I should have posted this entry a long time ago, but couldn’t. So here it is!
On the 15th of January this year our group, affectionately called ‘kutumb’ (family in Guajrati), welcomed it’s newest member. Viral and Vaishali’s new born son – Agastya.
Viral was the first of our group to get married and bring his wife into our lives. And they in turn have brought the first member of the kutumb’s second generation to us.
Since Viral is like a brother to me, I consider Vaishali to be a sister–in–law and their son my nephew. And as any proud aunt, I was thrilled when I first saw him on the day he was born. I can’t begin to describe the joy I felt to see that beautiful little face, so pink and so tiny (this is him when he was 5 hours old).
As all the friends stared at him, we couldn’t resist painting a picture of what he would be like when he grew up. What it would be like for us to see him go through the stages of his life that we have been through. We hoped that he would find friends like we all are. People he would spend a life time with.
I bet he is going to be spoiled rotten by the whole kutumb and we are going to enjoy every moment of it.
"Welcome to our world Agastya! We promise to make it as wonderful for you as we can."
Some plans are made and never followed through. My cousin sisters and I have been promising to have lunch together for years now and it has never happened.
Recently, at a common cousin’s wedding, we once again made plans. But this time it seemed like it would work. And work it did.
The next day 6 of us got together for lunch. Finally! I rank this as one of the most enjoyable family related gatherings I have ever been to. 
L - R: Ami, Amrita (ben), Priya, Sonali, Monisha & Me at Mocha
We managed to catch up on what we are all doing, how we got there. We talked about husbands / fiancés, children, our family, work and heaven knows what else. We gossiped and we laughed. We teased each other and we stood up for each other. Most importantly we bonded.
I found myself mentally distancing myself from the conversation and observing the 6 of us, the differences and the similarities. The bantering and the silences; the ease and comfort we shared. No one was sitting in judgment, no pretences were needed. It was an unburdened acceptance of each other.
I think the key ingredient that day was we didn’t meet as sisters as much as we met as friends. When we parted, we were both!
The gathering ended too soon for my liking and sadly we are all back to our lives. 2 of them are in another city, 1 in another country. It will take a long time before all of us are in the same town again. But I’m sure we will meet if and when that happens. And will probably take up from where we left off this time.
I think they will all agree with me when I say that I am really looking forward to that day!
I come from a generation that survived on the antics of Suppandi, Shikari Shambu, Kalia the Crow and of course Tantri the Mantri. These guys are the much loved characters from the Tinkle Comic series that would be delivered every fortnight to my house.
Along with this I used to get another comic called the Amar Chitra Katha. Not as popular as Tinkle, ACK was a far more enriching experience. Its stories were about mythology and history; they introduced children to great men and women who have had such a vast impact on our lives. They told folk tales and other such stories. But in my opinion the best thing they did was publish the Mahabharat. True, it was a highly abridged version (probably 10% of the real thing), but in comic form it was easy to read.
Thanks to this, as a child I had the pleasure of first reading the Mahabharat; the greatest narration ever written. I don’t know too many people who have read even this abridged version. I find this sad, because this epic holds within it’s words lessons and truths of life that no philosopher could teach. It speaks of dharma – not religion but the way of life.
I remained fascinated with it all my life. As I grew older Doordarshan started showing the Ramayan on TV. Sadly I didn’t follow it. But when they started showing the Mahabharat, you couldn’t pry me away from the TV for anything.
Then a few months ago my father introduced me to a writer (Ashok Banker) who has re-written the Ramayan. I am finally getting a chance to know the story of a human, a prince, a son, a brother, a husband who is now, many millennia later, considered a God.
What’s wonderful is that it is not a one-sided perspective. It is un-biased and refreshing. The language is simple yet eloquent and the flow is smooth.
Dad read the first book and promptly went out and bought the remaining 3 available. When I got my hands on them, I went through all four in a matter of 8 days. Book 5 is finally available in India and I have been reading it the last few days. I just finished it actually! Now the wait for book 6! Part of me wishes I had waited so that I could have read them all together back to back as a whole.
I have a few friends who share my love for reading. So it is natural when they ask me “what you reading?” Suffice to say, most of them were surprised when I mentioned the Ramayan. In spite of being so impressed with the books I didn’t recommend these books to anybody. I frankly never imagined that these friends, some who are much younger than me, would really be interested.
I did give book 1 to a friend who trusts my judgment impeccably where books are concerned. Imagine my pleasure when he called and said he had finished it and wanted to borrow book 2.
A few weeks ago another friend came over to borrow something to read, and asked me about book 1. He was intrigued because of my praising. And then 2 days ago, another friend called me to ask if he could borrow it. I am amazed and thrilled! I know that my interests have always been varied enough for me to enjoy many things. But I didn’t expect this from my friends.
What makes today’s youth get interested in reading historical epics? These aren’t your every day action books, they aren’t love stories, there are no international conspiracies; in fact there is nothing in them that falls into the mould of a best seller.
It seems that this generation isn’t as shallow as one imagined. We are open to the values that these epics remind us of. We are curious to read tales of those we have been taught to revere. And it took the skillful way these books are written to allow this opportunity. If only history was taught like this in school, I am sure we would have all benefited.
FYI… Mr. Banker is now working on a rendition of the Mahabharat. I can’t wait!
