tea with tanvi

Sona’s granddaughter can achieve anything

It was May 2005. The typical simmering hot weather of New Delhi had forced everyone in the family indoors. Under the cool confines of the home, my father had checked his laptop at least 10 times in half an hour. The results of my 12th Board Exams were awaited that day. My mother had just served lemonade to everyone, yet I could feel the heat! The heat of nervousness and uncertainty. I had not taken SATs or any other professional exams like many friends who had plans to go abroad or study law or architecture. I only knew one thing, ace the boards and life would be easy. I only had PLAN A. I took another gulp of the lemonade but anxiety wouldn’t let me have it. I locked myself in the bathroom and eagerly waited for the results to be announced. “TANVI you have scored 94.5% !! Not just that you are the School topper as well!” My dad shouted while knocking hard on the door. I couldn’t believe it. No one could. “But how did you know I was the school topper?” I inquired. “I just pulled the school’s data in the excel sheet and it looks likely”. My dad is a musician cum tech geek cum businessman. Hearing the pandemonium, my grandmother rushed into the room. “Daadi! I have topped my school!” I rejoiced. She hugged me tightly and remarked proudly yet nonchalantly “Yeh Sona ki pauti hai, yeh kuch bhi kar sakti hai” (Sona’s granddaughter can achieve anything!) My grandmother, Sona, truly had a ‘golden’ spirit. She had witnessed the Hindu- Muslim riots during partition days, the North Delhi floods, the war with china and many other disasters. So neither any problem nor any achievement was ever big enough for her. She never showered us with compliments or praises (Who would get the kids back on the ground from cloud 9? After all there were 7 of us in a big joint family.) She never rebuked us or corrected us in public. But she knew how to instill confidence in us at the right time by disguising a praise within a remark which was apparently more about her than us.

Sona Devi, the most gregarious lady in her circle, used to organize a ‘Satsang’ every Wednesday for the women in our colony. She was famous. She was always gracious and knew her social etiquette well. She commanded certain respect in her circle and everyone always took advice from her. She was a quick decision maker and very straight forward. During the lockdown as we have resorted back to doing our house chores ourselves, I can’t help but remember how she refused to let anyone do the cleaning for her room. Our whole family would insist that she let the servants do the work for her, but she would always rubbish the suggestions. Everyday, she would wake up at 5 am (without an alarm clock or mobile), meditate and dust and sweep her room and then take a shower, while singing a funny song in Hindi.
I get tears in my eyes when I remember her helpless last days in the hospital, on the ventilator. A lady who always washed her own clothes and never asked anyone to even serve a single glass of water to her. She was made of high self respect, independence and an unyielding iron spirit! Sona (Gold), just like the name suggests. And I know that she knows, every time I do something which I felt impossible, it’s because of the magic words whispering in my ears “Yeh Sona ki pauti hai, yeh kuch bhi kar sakti hai”
As I embark on a journey to empower One million people to take charge of their financial destiny, the journey is going to be tough, but now you know what’s going to be my Armour.