4505) Did You Know Series (138): Remembering my mother Late (Smt) Uma Prasad on her 96th Birth Anniversary:

4505) Did You Know Series (138): Remembering my mother Late (Smt) Uma Prasad on her 96th Birth Anniversary:

Mother's Day is celebrated on 10th May every year. However, I deferred writing this post till the 15th May, because this is my mother's Late Uma Prasad birthday fell and is remembered in our family.

My mother - Late (Mrs) Uma Prasad

From the stories which I can recollect, my mother and her two sisters - Sushma and Indira all participated in various sporting activities in the Lucknow University - Archery, Badminton, Canoeing, Rowing, Horse-riding, Tennis etc in an age when women in sports were frowned down upon.

My mother was studying Mathematics in the University and did her M.Sc. in Mathematics. Of course, because of their sporting activities, quite a few times, they barely managed to scrape through the final exams. but that is another story.

My mother had been an Assistant Professor of Dance and Music in the Bhatkhande Music College in Lucknow.

 So all of us had to learn Kathak dancing and singing.

I remember that we had to go to a renowned music teacher Bageshwari Devi, who was my mother's colleague, to learn singing, but is turned out to be a failed endeavour for me. However, my sister Raka became quite adept at singing and playing the musical instruments.

 An "ustad" used to come to teach us to pplay the "tabla" (which are like musical drums but mostly for Indian music as accompaniments in addition to other musical instruments) for us to learn Kathak dancing (a form of Indian classical dance). 

It was a time when both Kathak dancing and singing were considered to be a "girl's" hobbies and I got "teased" for them. I developed a mental block thereafter and forgot all my dancing and singing lessons. Even today, I cannot dance or sing and if anyone asks me, I say that I have two "left feet".

The Cover and first page of the Book:

She wrote the first book on Kathak dancing titled "Nritya Kala" ("The Art of Dancing") in 1962, which was the only book on Kathak dancing, till "pirated" copies of it came out. 

As a result of her pioneering book on Kathak dancing, she was appointed as the Examiner for Kathak Dance High School and Intermediate exams in for the Boards in several states - Andhra Pradesh, West Bengal, Madhya Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh, Himachal Pradesh etc. 

Huge parcels of exam answer copies used to come from many states, and she would take our help in cataloguing the answer papers and marks awarded to various candidates. She was the Examiner for quite a few years till she decided that enough was enough and wrote to all the Boards that she was not interested in being an examiner any more. 

She was very fond of cooking and I still have two of her hand-written recipe books in my possession - her chutneys, cutlets, dosas, samosas, chocolates etc. are always present in my memory.

She was an excellent host and if anyone visited us there was no way that he/she would not be served delicious treats, even if he/she had had a full meal.

She had got married in 1956 to my father Late Dr. J.N. Prasad.  Much Later, when I took up my first traingng assignment in 1982 in  Bareilly State Bank of India Branch, I went to meet Late Dr. Girija Shankar (who had been instrumental in introducing my parents). 

He was running a mental asylum and greeted me. The first thing he said to me was - "They must be cursing me for getting them married". I assured him that this was certainly not the case. 

He had lost his son to dacoits and was managing his son's poultry farm with over 50,000 birds. He took us in his jeep and drove like a "madman". I gathered the courage toi ask him why he was driving so fast. He told me that he wanted to avoid any encounters with dacoits.

This was the first and last time I went to see him. I was somewhat scared out of my wits during the first meeting itself.

I also have this magazine in my collection which has been issued by Isabella Thoburn (IT) College announcing the detail of my birth in 1958:

The Cover of the "Chand Bagh chronicle" - the monthly magazine of Isabella Thoburn (IT) College brought out in Oct 1958 announcing my birth in August 1958

 And here I am in my mother's lap:

It is now 40 Years since my mother passed away in 1986. But the memories remain as fresh as ever.

Related Links to Family Posts:

Links:

1) Did You Know Series (138): Remembering my mother Late (Smt) Uma Prasad on her 100th Birth Anniversary

Link:

My grandmother _ Mrs. D.B. Gupta:

i) Did You Know Series (26): Contributors to Indian Society on whom Commemorative Coins were never issued: Mrs. Draupadi Bai Gupta, the then Principal of Kashmiri Mohalla Girl's Inter College, Lucknow - from 1929 to 1967

My Uncle Col. Vinod Kumar Gupta:

ii) The Brigade of the Guards: Commemorating the "XXV BIENNIAL CONFERENCE & XI REUNION - 2016": A Special Commemorative Cover brought out by 56 APO (Army Post Office) on 21.12.2016

