124. I vowed to educate my children

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!