Jab we Meet.. Celebrating 64years of Togetherness

Circa  18 Feb 1949

It was a pleasant February morning when Satish Shah  a handsome young boy dressed in a lovely white sherwani and  dhoti, walked with his family from Hargovindas ni chawl, in Bhuleshwar to his brides house in Kishore Bhuvan barely a 50 yard  distance. The only music element he has with him was nagada wala.  The bride, Ashru the daughter of a goldsmith was dressed in a lovely white and red saree, the traditional paneetar, and armed with  giant size elephant teeth bangles embedded with pure gold. 9am in the morning was the auspicious time for the wedding,  The groom was welcomed by Ashruben`s eldest sister, who we lovingly called Behn. He was saved from the nose pulling ceremony, as he had a bad cold. In those day neighbours had such a lovely bond with each other. The entire building of Kishore Bhuvan acted as a host for the wedding, while some game their home, for accommodating the barratis, some opened up their kitchen to make food.

A small shamina was built in the chowk( passage) of Kishore  Bhuvan where Satish & Ashru began their journey together. 64 years later, the chowk still stands there amidst the dilapidated building as a testimony of the times gone by

 

Wedding lunch

In those days of food shortage, one was not allowed to have banquets for weddings, so lunch was made in the choksey household with the help of a maharaj( cook). Ashru`s bua Shantiben was the food manager for the day.  The spread include Magnidal no siro, dal, puri , sabji & vatana pattice. A big blopper happened, the Maharaj accidently put the packet of soda in the pattice  instead of  ala lot( corn flour). All pattice turned black, within no time, another set of potatos were boiled and immediately pattices  were remade.  The immediate family itself consisted about 100 people

Few days before the wedding, someone had come to sell silver dinning set a 100 pieces at the shop. All the guests were served lunch in silver thalis, bowls,spoons. The entire big  hall of Ashru`s house in Kishore bhuvan was beaming with people, A seating of 50 ( pangat of 50) were served lunch at one time.  The guests sat down on traditional patlas and plate would be placed in front of them on another patla. First all the men ate and then the women and children.

Satish`s sister in laws( 6  real and many cousins) decided to have some fun, they actually put some cotton in Dadaji`s pattice, which he cant recollect any more

The Reception

In the Ram baug wadi, probably the first ever wedding reception of the community was held. In those days of food shortage, you could not feed people, so they just served icecream to the guests. The reception had loads of guests from the community(nath), to Ashru`s father friends from Jhaveri Bazzar

 

Northern Adventures

Soon after the reception Ashru and Satish boarded a train from Bombay with the family and went to the ancestral house in Agra, where there was practice of Mardaana, Janna( separate area for men and separate for women. A  21 year old Bombay girl  Ashru was amazed with these practices.She was even more amazed when they visited Haldwani. She has never in her life seen snow, or had milk in an aluminium glass. While she was still trying to come to terms with this kind of farm life, Satish got a message from  his landlord in Bombay, telling him to come back quickly else he would be giving away the room in Nutan Nagar, Bandra

 

Nutan Nagar

After the adventures of Agra & Haldwani, Ashru & Satish were both happy to come to their own little room in Bandra. Facing the lovely Bandra talao, and close to the railway station, their small one room was a beautiful world for them. In a matter of 3 days they set up their house, all the home vessels in stainless still were purchased for  Rs 500. Ashru`s mom lent her 2 metal chairs, a small table, mattresses and a bag full of  vessels, on condition that it should be returned once  she  purchased her on.  For months they lived out of their own single suitcases, * more like trunks as they could not afford a cupboard.  The only luxury item in their house was a radio( which costed 100 bucks at that time) was a gift from Sarla bhabhi to Satish.

As a young 22year old Ashru was quite excited and happy about her new life in Nutan Nagar. In Satish she found a great friend, he would always help her with the household chores. As Satish an engineer left for work in a mill, Ashru too would quickly leave, leaving the house to her servant( who cleaned the house for 4 rupees a month) and take the train to Charni road. She claims in those days there used to be super fast trains, which directly stopped at charni road, she would reach Charni road in 15minutes. She visited her Mothers family home every day from Bandra to charni road, as her family didn’t want her to be staying alone at home during the  day, in a chawl in Bandra. Her sisters & brothers also visited her very often in Nutan Nagar, curious to know about her new life. Her mom Liliba,  would come but she would not even have a glass of water considering the old school of thought u cant have anything at  your married daughters house. Her father, Gordhandas who was also very fond of his new son in law often visited, he would eat at Ashru`s  and quietly slide in a 10rupee note and say, "I am going to eat, tell your mom I paid for the food". Years later, Satish purchased a Austin 8 car Made in England and Ashru would often drive down from Bandra to Charni road with the children.

 

From humble beginnings, Ashru & Satish have come a long way together. 64years back when they began their journey as 2 young people, they would never have imagined what life would have in store for them. Its amazing how  beautiful their bond is.  I am truly blessed to have them as my grand parents, and i am so glad that atleast grannie remembers that day and she could describe it so well for me.