Contributed By: Makarand Pethe
Today in
the 81st year of my life, I find it very interesting and quite easy
to remember the Happy happenings / moments from the past. Although it is very
difficult to put them in words yet I have attempted and have tried to be as concise as possible.
MOHOPADA
located near Panvel was the name of village I was born in. It will be
interesting for many to know that in those days Leopards were commonly seen in
& around that area. I remember one evening having mistaken the big cat
sitting in our backyard as our own dog. Educated to the extent what was easily
available & possible then, I got married in a family from Vile Parle in
Mumbai. My husband worked for Reserve Bank of India & this was my first
exposure to the real BIG world outside. 1954 to 1974 were the golden years
spent in “RBI staff Quarters” at Bombay Central. Time spent in this high
profile & culturally upscale environment has many truly memorable &
worth cherishing when I look back today. I have captured below just some of
them.
The RBI
colony used to celebrate many events / utsav throughout the year as personality
development opportunities for the children & women. The colony Club House
had Carrom boards, Table Tennis tables, Badminton court & Bridge tables; we
had a large playground for the outdoor games like Kho-Kho, Kabaddi etc.
(Cricket & Football got added only towards the early 70’s). Annual Sports
were held in all these sports and that prompted me to learn Carrom, TT &
Badminton. I was also active in the Mahila Mandal activities & got
opportunity to perform in the small Drama’s during colony Ganesh Utsav. These
were the opportunities which boosted my confidence level & helped me
improve my own capabilities to the extent I started winning in some games like
Carrom & TT.
CHIT FUNDS
were a trend those days & I was awarded first prize for my contribution in
the business development in the fund I worked for. The prize distribution was
to be held at the hands of popular cinema personalities “Nirupa Roy &
Randhir Kapoor”. It was a very big event then and I had sent invitations to
many friends who were also very eager to see such personalities in person. I
consulted my close friends & relatives what to wear for the event, I did
not want to be appearing in front of those actors as a very common Indian
housewife. Common middle class people hardly get opportunity to be face to face
with the actors & during the actual ceremony, I was so overwhelmed that I
was almost in tears while receiving the prizes. I still have those photographs
& today, when I show the photographs to my grandchildren, those
personalities are grandparents of current stars and there is surely an element
of pride on their faces for their grandmother’s achievement. The confidence
gained then has helped me over come difficult situations in life at a later
stage.
Prabha P
Pethe
Pune
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