Prem Kissa

Pravin Maharaj

Description

Prem was six years old, and the only son to his parents but from the outset, after their daily storytelling evenings with, their grandfather, Baba. He gave all the children stories from the past, when they were noticeably at a young and tender age. Being a brahmin, he hated the caste system in which he grew and lived in, during his growing up days. His life started in a rural area of Deganga, in India, and grew up in an extended family.
As a young adult, he graduated as an educated teacher, from an established university. Prem remained a bachelor for a short time only, whilst he lived on the farm, with his mum, until he was twenty-two years old. Soon he was introduced to and then married a pretty damsel. He grew up to be an elegant, handsome and charming person and his journey abroad highlights his attributes, friendliness, career, aligned with his explorative ideals, romance and dreams in all of his endeavors. He was the only member of his family that wanted to get away from the poor life in India, and decided to get away to London, which leads to the second book.

Sujets

• Fiction

Informations

• Publié par: Partridge Publishing Singapore
• Date de parution: 02 août 2022
• Nombre de lectures: 0
• EAN13: 9781543770650
• Langue: English

Extrait

Prem Kissa
 
 
 
 
PRAVIN MAHARAJ
 
 

 
Copyright © 2022 by Pravin Maharaj.
 
Library of Congress Control Number:
2022911442
ISBN:
Hardcover
978-1-5437-7066-7

Softcover
978-1-5437-7064-3

eBook
978-1-5437-7065-0

 
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced by any means, graphic, electronic, or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, taping or by any information storage retrieval system without the written permission of the author except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews.
 
Because of the dynamic nature of the Internet, any web addresses or links contained in this book may have changed since publication and may no longer be valid. The views expressed in this work are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of the publisher, and the publisher hereby disclaims any responsibility for them.
 
 
 
www.partridgepublishing.com/singapore
CONTENTS
Introduction
Storytelling Of The Past
Early Life In Deganga
A Shift To Education
The Class System
Struggles And Strife
Prem Goes To School
If Music Is The Food Of Love, Play On
Weddings, Joys, And Sorrows
Music Rediscovered
After High School
Love, Romance, And Fate
Musical Talents
Second Year In Teaching
Mandir And Temple Duties
Third Year Of Teaching
The Big Turn In Life
Early Married Life
The Maharaj Family
Life Of Prem Revisited
A Trip To Remember
Final Days Of Maha Sungeeth
The Predicament
INTRODUCTIOn

