Tuesday, October 31, 2006
New Addiditon to Sethi Family
Yesterday Sethi family was blessed with a beautiful baby boy.....!!Aadi was born on 30 Oct 2006 to my eldest sister Jyoti and my brother-in-law Vivek.
Here are some snaps of one day old Aadi
More snaps of dear Aadi are on http://picasaweb.google.com/dsethi/Aadi
Sunday, October 01, 2006
The Family Tree
I try to summarize the family history based on what i know from what my father has told me in the numerous anecdotes that he narrated to me when i was a child.
My grandfather Late Sh. Harnarayan Sethi used to deal in dry fruits in District Rawalpindi (now in Pakistan). They used to have a house in Pindi Gheb. During the partition of India in 1947 he had to migrate to India. He locked all the money he had in some trunks at home and carried with himself just few ledgers thinking that soon he will be able to get back home. But that day never came.
My grandfather and grandmother came to India and settled in Ambala City in a house that was allocated to them by the Indian Government. It is believed that the house we got then was earlier occupied by muslims who had now fled to Pakistan. The neighboring houses had similar stories too.
My grandparents had to deal with a lot of hardships during their life. They had lost everything they had in Pakistan and they started life anew in India. My grandfather tried his hands in starting business of cotton , selling goat milk and also keeping chicken among many other things. But luck was not on our side and none of these businesses really flurished. After sometime he got a job with the Electricity Board as the meter reading collection man. Along with the job he and my grandmother used to make Paper envelopes at home during night to make the ends meet. They used to sell these envelopes to grocery stores to get some money.
My father was a small baby at the time of partition. Two other sons were born to my grandparents in India. My father and his brothers used to go to a government school during the daytime and used to help their parents at night by making the paper envelopes.
With the passing of time the family situation improved. My father and his brothers were able to go the S.A.Jain public school which was known to be a good school in town. My father got admitted to the Polytechnic Institue and got a diploma in mechanical engineering from there. After completing his diploma my father got a job with the sugar mills at Jagadhari. His younger brother Avinash got admitted to Indian navy. This was an achievement in itself for the family considering the hardships they went through.
In 1972 my father got married. My mother was the daughter of an acquaintance of my grandfather. My maternal grandparents knew my grandparents from back in Pakistan. The y too had migrated to Ambala after partition.
After marriage my mother stayed with my grandparents at Ambala whereas my father used to live in Pune/Jagadhari/Delhi etc. because his job was not yet permanent. My father used to visit home quite often so i understand that this was not a major problem. And also i think things were different back then.
In 1975 we lost my grandfather and being the eldest son of the family the responsibilty of the family came on the shoulders of my father. He along with his younger brother Avinash took care of all the expenses of the family. They both ensured that the youngest brother Goverdhan completed his B.Sc. They also got the house in Ambala renovated and built another storey to it.
In 1975 my father's younger brother Avinash also got married. He got married to daughter of anand family. Our family had met that family at the time of performing the last rites of my grandfather. It is said that my grandfather and Harsh's father both died on the same date.
In 1976 my eldest sister was born to my parents. According to my grandmother she was the first girl in the Sethi Family after a very long time and hence her birth was celebrated with full fun and frolic.
In 1979 my elder sister Geeta was born. She was lucky for our family because just after her birth my father got a permanent job with Ministry Of Defence, Govt. of India and this made things lot smoother for the family. We were able to get our house at Ambala renovated and also built up another storey to the house.
Just 6 days after Geeta's birth , Avinash Uncle was also blessed with a boy - Gagan.
After completing his B.Sc. my father's youngest brother Goverdhan decided of following the footsteps of my grandfather and started to learn automobile business from some of the family's close relatives.
In 1980 i was born to my parents and my birth was also celebrated with full frolic as i was born after two consecutive girls being born to my parents. It is also said that my parents had made a wish for a boy to the Goddess Vaishno Devi whom the family has faith in. I could not get to spend much time with my grandmother because soon after my birth my father got a somewhat permanent job placement at Jabalpur and my mother soon shifted to Jabalpur. Jabalpur remained as our home for the next 16-17 years to come.
In 1980 Goverdhan uncle got married. His marriage was celebrated with quite grandeur as he was the youngest in his generation and that was going to be the last marriage for quite sometime.
In 1981 Avinash uncle was blessed with another son - Sanjeev. Also in the same year Goverdhan uncle got blessed with a son too - Jitendar.
