I write this in memory and tribute to my grandfather and grandmother.
It was a mere passing remark by my mother's nephew. He asked my mother as to what would have happened if her father , who was serving as Magistrate of Cochin state during British rule,had not resisted and just 'nodded his head' to what that Mopla Muslim had offered him!
The family, in that distant past ,would not have had to go through such sufferings!
And this is what my mother told him : What you are today in life with so much comfort is due to the integrity and the past actions of our elders!
I shall just relate what I have heard and retained in my memory.
Sadly , there is no one of that era alive to corroborate or question those facts.
My grandfather was the only son of his parents.
He was born in the village of Kalpathy,Palakkad district of Kerala state.
He was the first graduate from the village who was fluent in Samskritam ,Tamil, Malayalam as well as English.
And that led him to secure the prestigious job of Magistrate in those times.
Being extremely upright and honest people were extremely respectful towards him.
I recall my mother telling me what her mother had told her.
People passing their residence, would lower their umbrellas or remove their turbans out of respect.
My grandmother had been strictly prohibited to make neighbourhood visits or invite people for fear of being influenced and seeking favours.
During the afternoons after lunch , grandfather would take his siesta as it was the usual norm.
Outside , there would be an orderly keeping watch.
However, one day my grandfather found a man from the Muslim community sitting indoors waiting for him.
Both surprise and agitation caught hold of him.
This man had come with sacks of grain along with gold and silverware.
With great humility, he placed them in front of the magistrate begging for some favour in return.
The favour was to 'do away' with certain legal files wherein this man had been implicated for committing some fraudery.
Very rightly , my grandfather reacted in rage and forced this person out of the house along with the booty he had brought as offering.
The next person to be taken to task was the orderly whose duty was to guard the place.
What enticement had he been given to let such a person inside the home?
After this incident , my grandfather found that in his workplace there were some weird changes.
Documents under his jurisdiction had been removed without his permission.
Unable to influence my grandfather, this crook having been insulted had approached a more pliable and compliant person to achieve his goal.
Those very files connected with the man were missing.
It was a very serious situation.
He was questioned for which he had no answers.
Now he was facing scrutiny.
After having served as magistrate for 10 years , he was obliged to submit his resignation.
This injustice took a very heavy toll on him mentally as well as on the whole family.
For weeks, he would sit on the shore of the village tank and stare into nothing.
He went into a shell and my courageous grandmother had to come to fore for the upkeep of the family.
Indeed , as every Hindu woman is ascribed to be Shakti - Strength she stood up to the test.
Those days , at the time of marriage , Hindu girls were always gifted gold ornaments as Stree Dhan - not dowry.
This gold used to be a stand-by in times of need.
My grandmother used the gold for providing food for the whole family.
Later on, things changed for the better when my grandfather overcame this depression and joined the Military Accounts Department and was posted in the North of India.
However, at times I wonder, had it not been for this incident , the whole history of our family would have been different!
Their ancestral roots were severed.
The old order changed yielding place to new.....
My mother was admitted to a Marathi school in Hingne.
My uncles took up jobs in Pune and Kolkata.
The moral of this chapter in the history of our family is to illustrate that despite all the unjust and unfair travails that my grandparents went through, their integrity was solid.
Their indomitable courage brought them through the storms of life and they could face the world straight in the eye with no regrets!
My mother's nephew heard through all that my mother related and indeed had to bow down his head in respect to the innate integrity of our grandfather.
We all need to remind ourselves about the adage:
The sins of the father are visited upon the sons!
That itself is warning , enough to be what one should be!
My humble and sincere Namaskarams to my Grandparents and My Dear Mother.🙏🕉🪷
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