The family tree

Family...

What does this word invoke in your mind when you hear this word? Who comes to your mind first? Whom do you see standing there, smiling at you? 

For me, it's always my grandparents. They were my caretakers and whatever I am today, is largely due to their Sanskaras and teachings. And then are my parents, who brought me to this world and helped me become a good and responsible person. Next are my neighbours who were like family. As I had no siblings of my own, the neighbours were someone to whom I could always talk to and share things that couldn't be shared with grandparents and parents, mostly due to respect and fear. 

Staying far from India, we always miss the fun and company of our parents. T wanted to collect the photos of all his earlier generations as a remembrance and tribute to them. Then it struck me, to make a family tree with the photos of his great grandparents and grandparents so that they can be with us forever, at least in the photos and our memories. He loved the idea and decided to support me in executing it. T has had the good fortune to witness the love and blessings of 3 great grandmothers. He remembers them quite well and often asks me about the time I spent with my grandmothers. My childhood story is incomplete without my grandparents and I can't thank them enough for giving me all the love and attention. T's childhood has been also replete with his grandparents love and blessings. Though we don't see them often physically, WhatsApp has helped us to stay in touch with them in India. 

T started collecting the photos of his great grandparents because that was the connection that he has seen and experienced. My husband's paternal grandparents passed away when my husband was a teenager, so T and I have had no contact with them. With all other great grandmas, he has spent time as a baby.

Getting hold of the paternal great grandparents photos was a great task. In those days, it was not common to click family pictures. So T, along with my mother in law searched the whole house in Pune, and found the photos he was searching for. Also it was difficult to get hold of my maternal grandparents pictures. My mom's uncle had some old photos and we could somehow acquire the photo that we wanted. Photos of our parents (his grandparents) and his uncle was an easy task. 

T wanted to digitalise the photos so that they don't get lost like the photos in the olden days. He got all the photos printed from a nearby shop called dm after saving them on the Google Drive. The task of arranging all the photos in photo frames was fun, which we finally managed to do recently. T meticulously prepared the frames with the photos and then we arranged them in a logical order. 

From T's perspective:

The Dabke great grandparents are on the top left and on top right are Joshi (my mom in law's parents) great grandparents.

Then we have the picture of his Dabke grandparents (my in-laws) and his dad and uncle as kids in the middle.

Below that it's the Velankar great grandparents on the left and Karandikar great grandparents on the right. 

Then it's my picture as a kid with my parents. T thinks he has spawned himself in that photo. Resemblance between my photos as kids and his is very uncanny ;)

And then it's his parents and him in the last photo below. 

I had carefully clicked two pictures of four generations with T in it as the youngest, because somehow I knew that in future, a family tree would be in the making. We have them digitally, but are yet to get print outs of them. Those photos will soon adorn the wall, but till then the photos of our family members are sitting there on the wall, smiling back at us and blessing us. 

Though my grandparents are not with us anymore, they are often in my thoughts and I always feel blessed to be born as their granddaughter. I am sure they must be looking at us from somewhere and must be feeling proud of their great grandson who is very much rooted in the Indian culture, heritage and wants to keep them alive, in pictures and memories. 

I hope this family tree will be enriched with more photos and generations in years to come. 

Family...

Bonds of love, moments and memories that always stay on.