We used to visit Ambala every summers during our school vacations from Jabalpur. We used to have lots of fun with all our cousins. It is interesting to remember all the small stupid things we used to do as a child. I remember going to play video games at a nearby parlour, my grandmother was totally against it, she used to make us rub our noses on the floor after she got to know that we had gone for playing video games. We used to make water pool inside bathroom and used to splash each other. Then there was this cleaning of the underground water tank which was so much fun, it was as if we were visiting some sort of a cave or something. I remember i once pushed Sanjeev into the water tank and he broke his nose. I think i will cover the childhood anecdotes in another blog entry.
In 1986 Goverdhan uncle was gifted with a girl - Supriya. With Supriya's birth both my father and Goverdhan uncle had atleast one girl each. But Avinash uncle had none. So it was decided (i think this is the reason i am not sure) that my elder sister geeta will stay back at ambala. She stayed at ambala for something like 2 years. For the very same reason Geeta has studied in more than 10 schools.
For health problems Avinash uncle had to leave Navy and he joined the state goverment secretariat at Chandigarh. Later he left this job also to join in Goverdhan uncle's business.
My eldest sister Jyoti completed her schooling and went on to become the most educated member of the Sethi family with an M.Sc, B.Sc and B.Ed degree to her credit. Before her Goverdhan uncle was the most educated one.
My elder sister Geeta also completed her schooling and did her B.H.Sc along with a diploma in Dress designing.
I completed my schooling and went on to get a B.Tech and M.Tech from IIT Delhi. And now am employed with Google.
Sanjeev, Gagan and Jitendar joined in their parent's business after their schooling and are now running their own shops and all.
Supriya is completing her B.E after completing her schooling.
In 2005 my eldest sister Jyoti got married. Her marriage was the first marriage in my generation of the Sethi Family as well as this was the first marriage in the family after a gap of 15 years ( that of Goverdhan uncle being the last one ) and was celebrated with the fullest fun and frolic. With her marriage Sethi Family got another son in the form of my brother-in-law - Vivek. Vivek is a master of many skills - dancing, cooking and making other laugh being few of them.
In 2005 Gagan also got married and Sethi Family got Rani as a daughter.
As of now Goverdhan Uncle and his family stay at the same house that my grandparents got after partition. Avinash Uncle lives in his own house which is also in Ambala. My parents left Jabalpur after a long stay there in 2001. From Jabalpur my father was tranferred to Hyderabad and from Hyderabad he was transferred to Dehradun. My eldest sister lives with Vivek in Dungurpur(Udaipur) where Vivek is employed as the Regional Manager for Reliance Petrol pumps. I live in Bangalore. Our family is now kind of spread across all the corners of the country.
Looking back it appears that we have come a long way and it goes without saying that we are whatever we are because of the hardwork and hardships that our grandparents went through. May God rest their souls in peace.
May God bless the family with happiness and prosperity.
My grandfather Late Sh. Harnarayan Sethi used to deal in dry fruits in District Rawalpindi (now in Pakistan). They used to have a house in Pindi Gheb. During the partition of India in 1947 he had to migrate to India. He locked all the money he had in some trunks at home and carried with himself just few ledgers thinking that soon he will be able to get back home. But that day never came.
My grandfather and grandmother came to India and settled in Ambala City in a house that was allocated to them by the Indian Government. It is believed that the house we got then was earlier occupied by muslims who had now fled to Pakistan. The neighboring houses had similar stories too.
My grandparents had to deal with a lot of hardships during their life. They had lost everything they had in Pakistan and they started life anew in India. My grandfather tried his hands in starting business of cotton , selling goat milk and also keeping chicken among many other things. But luck was not on our side and none of these businesses really flurished. After sometime he got a job with the Electricity Board as the meter reading collection man. Along with the job he and my grandmother used to make Paper envelopes at home during night to make the ends meet. They used to sell these envelopes to grocery stores to get some money.
My father was a small baby at the time of partition. Two other sons were born to my grandparents in India. My father and his brothers used to go to a government school during the daytime and used to help their parents at night by making the paper envelopes.
With the passing of time the family situation improved. My father and his brothers were able to go the S.A.Jain public school which was known to be a good school in town. My father got admitted to the Polytechnic Institue and got a diploma in mechanical engineering from there. After completing his diploma my father got a job with the sugar mills at Jagadhari. His younger brother Avinash got admitted to Indian navy. This was an achievement in itself for the family considering the hardships they went through.
In 1972 my father got married. My mother was the daughter of an acquaintance of my grandfather. My maternal grandparents knew my grandparents from back in Pakistan. The y too had migrated to Ambala after partition.
After marriage my mother stayed with my grandparents at Ambala whereas my father used to live in Pune/Jagadhari/Delhi etc. because his job was not yet permanent. My father used to visit home quite often so i understand that this was not a major problem. And also i think things were different back then.
