Since my first long visit to India in 2003, I have been drawn to documenting my paternal grandparents journey, focusing on the seeds they've planted. I think it is only due to their karmic deeds that our family came out poverty within 1 generation. My motivation to work with rural communities was triggered by understanding the situations my grandparents experienced in moving from a village to Ahmedabad and building enough capacity for the family to later migrate to the US. The next generation, their 6 children, are just as inspiring. (The youngest is my dad.)
My grandma's recent death re-triggers my urge to document a part of our family's journey...however I contemplate the purpose and medium for such a documentation. The main purpose would be to capture the journey in order for future generations of our family to know their roots. ...but then I think I cannot force anything down the minds of the future generations? Another purpose to document would be to exemplify many other families who had similar journeies after India's independence. ...but are there already such memoirs?
...When i look closer, the main motivation to document is actually only about me. I feel blessed to be born in this family...somehow i want capture the essence of it forever. ...the reason to do that is because at times i do not live up to that essence...and i guess highlighting it helps engrain it in my being. At times i question whether i put too much or not enough importance my family identity.
How have you dealt with your roots?
5 comments:
I think it is also important for next generation to realize what the world was like and knowing the family root is always something important.
I also appreciate your honesty about feeling blessed to be part of your family.
Dipti, Your grandma radiates so much joy. Look forward to reading her journey.
Dipti, your work and your journey through life epitomizes what our Jiji, Ba and their children achieved through Karma Yog. You were destined to be born in this family.
Dipti, telling and re-telling stories is always a worthy cause. I hope you follow the tug or energy. Such exploration, I think, will reveal something about ourselves (self-knowledge is always a good thing). In my experience, I explore my family roots in balance--looking both at the blessings and curses. Looking only at blessings will leads to romanticize the past in shallow ways, and focusing only on curses leads to hopelessness. The goal is not to look at perfect stories, but to look at hope and new life in imperfect stories. Good stuff.
Dear Diptiben, apologies for visiting your blog after a very long time. Yes, I very much agree that we should always document our family's journey in whatever way we find fit. Years ago, I started with a project of documenting my familytree just for fun sake. I got lots of help from the work my grandpa did and I just continued with it. My dad was so proud when I gave him a copy of the final document.
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