A superwoman I grew up watching
My grandmother, or ‘dida’ as I address her turns 87 today (she will argue with me about it being her 88th birthday, I know, but she was born in 1933, and logically we’re both right). For me she has always been the doting grandparent, blind to my misdeeds, proud of every little achievement, encouraging of all my habits (or bad habits, as mom says), and extremely partial. She taught me how to read and has read every word of every piece I have ever written. She made narkel-nadu with milkmaid for us and cooked an amazing keema biryani that is still my most favourite dish in the world.
But we’ve always known that she is two people in one –an entrepreneur first, and our family member after – living each role to the fullest.
Even a few years back, she would wake up early in the morning and stand near the window, sharp at 7.50 am, mentally marking teachers ‘late’ for the school assembly. Till date, she gets majorly upset when we, the younger generation take any decisions about her beloved school without her knowledge. Even as we start engaging with newer forms of technology, or creating profiles on social media to talk about her school, she needs to know EVERY SINGLE THING at every single step. Yes, we do get exasperated sometimes trying to explain the small technical details that come so easily to us, the young ones.
But at the end of the day, we, her daughters and granddaughters know for sure that if there is one thing that comes before all of us in her life, it is this forty-five year old little primary school - Kidyzone. At the end of the day, we always know that a huge big part of her identity is being “Madam” principal for the students and “didibhai” for the teachers, staff and well-wishers of Kidyzone.
From the day the school was established in 1975, she has been a forerunner, leading the school as the founder Principal along with her mother (the founder President), inculcating the value of “education through love” into its curriculum. Under her guidance, teachers have taught with passion, creativity and affection for over four decades. But what I have witnessed as a grand-daughter is her concern, never as an employer, always as an elder sister (what didibhai stands for). I have seen her go out of the way for her teaching and non-staff, and even students and their parents, ensuring that everyone is cared for, respected and happy. I know of teachers who still reach out to her every day and text her (yes she uses WhatsApp and Facebook!) and she patiently and diligently replies to every single person.
We’ve seen her stand like a rock behind the school through all its ups and downs. We’ve seen her lead. We’ve seen her take charge. We have grown up seeing her break into her ‘Principal’ avatar in the middle of conversations, suddenly speaking with a finality in her tone. There are so many times when we’ve not been able to distinguish between the family member we love and the head of Kidyzone we admire.
But over the last few years, we have also seen her heart break as old age has started dictating terms instead of her. She is not able to manage the school as she would. She can’t keep a tab as she used to. She can’t even sit on her chair behind her desk in the school office.
So now it’s up to us.
I usually write about my dida and her influence in my life on her birthday. Today, I wanted to write about the fiercely independent woman I grew up watching. The woman with many many talents. A brilliant singer who rarely returned from any singing competition without a prize, and NCC cadet from the Bengal contingency, an active member of the Adi Congress Cultural team (post India's independence, 1947), a poet and an amazing administrator!
But today, her beloved school is on the verge of closing down and the lockdown due to COVID-19 has hit it really hard.
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