AS WE STAND ON OUR OWN FEET AND WALK WITH OUR HEADS HELD HIGH
















Some of my dear friends share their birthdays with our nation’s. They, always, feel proud and privileged about it… and it is understandable. So, whenever I wish them, I have to wish on two counts: on their birthday and on our nation’s as well.

But, what if one was born on the midnight of 15th August, 1947… Yes, what a special feeling that must be!

I have one such person – my aunt, Cecelia. She is one of the sweetest souls in our family, now settled in Chennai.

Aunt Cecelia studied Nursing from Kasturba Medical and Nursing College at Manipal. She used to spend many of her week-ends at our place in Mangalore. My dad, who had a raw talent for singing, was crazy about Konkani traditional-songs, which were known as ‘Mando’. As he hadn’t studied, he would make Aunt Cecelia write down those lyrics… He would sing and she would write!

Today, when I reflect on it, I smile… He wanted those amazing songs to be documented!

Dad is long gone… and the songs, which aunt Cecelia documented for him, are nowhere to be found. But, then, could any of us – some fifty years ago – imagine, how, with a mere click, we would be able to get them all on our computer or mobile screens?

After completing her Nursing course, Aunt Cecelia migrated to Kuwait to work in a hospital. There, she was destined to fall in love with one of her colleagues, Pandian, who was a Hindu Tamilian. They spent their amazing years in Kuwait, with their three children – Lisa, Sundara and Karuna. They lived there till that fateful day, on which Saddam Hussein’s Iraq invaded this peaceful nation… My Aunt’s family, which had come on a vacation to India at that time, could never go back again... They chose to stay back in India, and spend the rest of their life, here, in their Mother Land…

Uncle, who is no more today, had a dream: he wanted one of his sons, Sundara (we fondly call him Raja), to join the Indian Army and serve the nation. Raja is a Lieutenant Colonel in the Indian Army and presently posted in Nagaland.

One reason why I will, always, remember Aunt Cecelia and my (Late) Uncle is, because they helped my parents financially while I was in college… Those were very tough days for my mom and dad… and the hard struggle had robbed away the songs from my dad’s life… Uncle and Aunt wanted me to be a graduate… They believed, I would!

Every Independence Day is a special day to me, for this very simple reason.

As citizens of our country, we remember, today, those great souls who have sacrificed for us… so that we could stand on our own feet and walk with our heads held high. We hoist our National Flag and salute them for this reason…

Today, as I do it, my thoughts go to my Aunt and (Late) Uncle, who have helped me to stand on my own feet and walk with my head held high… I salute them!

Here, in today’s Blog, I wish to share, once more, a Post which I had published three years ago, on Aunt Cecelia and our nation’s birthday… Hope, you like it…



MIDNIGHT'S CHILDREN
AND MIDWIFE'S CHILDREN




Aunty Cecelia – my mom’s youngest sister – was a Midnight’s Child. Well, unlike the Midnight’s Children, made famous by Salman Rushdie in his novel, my aunt wasn’t born between 12 and 1 am on 15th August, 1947. She was born at 3… So, she wasn’t blessed with any special powers which Salman Rushdie’s midnight’s children were blessed with!

I had called Aunty Cecelia. a while ago, to wish her. I asked her if she had heard about ‘midnight’s children’ and their special powers…

She hadn’t…


My mom, who was 12 when Aunty Cecelia was born, remembers, vividly, the event… The euphoria hadn’t spared even this remote village called Karambar… Mom’s house, a mud-and-hay house, lay at the foot of a hill… It was surrounded by thick jungle… Wild animals, including tigers, lived in this jungle… One had to walk miles to get to the road… School, church, shop, doctor… everything was miles afar…


Those days, babies were delivered at home and not in the hospital… There were village midwives, who would be summoned to handle these deliveries… My mom told me, today, how tough it was that night… as people were out and away celebrating… 

What fascinated me the most was this: though the entire household was awake the whole night… that early Friday morning, my mom, along with her sisters and brothers, had left home at 5 to attend the mass at 6! It was a pious household… Mother Mary’s Feast of Assumption was an important event, too…

Just as the birth of our nation was... and, just as the birth of baby Cecelia, my Aunt, was!

Aunty Cecelia became a nurse and spent close to four decades serving in the hospitals… including delivering babies…And, yes, many on 15th August morning… But, then, she alone knows how ‘special’ it feels to be born along with your nation!

Happy b’day my Aunty, Cecelia… Live long, and live strong, just as we wish our nation to…


Happy b’day my India!   


    
         



GERALD D’CUNHA

Pic. 1.: Getty Images/FreeImages.com
Pic. 2. Ivan Mathias
Video: YouTube





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