I vowed to
educate my children
Thousand
Full Moon: Savitri Yashavant Tilak
I was born
in Aravali, a small village in Konkan. The place is known for its hot springs. Although
my father was a ‘bhikshuk’ he was a very strong man. He could easily plough the
field if something were to happen to the bull. My mother was very frail and
understandably so. We were seven sisters and five brothers, there were four
more but they did not make it. My father jokingly referred to us as the “cricket
team”. I don’t remember ever taking a bath at home we always went to the river
to wash up. I would work in the fields, tend cows etc. I studied up to seventh
grade and never studied English.
After I got
married I had four children. Although my father-in-law was a lawyer he was
never good at collecting his fees particularly from poor clients. As a result
he did not have much money and had to work a lot to make ends meet. As a result
his children’s education got neglected. Within one year of my marriage I swore that
no matter what happened I would educate my children. I started tutoring first
to fourth grades. I would gather the neighborhood kids and make them memorize
multiplication tables and Ramraksha. This helped all the children and
gave them good Sanskar.
I am happy
to tell you that all my kids are well educated. My youngest stood first in his
B.Com batch. He could not clear the C.A. exam the first time, he fell short by
one point. That was the year his father had passed away. But I stood by him
like a rock. He worked and studied and cleared his C.A. exam on the second
attempt. That gave me great satisfaction!
