in Pandalam with their maternal grandparents ( my paternal grandmother's parents).  This great-grandfather used to maintain a big household of many of my dad's cousins along with my dad and 2 aunts.  He was a cook who used to do mass cooking for weddings and other big functions. He was also a local priest (vadhyar) who used to go for rituals held in households for which he used to get a pittance as people hardly had generous money those days to pay these priests.  Since their home was adjacent to Kaipuzha palace and close to Dharma Shastha temple, where Lord Ayyappa's jewels were kept, he was known to the people of the palace and the temple. During Ayyappa season, our ggf used to go with the procession who carried Lord Ayyappa's jewels on the journey to Sabarimala. The journey used to last for 10 to 12 days. He was the chief cook who used to supervise the cooking required for the army of men who travelled on the eve of  'Makara Jyothi.' My great-grandmother also used to cook in some homes to make the extra income required to feed the large family.  My great grandparents (my dad's maternal grandparents) passed away in succession shortly after my parents' wedding. At least I have an image of them which I clicked when I went to my hometown. They would have had a humble background and lived hard lives trying to make both ends meet, but they are the reason that my dad had a commendable career as an Engineer 1st in BARC, Trombay and then in VSSC, Trivandrum!!! Yes, we owe to those rocket boys too!! ( Homi J Bhabha and Vikram Sarabhai). Not much is known about my appa's paternal grandparents. My dad told me years back that his paternal grandfather used to work in a temple somewhere close to Nager koil. 

                                                    

                                                      My paternal grandfather 

                                                      

                                                 My great grandparents ( my father's maternal grandparents)

                                       My grand aunt or Chithi paati with her children ever so loving ( my dad's                                                                          maternal aunt)

                                                      Thanks  Chithra.

                                                     Writing about my ancestors most of whom I have not seen made me travel backwards and made me think about the lives they lived pre-independence and early post-independence period in India when the lives were really hard with less job opportunities. Though I\we have not seen them, we remember them with fondness and affection just by seeing their images. We owe to them in one way or other for the better and more comfortable lives we lead these days!!

Love,

Deepa.