So what’s the uniqueness here? Or morespecifically, what’s the gift that we possess? Thegift is that there’s not just one gift, it’s anassortment, a mixed bag of many gifts, many ideas,many experiences… that each generation in ourfamily possesses which we all acknowledge andcelebrate that make us unique. [it sometimes alsoresults in debates and quarrels between us!]

-Sakhi, Nitin, Anita

of the young. We play many rolesand are always being tuned intoone role from another like aradio FM! This versatility andflexibility which we are proneto is our gift to our family.

Amelia, Sakhi-

We believe that our generationhas the ability to ask questions. Toask and to change from the rootto new possibilities, and explorenew horizons is the gift we give toour family.

Tanvi, Sujay, Isha-

our jenerashan bring to familiplay and happy and hop and kuriociti. we like to make mom and dadfamili laaf and tek dhem bak toour jenerashan.

The gift of each generation to our family—

yeah… as you would’ve guessed, this is my family.Or maybe ‘our family’ would sound better,wouldn’t it? Our family is different from any otherfamily in this world though, whatever this poemmight say. True, it looks the same as any otherfamily as any other family would too, but digdeeper, friends, and you’ll see, that my family isunique. And it’s this uniqueness that binds ustogether, and which we also call as love.

Aji, Abu, Nani, Nana-

We bring traditional values and wisdom tothe family. Also, our our compassionate lovehelps bring the family together and nurturesit. Our oldish humour, innocence and curiosityis also a provision for a great laugh for ourfamily!

Nitin, Anita, Manoj, Poorna,Shivanand, Kshama-

We feel we are a link betweenthe older and youngergenerations and we bring thefamily (a gift) of stability.

Vaishali, Prashant, Manisha,Milind-

We are a mixture of the oldtradition and yet the bubliness

e“There was once a family quite run of the mill,They did everything that a usual family will

They gossiped, bellowed and flared,And at each other they glared,

Only their unending love was their skill!”

an{y}other family...

Guess... * Who is Tanvi’s sister’s mother’s husband’s mother-in-law’s other daughter’s daughter’s father’s father?__ __ __ __ __ __

* Then what about Kshama’s brother’s wife’s mother-in-law’s son-in-law?__ __ __ __ __

* Tell who’s Sujay’s mother’s mother-in-law’s husband’sother son’s wife’s brother’s daughter.__ __ __ __

* Is she Sujay’s mami?__ __ __ __ __ __ __ __

* She is Milind’s sister’s husband’s only daughter’sgrandfather’s son-in-law’s mother-in-law. Whois she?__ __ __ __ __

AND LASTLY--“A family that __ __ __ G __ __together , __ __ __ Y __ together.”

Madhav Nirmala Madhav Suman

Manoj Manisha Nitin Anita PoornaNitin Prashant Vaishali Kshama Milind

Sujay{8}

Sakhi{13}

Amelia{15}

Tanvi{9}

Isha{4}

Well, these aretrivia and a game which we

play when we come together andwhich we enjoy solving and riddling,and laughing! So gear up, try it, andsee if you get this interesting puzzleand these jokes. You can make some

for your own family too and havea good time together!

fun from family...

Tree...Family

Handmade gifts...Somebody’s birthday? Go buy a gift. That had almostbecome a habit with all of us in the family. Going to thegift shops, selecting a gift that fits our pocket, getting itwrapped in a fancy paper, made me grow repulsive to thewhole idea of this pattern of gifting. Till one day, early thisyear, I declared that I would not receive any ‘gifts’ on my

A life without TV...

“We never felt the need to have a TV in our housealthough I must confess that I do miss the cricket matches.Otherwise we don’t feel we are missing on anything.Most of our time at home is spent in household choreswhich we do our selves, in chatting, having friends,reading, listening to Sakhi, to music, indulging in smallthings that might look insignificant but are crucial forbeing and experiencing togetherness. We think it is betterto engage in situations and relationships that are in frontof us than in some fictional ones potrayed on televisionserials. Being TV-less has given us the space and time toexperience the different shades of moods that we all gothrough and be available to each other during crucialperiods. When loneliness and alienation is tearing apartour societal fabric, we think the nest we have built is onsolid foundation where we are not dependent on externalagencies to educate and entertain us, and tell us how tolove, care, look and be. Listening to sounds and imageswe create has been much more valuable than being gluedto the idiot box! This has helped us to build thefoundation.”

