Biji

Note to visitors

This encyclopaedia entry is a collaborative web page designed to help Biji's family to explore her history, and to write her biography. I am aware that while Biji refers to mother in general, this page is focused on our Biji (please see link below) Biji - web page at Sabhlokcity.com.

In other words, if anyone wishes to write about their Biji, please do so, in a separate section of this page. Your cooperation is much apperciated. Sanjeev Sabhlok. May 12 2007

1965-69 Ambala

Living in a house best described as a community centre, with a vast verandah in the middle and a number of families living around this central verandah, the house that Biji lived in had essentially three rooms; one a largish kitchen, one a bedroom-cum-store room, and one a living room and study. There was a common latrine in the old Indian style for the entire community, and possibly a place to take bath, though I don't seem to recollect that very well.

The entire house was made of red bricks and mud cement, including the floor. This was the house that Bauji had got on coming to Panjab after the partition. An erstwhile Head Assistant in a university, this was a significant demotion in terms of facilities, though he made the best of it, including his daily morning massage with mustard oil, and a very long walk in the farms and fields in the neighbourhood, where he took bath with water from a well.

The house faced a narrow street that had a small municipal tap in which water came in once in the morning, and her son Vijay fetched the water in buckets and poured it into a large brick tub in the kitchen. Biji then cooked from this water and fed the family; of course when her daughters were around, they assisted. Bauji was always fed first, and he ate quietly in the kitchen, before others were fed. Talking while eating was considered bad for health, I presume.

By this time Biji's children had mostly grown up, and some had even got some jobs.