In 1975 we lost my grandfather and being the eldest son of the family the responsibilty of the family came on the shoulders of my father. He along with his younger brother Avinash took care of all the expenses of the family. They both ensured that the youngest brother Goverdhan completed his B.Sc. They also got the house in Ambala renovated and built another storey to it.
In 1975 my father's younger brother Avinash also got married. He got married to daughter of anand family. Our family had met that family at the time of performing the last rites of my grandfather. It is said that my grandfather and Harsh's father both died on the same date.
In 1976 my eldest sister was born to my parents. According to my grandmother she was the first girl in the Sethi Family after a very long time and hence her birth was celebrated with full fun and frolic.
In 1979 my elder sister Geeta was born. She was lucky for our family because just after her birth my father got a permanent job with Ministry Of Defence, Govt. of India and this made things lot smoother for the family. We were able to get our house at Ambala renovated and also built up another storey to the house.
Just 6 days after Geeta's birth , Avinash Uncle was also blessed with a boy - Gagan.
After completing his B.Sc. my father's youngest brother Goverdhan decided of following the footsteps of my grandfather and started to learn automobile business from some of the family's close relatives.
In 1980 i was born to my parents and my birth was also celebrated with full frolic as i was born after two consecutive girls being born to my parents. It is also said that my parents had made a wish for a boy to the Goddess Vaishno Devi whom the family has faith in. I could not get to spend much time with my grandmother because soon after my birth my father got a somewhat permanent job placement at Jabalpur and my mother soon shifted to Jabalpur. Jabalpur remained as our home for the next 16-17 years to come.
In 1980 Goverdhan uncle got married. His marriage was celebrated with quite grandeur as he was the youngest in his generation and that was going to be the last marriage for quite sometime.
In 1981 Avinash uncle was blessed with another son - Sanjeev. Also in the same year Goverdhan uncle got blessed with a son too - Jitendar.
We used to visit Ambala every summers during our school vacations from Jabalpur. We used to have lots of fun with all our cousins. It is interesting to remember all the small stupid things we used to do as a child. I remember going to play video games at a nearby parlour, my grandmother was totally against it, she used to make us rub our noses on the floor after she got to know that we had gone for playing video games. We used to make water pool inside bathroom and used to splash each other. Then there was this cleaning of the underground water tank which was so much fun, it was as if we were visiting some sort of a cave or something. I remember i once pushed Sanjeev into the water tank and he broke his nose. I think i will cover the childhood anecdotes in another blog entry.
In 1986 Goverdhan uncle was gifted with a girl - Supriya. With Supriya's birth both my father and Goverdhan uncle had atleast one girl each. But Avinash uncle had none. So it was decided (i think this is the reason i am not sure) that my elder sister geeta will stay back at ambala. She stayed at ambala for something like 2 years. For the very same reason Geeta has studied in more than 10 schools.
For health problems Avinash uncle had to leave Navy and he joined the state goverment secretariat at Chandigarh. Later he left this job also to join in Goverdhan uncle's business.
My eldest sister Jyoti completed her schooling and went on to become the most educated member of the Sethi family with an M.Sc, B.Sc and B.Ed degree to her credit. Before her Goverdhan uncle was the most educated one.
My elder sister Geeta also completed her schooling and did her B.H.Sc along with a diploma in Dress designing.
I completed my schooling and went on to get a B.Tech and M.Tech from IIT Delhi. And now am employed with Google.
Sanjeev, Gagan and Jitendar joined in their parent's business after their schooling and are now running their own shops and all.
Supriya is completing her B.E after completing her schooling.
In 2005 my eldest sister Jyoti got married. Her marriage was the first marriage in my generation of the Sethi Family as well as this was the first marriage in the family after a gap of 15 years ( that of Goverdhan uncle being the last one ) and was celebrated with the fullest fun and frolic. With her marriage Sethi Family got another son in the form of my brother-in-law - Vivek. Vivek is a master of many skills - dancing, cooking and making other laugh being few of them.
In 2005 Gagan also got married and Sethi Family got Rani as a daughter.
As of now Goverdhan Uncle and his family stay at the same house that my grandparents got after partition. Avinash Uncle lives in his own house which is also in Ambala. My parents left Jabalpur after a long stay there in 2001. From Jabalpur my father was tranferred to Hyderabad and from Hyderabad he was transferred to Dehradun. My eldest sister lives with Vivek in Dungurpur(Udaipur) where Vivek is employed as the Regional Manager for Reliance Petrol pumps. I live in Bangalore. Our family is now kind of spread across all the corners of the country.
Looking back it appears that we have come a long way and it goes without saying that we are whatever we are because of the hardwork and hardships that our grandparents went through. May God rest their souls in peace.
May God bless the family with happiness and prosperity.