-Nitin

Well then, after this fun and play here’sgoing to be some serious talk now.Whattabout??? Well, as we explainedearlier, our family may be exactly like anyother family, but it is still unique. And to helpthat uniqueness grow, what can our familytry and do? An idea we got was to rejectcertain standardised items provided by the

readymade world. And instead rejuvenate thewisdom and ideas from the old ones, blend itwith some creativity and experiments fromthe youngsters and create something that’shomemade, mostly done with our own hands,collectively and most important of all- whichwill be unique and of our own family only.

Re-turning to yoga...My grandfather has diabetes. Firstly, he used to takepills and other drugs to control it. Generally, it wascontrolled but did’nt get better. One day, he read anarticle in this health magazine aabout the hazards of pillpopping and taking all these chemical- filled drugs for

the slightest of reasons. After having read that article ,in a stroke of inspiration he decided to not depend onthese pills for controlling his diabetes but rely on himselfand his body more. He decided to do yoga which hehad learned a long time back when he was a youth. Atfirst, he mostly did pranayama (breathing exercises) andsurya namaskar. Afterwards, when he was more in tunewith his body, he started doing more complicated seriesof aasans. When I first saw him do yoga, I was surprisedthat at his age, his body was still so supple. I was too,inspired, and started doing yoga with him, whenever ivisited my grandparents. My body too, I discoveredwas flexible but for a long time I had hardly exercised,which resulted in more than half of my body musclesbecoming stiff and painful while doing yoga, but, as mygrandpa said, were really important for stimulating theflow of hormones and toning up the body for its overalldevlopment.Next time my grandfather went for his monthly check-up for diabetes, he was surprised and pleased that thesugar level in his blood had come down considerablythan its usual number. And all this, he realised, hadhappened just by an hour spent daily for doing yoga.

-Sakhi

the family walks out...

...cont. on the next page

Cont. from last page....birthday and my birthday is in the first month of the year,so it almost sounded like a new year resolution, never to betaken seriously, fading away as the year progresses! Thenon my birthday, my women friends from Nashik camehome as usual to greet me and celebrate the completion ofyet another year of my life. They were aware of my‘declaration’ and had come prepared. Before entering thehouse, they quickly opened their bags and got busy. As Iwatched in astonishment, together they drew a beautifulcolourful rangoli just at the door of our house! Then theycame in and hugged me, showering wishes. Each of themhad brought a bottle of home-made pickle or jam, thatthey had made with their own hands as a birthday gift.They confessed that they had to put their heads togetherto think of getting a birthday gift, as they wanted to respectmy decision of not accepting any readymade, ‘bazaaru’gift. In fact, all of them resolved that they would practiceand share this idea with their families and friends too. I was

extremely touched by their gesture and also experiencedthe strength of their resolve. Since then, every gift, be it tocelebrate the arrival of a new baby, or a birthday or awedding anniversary, I have with firm determination andlots of joy, created gifts by my own hands, with much helpfrom my family members. This has released so muchcreative energy in the family, with novel ideas being discussedand shared, experimentations, and the sheer joy of creation.I realised that every baby sweater than I have knitted, everyeatable I have cooked, every card that I have painted, everybottle of home-made hair wash that I have brewed, everyhome-remedy that I have shared for simple ailments, carrywithin them my special loving thoughts and feelings forthat particular person. How much I have enjoyed indulgingin this gift creation, which has reinforced, renewed orrevitalised each and every relationship that I treasure! Thisrealisation was the real gift that my women friends offeredearly this year on my birthday!!!!

-Anita

The ‘grandmas’ of the family, sitting together atthe Families Learning Together meet at Panchgani.

Well, friends, we would’ve loved to have written more about ourfamily, but paper, unlike speech, limits space. But whenever you wish,you maycontact us, for a more deep talk with our family. You’ll alwaysbe welcome, as we all love to talk!!!Contact us- Anita, Nitin, Sakhi,

1 Surabhi, Old Gangapur Naka, Gangapur Road, Nashik- 05 Email- nitinanita@sancharnet.in

And the beacon is passed over to Aspi and Yasmin...

Ssakhi and people from our ‘extended’ family,discussing views sitting ‘the Shire’ in Canada.

Dadaji and Nanaji drinking fresh strawberrymilkshake while sunning away at Panchgani.

Abu and Sujay worshipping the Ganesh idol whichwas home-made by Sakhi this year.

some moments together...