Geoff has bought an App which plots a family tree for you, which he has filled in wherever we have visited, to everyone's delight. He has found a real winner into everyone's heart with it! Below are Karshanmama in salmon, to his left is Savi's Ramanmama who is her mother's cousin, and his wife, next to her is her nephew's wife and the lady in the white sari is her mother's girl cousin, as is the lady in the pink sari who came especially to see her to their maternal home! The two young men are the sons: one helps with the family farm, and the other works somewhere, which seems to be a pattern in many families.
Below is the house Savi remembers visiting, where her maternal grandparents lived. Her grandfather died when she was 4 or 5 years of age, but she remembers her grandmother, Ambama as a very tall thin stooped lady ( most probably has osteoporosis ) who would rush to make her hot puris ( fluffy small fried pastries) to eat with milk or "rus" ( mango pulp) when they visited.
She lived in the traditional joint family with Savi's eldest uncle Laloomama and Chanchalmami. Savi remembers this uncle as being very jovial and affectionate. Tragically he died in a motorbike accident in 1993. Chanchalmami lives here on her own, as her only daughter lives abroad with her family.
Savi with her cousin Dina, who was visiting her mother from Niagra Falls, where they have a motel.
An obligatory family pose outside the house.
We continued with the family tree later that afternoon in Bardoli, where Savi's phoie's ( father's sister's) eldest daughter lives, adding Sumitra's 3 sons and their wives and children to the ever growing list of relatives.
We added another branch of the family who Savi shared a childhood with in Jatpor before coming to the UK in 1958. Below is Ramanben, Savi's grandfather's sister's daughter and her grandson and daughter Nita, who live behind Sumitra's house in Bardoli.
It seems the App was calling relatives to it, ready to be captured and plotted: Whilst we were walking in Bardoli we heard a voice shout out " Savitriben Geoff" and when we looked around it was more family but from London. It was Ashok and Nayna, who are over in Bardoli looking at the possibility of buying some property. They were particularly interested in seeing the Lake City complex that has been built in Baben, just outside Bardoli.
We stopped and had a juice with them and agreed to try and meet up later in the week, but not before adding on Ashok on the tree as being Savi's paternal grandmother's (Dahima's) sister's grandson from Mori! To people not used to this kinship system, it ill seem very complicated and the relationships tenuous, but in fact my father was very close to Ashok's father and the rest of his cousins from his mother's village, maintaining these links with them to the end of his life, whether they were in India, UK or USA. There is no doubt that the younger generation have veered towards the nuclear family unit, with ever decreasing kinship relationships, because amongst other things, they find it too difficult to maintain, with busy working lives. But it seems that even though it is diluted somewhat, it is still very important in India, as is the joint family system, with parents, grandparents and children living together. Also, although I don't know about the UK, the youth of the diaspora in America have started to realise what they will lose if they don't maintain some of the traditions of their parents' mother country, and have started Facebook kinship groups! - Posted using BlogPress from my iPad
Location:Nizar & Bardoli
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