This month, my sons visited the house in Palam where they stayed as toddlers.

I was thinking of writing this post for some time, but today, I thought I should make an attempt to connect the dots of this important trip, with many facets and layers.

Ten years ago, when I used to come to visit the children from Tripoli, they would be studying in Pinnacle High school-Malad, and we would go for trips to Manori, Marve, Mindspace, Aksa and attend programs by Bombay Natural History society at Sanjay Gandhi National park.

Another decade before that, when I used to study in KEM –Parel, we had a view of the world, before starting a family, the priorities were different.

Now, after having stayed two years in Malta, and five years in Canada, the children returned to visit their grandparents in Nirlon colony-Malad and we had a revised new version of the Family photographs.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY NANI

2-Jan-2018-A POEM BY THE SEA-AKSA BEACH…Arabian sea…Happy Birthday Nani

Of the many photographs of the pujas, get-togethers, reunions, this one on the shores of Aksa stands out as a symbol of the many currents which flow across generations.

In taking this Canadian immigration journey, we gain something we lose something.

As my friends from Juma Saaga-days of Tripoli used to say- Juma Saaga- where we formed many concepts and revisited many issues- Everything has a plus and a minus.e

This picture is a small poem by the Arabian sea…a monument of love of grandchildren to their dear Nani-ji. When they first came to Malta in 2010, their grandmother had told me in  a sad voice-

“Give them so much love that they do not miss me.”

It was a tall order, which no one can fulfill, but even if one falls short, it is a good goal to try and measure oneself to.

The love of grandparents is so much different from the love of a parent. But there are some things, which have to be done, the way they are.

PRAYERS AT NIRLON…MALAD

So the children moved from Pinnacle Malad to St.Edward’s Cottonera and every family has their secrets, ups and downs but they saw a different vision of the world, civilization and society.

A DIARY BY THE SEA

2018-January- NANA-JI -with Grandsons..Many lovely hours spent walking by the Arabian sea

2006-AKSA-MUMBAI

JASOLA

BROTHERS…Mayank-Sagar-Sahil…January 2018…see blog https://prashantbhatt.com/2010/06/29/children-growing/ for earlier perspective

Earlier perspectives…Walks in Lodhi

2012

LODHI-July 2012-Shailu-ji, Mamta-Divya walking towards Bada Gumbad. Four generations of our family have walked in Lodhi Gardens. Mayank-met Snuggy dog here, one morning- when i showed them the gate on which is inscribed- 9 th April 1936..the day Lodhi gardens was established…Do you know on which Gate of Lodhi this inscription is?

MAUSIJI…MY MOTHER’S SISTER

VASANT KUNJ- The many notes and things about life which I learned from my Dear Mausa-ji, from Lullanagar Golibar Maidan Pune to the Walks in Lodhi Gardens and Palam of Delhi region came alive in many interesting ways in this great reunion.

My mother’s sister Abha Mausi-ji also celebrated her birthday around the same time. This reunion had many layers of emotions, as a sister remembered the days when she would visit Palam from the University campus in Sagar.

“I sometimes stand on the road facing Mahipalpur and think how it would have been if she had been there with us physically,” she says, being the person who probably misses her the most

MY FATHER’S SISTER

DADI-JI……….Saraswati Bua-ji…the many evenings we used to spend in B Block park as toddlers

This picture with Saraswati Bua-ji, reminds us of the days when the boys were toddlers and would play in the B Block park of Palam in the evenings. The park is still there. I went and sat there for a while with my aunty, and felt the spirits of persons gone by.

DEVRAJ-BHAI…The family grows..This year-his eldest son Mudit got married. And he wrote to us – You have been a part of us..do come.. Many memories came alive from Kankarkhera Meerut to Waterworks Agra to Palam Gurgaon

ON THEIR FIRST BIRTHDAYS

The two rooms in the first floor of Palam Vihar house has got pictures of five generations of our family. Framed and looking down upon us, are our ancestors, the many nuances of life in Garhwal in British India, to Shimla in the 1930s/40s and the way the family evolved through Benares and Delhi.

The boys saw their pictures of their first birthdays, and the many connections we used to have in that period of stay in Palam. We stayed for six years in Palam, and that was the foundation of our many journeys.

ON FIRST BIRTHDAYS- Sagar and Sahil with a picture of their father-Prashant-with his grandfathers-Ganesh Prasad Uniyal and Bhawani Shankar Bhatt-Nov 1968

AS TODDLERS…Many smiles at Palam

2003- Sagar- when he used to study in L’avenir -Gnostic Centre

2003-SAHIL…Making phone to Guddi-aunty…the Bisht family who stay in front of us, Mr R S Bisht-his mother originally from our ancestral village of Uphalda-Srinagar -Garhwal-Uttarakhand. ..Sahil would run to their house, knock on the door and ask for Goodies

SAHIL-2002-Palam 

Our trees still grow there.

OUR TREES STILL GROW IN PALAM..Seeing my sons with the trees planted by my parents gave rise to many mixed feelings. Remembered Richard Holloway’s words-in Leaving Alexandria-…I know now that roads choose us and what they unfold before us is not the person we want to be, but the person we already are, the person time slowly discloses to us.