My grandfather Dr. O.P. Gupta:

iii) Did You Know Series (78): 76 Badshah Bagh, Lucknow University, the Bungalow which was allotted to my Grandfather Dr. Om Prasad Gupta (Nanaji), where the entire Gupta Clan stayed at some time or the other - now in ruins

My Father Dr. J.N. Prasad:

iv) Did you Know Series (79): 2, Qila Road, Aligarh: The Bungalow where we stayed from 1962 to 1984 when my father Dr. J. N Prasad was the Chairman of the Physiology Department at Jawaharlal Nehru Medical College (JNMC) - Aligarh Muslim University (AMU) Aligarh:

v) Leisure Time - Memories: From the website of the Aligarh Muslim University (AMU), Aligarh: Setting up/establishing of the Physiology Department and the new Jawaharlal Nehru Medical College (JNMC) Campus by my late father Dr.J.N.Prasad

vi) Leisure Time: Memories: My Father Late Dr. J.N. Prasad's visit to our residence in Mumbai

Links to some other short stories on this Blog by Rajeev Prasad:

1) Leisure Time Short Stories: Friends at the Crossroads

2) Leisure Time Short Stories: Arvind Dada & the Street Dogs

3) Leisure Time Short Stories: The present moment (split second) contains an eternity: A strange experience at the Balaji (Hanuman) Temple near Jaipur: 

4) Leisure Time Short Stories: A tour of Pune's Blind School (or as I prefer to call it the "School for visually challenged students") 

5) Leisure Time Short Stories: An Otherworldly Encounter: A Personal Experience:

6) Leisure Time Short Stories: Remembering Uncle Paul Haegar: A German Army Officer in World War II, who became an exemplary Horticulturist and transformed/landscaped the gardens of the Aligarh Muslim University (AMU) into examples of beauty and excellence

7) Leisure Time Short Stories: Connecting through several lifetimes: The Story of the "Panditji" (Priest) of the Hanuman Temple at Chandrasekhar Azad University, Kanpur

8) Leisure Time - Memories: From the website of the Aligarh Muslim University (AMU), Aligarh: Setting up/establishing of the Physiology Department and the new Jawaharlal Nehru Medical College (JNMC) Campus by my late father Dr.J.N.Prasad

9) Leisure Time (Memories) A photo-journey to Sabarmati Ashram, Ahmedabad: The residence of Mahatma Gandhi and his wife Kasturba Gandhi from 1918 to 1930

10) Leisure Time (Memories) State Bank of India Inaugural Essay Competitions - 1994: 25th Anniversary (1994-2019): Winning the II Prize at the Whole Bank Level on my Essay titled "State Bank of India in the New Banking Era" in a grand Presentation Ceremony at SBI Central Office, Bombay

11) Leisure Time (Memories): The story of our little "Oye", a Adenium Plant (also known as "Desert Rose")

12) Leisure Time (Memories): State Bank of India, Hardoi Branch (Lucknow Circle): The "Youth Hostel"

13) Leisure Time - (Experiences): "What's in a name"? wrote Shakespeare: This quote didn't seem to work for me

14) Leisure Time: Telephonic Cross Connections

15) Leisure Time (Hobbies): Tom Babinszky, a US based blind Coin Collector/Numismatist who has visited several countries and has collected several interesting coins from all over the world: (A Guest Post from Tom on how he goes about his hobby of collecting coins)

Posts on Anupda an Air Force veteran and a versatile musician and Painter:

16) Leisure Time - (Hobbies): The Musical Journey of Veteran Wing Commander Anup Banerjee (Anupda)

17) Leisure Time (Hobbies - Painting) i) Sunflowers ii) Rum Runner (by Veteran Wing Commander Anup Banerjee (Anupda) 

18) Leisure Time (Hobbies - Painting): i) "East Indiamen" Trading Vessels: ii) The mysterious Disappearance of the East Indiaman "Madagascar" - a maritime mystery: : iii) A painting titled the "Madagascar" (by Veteran Wing Commander Anup Banerjee)

4) Leisure Time (Hobbies - Painting): i) About Tickell's Blue Flycatcher: ii) A painting titled "Tickell's Blue Flycatcher" by Veteran Wing Commander Anup Banerjee (Anupda)

5) Leisure Time (Hobbies - Painting): i) About Sunflowers: ii) A painting titled "Sunflowers" by Veteran Wing Commander Anup Banerjee (Anupda)

Related links:

1) "Rum Runner", Antigua & Barbados: First coin out of 8 to be issued in the Eastern Caribbean Gold & Silver Bullion and Commemorative Coin Programme" (EC8 Coin Programme") - all coins to be released during 2018: Gold Bullion Coins (10 Dollars) and Silver Bullion Coins (2 Dollars)