W ere it not for the Moguls, the Aryans, the Muslims, the British, the Portuguese, and even the Dutch infiltrating the borders of India, creating havoc, uncertainty, and unpleasantness most of the time in the last two centuries, India and its wonders would have remained untapped. However, the battles that originated and continued for so many years created so many upheavals, struggles, battles, and takeovers which subjugated the people and leaders of India into disarray. This only ended when India became its own independent republic and identity, and the people rejoiced on the return of their own motherland. The boom soon followed when the people adopted myriads of cultures and linguistics emanating from their own habitat after they created a niche for themselves. India restarted from its poorest and gloomiest period to its own glory.
The Sharma parivar (family) was one such family who lived a very poor life, working on the farms and in the fruit orchards, with the rich colonial Europeans supervising and making sure that every second or every grain of rice or wheat was never wasted as they toiled on the farm. The movement of Indians to escape colonialism was always present, and this affected Prem’s family as well.
Premchandra Mahindra Sharma (Prem) was a Brahmin by birthright, and therefore, his family was categorised as upper caste, which was a product of the ancient social reorganisation culminating into a class system in society. Prem’s family history spans nearly ten generations, dating back to the early 1800s to the modern time today. The Sharma family had its origins in Kolkata, but colonialism shifted the family to many parts of India: Bareilly, Patna, and then a tiny, little farmland in Maudihan, near Dehri-on-Sone, in the district of Rohtas, outside of Patna, in the region of Bihar. However, one generation finally moved away to Deganga back to Kolkata in India. So in great treks, the Sharma parivar established roots all over the northern and eastern parts of India.
Prem’s great-grandfather left the glamourous, upper-class priesthood life in Maudihan for Deganga, where Prem was ultimately born and which was about two hundred miles from Maudihan. They grew rice and vegetables which provided food and sustenance for the joint family. The family sold the better harvest, which was their livelihood and became their only mode of income as years cruised along. This was the reason why they left Bihar, in search of better prospects and also to generate income for economic reasons. Soon they had little contact with their family in Maudihan.
In Deganga, the rice field and sugar crops blossomed and flourished as well as the fruit orchard on the little piece of land which was not too far from the tropical seaside. Prem’s grandfather extended his family, and his sons and daughters ensured that they grew bigger and bigger. They soon climbed up the social ladder and brought more money into the household. Prem was one of the twenty-four grandchildren who were born in Deganga when the family grew larger. Much of his growing-up days were interwoven with financial strains and petty internal family disputes and nepotism in the nuclear family. Obviously, this happened within the extended system and built up pressure with adults and the wives, together with their children.
Premchandra Krishnand Ramachandra Gurudev Mahindra Sharma, or Prem for short, was an eighth-generation offspring born in the Deganga farm district and continued to live on the farmhouse in an extended family system because he was a great-grandson of the pioneering and prominent Sharma parivar who lived in the mighty Deganga (Kolkata) and Maudihan (Bihar) ancestral households.
Tracking back more than 200 years in history, that was when the family started to trace their roots. The first and second generations did not have conclusive historical recollection, especially of the names of Sri Ramharak Sharma and Sri Shivharak Sharma. These two names were inscribed on a metal tool they found in the shed. It seemed as if it was the earliest roots of the Sharma parivar ; however, nobody could have any memory of the first two generations or even remember names beyond Mahindra.
So in putting a family root structure in place, the oldest ancestral name that the family ever had known was Sri Mahindra Sharma, whom they classified as the third generation because his son carried his name as Sri Prithvi Mahindra Sharma, so in essence, the name Mahindra definitely existed. There were no pictures or images or recollection of what he looked like to prove that he ever existed, but he remained as the apex of the ancestral history from the little that some people knew about him and his existence. It had been recorded in memory by his son Sri Prithvi Mahindra Sharma as he lived with his dad, siblings, and relatives, and a glimpse of information trickled down to the newer generations.
Sri Prithvi Mahindra Sharma (fourth generation) was the only surviving son whom the family could remember or knew about, although Sri Prithvi had many brothers and sisters in his lifetime when he lived. Other folks who were friends to the family did give some anecdotes and names, but it was hearsay and did not have grit or continuance. There were even no paperwork, certificates, or any other form of recollection or any pictures or even a drawing as evidence that more family existed. The reason why Sri Prithvi Mahindra Sharma was remembered was that there was a smudged solitary picture of him in an ageless frame that was hung on the ancestral main home in Maudihan with a name on the back of the picture and dated 1885.
Sri Gurudev Mahindra Sharma (fifth generation), one of the four siblings, was born out of wedlock from Sri Prithvi Mahindra Sharma and his wife. They all lived in Maudihan, and the family grew bigger and bigger as the four sons, their wives, and all the grandchildren lived in a little house near each other. Thereafter, Sri Ramachandra was born, making up the sixth generation, and he was Prem’s grandfather. Prem remembered and lived with him, and his stories created a wealthy knowledge bank with bags of memories of the early history of the Sharma par ivar .
Sri Ramharak (first – no historical recollection) – early 1800s
Sri Shivharak (second generation – no historical recollection) – 1820s
Sri Mahindra Sharma (third generation) – 1832
Sri Prithvi Mahindra Sharma (fourth generation) – 1858
Sri Gurudev Big Aaja Mahindra Sharma (fifth generation) – 1881
Ramachandra Mahindra Sharma (Baba) (sixth generation) – 1901
Krishnand Mahindra Sharma (seventh generation) – 1926
Premachandra Mahindra Sharma (eighth generation) – 1959
Aaravindra Mahindra Sharma (ninth generation) – 1983
Aviresh Mahindra Sharma (tenth generation) – 2022
With this backdrop, the story began.
STORYTELLING OF THE PAST

P rem grew up with his cousins, uncles, aunts, and a few other relatives who lived on the huge farmhouse with their elders, especially their grandfather, whom everybody called Baba, but his real name was Sri Ramachandra Mahindra Sharma. He was inspirational all through his life, and his recitals each evening to all his grandchildren gave deep understanding to them about the scriptures and the stories of his ancestral life and his parents and grandparents and described the history of their migration from their original abode in Kolkata, West Bengal, and then to an area in Rampur in Bareilly State, and then many years later, some family trekked and lived in Maudihan in the state of Bihar. The kids all had dinner together each evening after prayer, sitting on the floor, and then they waited for their daily thirty-minute storytelling moment from Baba before going to bed. He gave anecdotes about how in the eighteenth to the twentieth centuries, their ancestors, especially those who lived in the east of India, worked for the British colonials