Thursday Challenge - My Grandmother

This week's prompt for the  Thursday Challenge is Mother -  Grandmother, Mom, Animal Mother, Mother with Children ....

I thought about this a lot as I am an extremely private person and loading up the internet with pictures about my family somehow makes me uncomfortable.

But I was privileged to have the most awesome grandmother and will therefore give you a peek into my family.

My grandmother was kind and very compassionate, soft spoken, cultured, humble, gentle but very strong. She lived her life according to the precepts of the Bhagvad Gita (holy book of the Hindus). My uncle picked a very appropriate verse from the Gita that sums up her character and approach to life: "He who hates no creature, who is friendly and compassionate to all, who is free from attachment and egoism, balanced in pleasure and pain and forgiving".

She dedicated her life to humanitarian work particularly in the upliftment of underprivileged women and children. She was a founder member and Chariman of the Bhagini Samaj an organisation supporting the underprivileged particularly in Gujarat, India.

She was very active in the "Quit India" movement alongside Mahatma Gandhi. She was imprisoned by the British during this movement and eventually classified as a freedom fighter.

She was a member of parliament in the first Lok Sabha (House of Commons) after Independence. During her tenure in parliament she introduced and supported the Anti Dowri Bill, The Adoption of Children Bill, Bills for women's right to divorce and the supression of immoral traffic in women.

She was also made an honorary Magistrate and Justice of Peace and was also one of the first women in India to graduate from University.

In 1980 she was awarded the prestigious Jamnalal Bajaj Janki Devi Award for her outstanding contribution to humanitarian services by the then Prime Minister of India, the late Smt Indira Gandhi. She was the first recipient of this award. She always maintained that no award was required as this was God's work that she did with pleasure. And she promptly donated her entire award money (a very substantial amount back then) to charity.

She worked tirelessly for the upliftment of women and children right to the end of her life and shortly before her death, she started a new project of adopting villages a UNICEF approved programme.

When she passed away at the age of 90 she had less than $10 in her bank account yet she was the richest person I have ever known ... rich in culture, love, kindness and generosity of spirit. She lived a very simple but comfortable life - the Universe simply provided for her.

This definition of success sums up her life: "To laugh often and much, to win the respect of intelligent people and the affection of children, to earn the appreciation of honest critics and endure the betrayal of false friends, to appreciate beauty, to find the best in others, to leave the world a little better, whether by a healthy child, a garden patch or a redeemed social condition, to know that even one life has breathed easier because you have lived, this is the meaning of success".

Whenever I think of her, these lines of a devotional song come to mind for this is how she lived her life: "Let my heart reflect Thy light Lord as the moon reflects the light of the sun in love, always in love".

I am so honoured and privileged to have had her as my grandmother. She left us (her family) such a rich heritage.

And in her memory I carry on her work by sponsoring children through World Vision and UNICEF. I have 5 beautiful sponsored children - 2 from Bangladesh, 1 from Tanzania, 1 from Cambodia and 1 from the Honduras. I am also a global parent through UNICEF.

Someday I hope to actively participate in humanitarian aid work - I believe I have a lot more to learn before that happens and in the meantime the Universe leads me slowly but surely along the path that will get me there.

     

                 receiving her award                    my grandmother and me - circa 1962