Family Fortunes
This week, we both had the opportunity to explore our ancestral roots and go back to visit the places that our families originated from. These experiences were incredibly personal and so we thought we’d treat you to our individual perspectives (guest writer: Mr RS):
Rajkot: Perspectives from Mr RS
Roughly 18 years have passed since I last visited my paternal homeland. That is, specifically, the city of Rajkot in Gujarat. Here I was reunited with family whom I’ve spent some of my childhood with as well as new humans I’ve never met (wives and kids mainly!). This is all lovely however the hardest part of all this? Visiting so many people without my parents! Yes, I’m a fully-fledged adult and perfectly capable of meeting family unsupervised however this was no ordinary feat for one main reason… Gujarati (our mother tongue).
If you ask my parents they will tell you my Gujarati is questionable at best. It certainly is passable and enough to get by. I consider myself to be fluent… if 80% verbal and 0% written is the minimum requirement for fluency. Back in London, I very rarely have a need to speak in Gujarati so I’m not well practised, so four days of intense Gujarati speaking was certainly challenging. The few days we spent there were actually amazing. I managed to uphold good conversation in the mother tongue, but more importantly, got to know my family all over again. We got to see my grandparents’ home (albeit only from outside) where my father grew up with his eight siblings.
Over the four days we spent most of our waking hours conversing, eating and laughing with family old and young as well as fending off the countless attempts at trying to feed us 173% above capacity. Overall it was a frantic four days with little time for rest, however I wouldn’t have had it any other way. We met so many people from my childhood and built new memories together. Most importantly, introducing them all to my beautiful wife filled me with such pride.
Navsari: Perspectives from Mrs RS
It’s been almost two decades since I first stepped foot in the motherland, but coming back here as a proper grown up has brought around a whole new raft of emotions. By “here” I mean Navsari, southern Gujarat, the ancestral home to the paternal side of the Mrs RS family. For those of you who are close to us, you will know that last year we lost the cornerstone of our family, my grandad (Bapa), and so coming back to his hometown has been an incredibly moving but ultimately fulfilling experience.
We visited the village of Munsad, just outside of the main town of Navsari. It was here that Bapa was born, and just last year the construction of a community centre was completed here on a plot of land that had been generously gifted by him to the people of Munsad. Seeing the place in person, dedicated to the memory of Bapa’s parents and late daughter, and seeing his photo hung up on the wall inside made me feel so proud and grateful that he has been memorialised, and there will always be a place I can go to feel his presence. My dad (yes we met up with mummy and daddy here!) also took the opportunity to show us where he spent his summers as a child, in no less than a tiny building bound together by mud (by “mud” I actually mean dried up cow dung) that served as his grandparents’ home. This was the traditional method used to build village houses and as we saw, it is still used today. It has been so humbling to see how simply our family lived only a matter of fifty years ago, and it has been eye-opening to witness the progress we have made over the past two generations. I have made a promise to myself to never take for granted the comfortable lives we are living, the opportunities available to us that our ancestors could only have dreamed of, and to always remember that monetary wealth can be fleeting, but it’s the relationships we build and type of people we become that will last beyond a lifetime.
Highlight of the week: We happened to be in Gujarat during the festival of Navratri, where for nine nights people dress up in their finest traditional wear and dance “garba”, a group dance involving a series of co-ordinating steps, going around in a circle. Although we’ve celebrated Navratri plenty of times back home in the U.K., the experience in the motherland was unlike anything we have ever seen. People practice the latest dance moves in their teams, wear matching outfits and compete for various prizes, late, late into the night (it felt rather like being in an Indian version of Bring it On). The atmosphere was buzzing to say the least, the sound deafening, and the sheer joy it brought to everyone was clear to see. We even plucked up the courage to give it a go ourselves, only to be swiftly out-danced by the “pros” and shamefully left to become mere spectators from the comfort of an inconspicuous corner. For the sake of my feet, I think it was better that way.
Lessons learned: This week marked our first experience of the Indian railway system, the biggest and most complex railway network in the world. We endured a nine-hour train journey from Rajkot to Surat, and were pleasantly surprised to see that they provide freshly washed bed linen. If planning an overnight journey, trains are far more pleasant than buses (see two posts ago for our experience of those) but it pays to know the approximate arrival time of the train at your destination, as no one will tell you when you’ve arrived (and there are no such things as announcements and all the signs on the platforms are in Hindi). Confusing!
This blog post is beautiful. My heart felt both your experiences. So lucky you were there for garba. Loved reading it. As always… can’t wait for the next one.
Erm 173% ?! Woah!
Miss you both x
So I ended up reading back to back posts. This was most endearing as I could relate as my motherland is also Rajkot Gujarat India. We too have an ancestral house there “Parekh Nivas” but sadly is very near to rack and ruin and possibly be lost. Totally hear and feel for you re the endless “jum-wa-noo” they are nearly insulted if you mention the “No” word or “I don’t eat dairy products” Being already somewhat portly a trip to home always adds more to timber to this frame but it’s sooo good. Every morning there would be patta gatiyaa and jelebi with lashings of masala chai, they were astonished at how much tea us brits drink. They purchased a bigger thupeloo just to make more tea.
The garba video was insane I want to experience that at some point. My Indian cousins are all ferocious dancers.
A BIG hallelujah to Mrs RS you are absolutely right that we should not take all these opportunities for granted. Trips like this bring it home. No doubt you’ll see more of this as you travel more. As always keep safe and keep blogging. TC
MR RS I couldn’t agree more that you speaking Gujarati is like me speaking Spanish. Glad you’ve made it through the week. A great adventure and definitely an eye opener when you visit family without your parents. Onwards and upwards.
Mr RS let’s make it a rule to speak in Gujarati when you return to Uk. Nice Garba clip. Stay safe and have a wonderful week ahead, look forward to the next post.
Very warm read, enjoyed it massively 😀 – nice to feel it from both perspectives.
I can’t believe it has already been a month since you started your travels! This post made me feel you’ve really started to feel the true benefits of your journey; it has started to turn from a holiday to a life-changing experience. Both your posts tugged on our heart strings, and we hope you have plenty more beautiful experiences to look forward to…
Hi Guys. Wow your guy’s posts are beyond magical. Each read I feel like im there with you guys. Beautifully wtitten,capturing each moment and each experince. I’m glad you guys are experiencing this. Enjoy have fun take it all in and be safe .. lots of love Sej x
Hi Guys. Wow your guy’s posts are beyond magical. Each read I feel like im there with you guys. Beautifully wtitten,capturing each moment and each experince. I’m glad you guys are experiencing this. Enjoy have fun take it all in and be safe .. lots of love Sej x
Hi Guys. Wow your guy’s posts are beyond magical. Each read I feel like im there with you guys. Beautifully wtitten,capturing each moment and each experince. I’m glad you guys are experiencing this. Enjoy have fun take it all in and be safe .. lots of love Sej x