One interesting way to take a life-story interview is to ask the person about his grandfather.

My grandfather was one of the first persons who taught me how to write notes, editing letters I used to send to him in the 1970s when he was in Moscow

Family Photographs https://prashantbhatt.com/family-photographs/

My paternal grandfather passed away when I was too small to remember directly.

Through stories told by cousins, I know that he used to love taking children to the garden-monuments of Delhi. He has instilled similar trends in me. Our family has been in and around Delhi region for over 8 decades and four generations.

Walks with my friend and nephew Mayank-JNU Campus Library Canteen

                       Teaching him to ask questions.November 2011

I have distinct memories of my maternal grandfather, with whom I used to take walks in Lullanagar, Pune and visit in Banaras before his Moscow days.

As part of Mediterranean Everyday History Society project, I have been taking life story interviews of expatriate and locals , mainly in Tripoli region. This interesting project extends to partnership with patients, in which extended life-story interviews of relatives have been taken

(In the Face of Adversity http://www.chowk.com/Life/In-the-Face-of-Adversity )

Friends of Bouazizi

Recently I took interesting interviews of some people whom I would call “Friends of Bouazizi” the Tunisian fruitseller whose act set the Arab Spring into motion.

The Libyan doctor whose grandfather served in farms of Italian colonizers and a Serbian expatriate worker whose grandfather served in the First World War helped set up many interesting stories.

To see the full narratives follow this link

http://www.chowk.com/Views/World/Friends-of-Bouazizi

Do not think I am naïve

One friend said that it was difficult to draw him out into extended interviews, and told that he was not naïve. However, the simple question of the memory of his grandfather set many interesting stories into motion. Till the age of around five, he was brought up by his grandfather in his ancestral village, and his passing away was the first memory of a major loss in his life. The stories this “Not so naïve” person told give a window to Southern India of the 1960s

My grandfather was a tailor

My mother’s side of the family were tailors. I did not have to buy suits for myself till I was a teenager as my grandfather stitched them for me. Many interesting stories came forward as I put the question of the memory of his grandfather to my friends, sailor, spiritual path-seeker David Millner.

A window into Manchester region in 1950-60s.

Do you have a similar memory of your grandfather?