My Mom's name is Mrs. Neelima Dipak Agarwala. She has always been a Caring mother.

 

She was born in Nadiad on 26th September 1949, in a well-educated and well-settled Vadnagara Nagar Brahmin family.

 

Her father, Mr. Vijay Kumar Jani belonged to a family of some famous authors of Gujarati literature. Mr. Goverdhanram Madhavram Tripathi (Author of the famous novel “Saraswatichandra”) and Mr. Indulal Yagnik (Who was also a revolutionary leader for Gujarat) are to name a few of them. He was also one of the initial members of Prithvi theaters, Mumbai and a close friend to the Gujarati Natasamrat, the great Mr. Jashwant Thaker. Moreover, he was one of the freedom fighters for India, and was very near to Lal Bahadur Shashtriji. In professional life, he served in Union Cooperative Insurance Company at various posts and locations. There were many branches in India that were founded and / or developed by him. Mr. Vijay Kumar Jani was the only person in the history of Union Cooperative Insurance Company, to have an official leave declared for all branches, in respect after his death.

 

On the other hand, her mother, Mrs. Kapinjala Jani had seen the author of many famous books on cookery Mrs. Vimlagauri Maganlal Pandya in her maternal family.

 

Mom is elder to her brother – Mr. Paritosh Jani, who now stays at Nadiad with his family.

 

Thus, my mother got the right kind of family that anybody would just dream of. She was brought up at Mumbai at Sonawala building, Nr. Grant road.

 

At the young age of two and a half years only she joined the dancing classes. She learned Bharat Natyam, Manipuri and Kaththak with passion. She also mastered swimming and contested for the professional competitions. Doing social activities through ladies clubs also was one of her areas of interest.

 

She was fortunate to have six friends who would eat together, stay together. She got her education in one of the best schools of Mumbai of those days – The Fellowship School. In college, she chose to do Bachelor of Arts, as she wanted to study only at the Wilson college of Mumbai.

 

After her father’s death, she joined the Union Cooperative Insurance Company on the compensation ground.

 

There she met a seemingly poor young man, who did not bring the food for lunch. Being kind at heart, she offered him to have lunch from her Tiffin box, which became a routine for them.

 

People at their office thought this was more than just an innocent fellowship. Somebody informed to her parents and the situation started worsening for her. Ultimately she proposed to this young man for marriage, and they got married on 21^st September 1968.

 

To know more about my father, please follow the link: http://www.geocities.com/kaustubhagarwal/Dipak.html

 

Soon after the marriage she left the company and did few other jobs, including one as the sub editor at Sudha – A leading feminine magazine of that time. Later she focused on further studies and completed her degree of law.

 

They together struggled to set their life. Just a year after my birth, in 1977, my father got transferred to Anand, a place in mid Gujarat. But, the struggle of life did not end here. Just two years later, in 1979, he got transferred again to Ahmedabad, the commercial capital of Gujarat.

 

After the birth of my sister in 1981, we saw the some real good days coming our way. My father bought his own home, a tenement at an Ahmedabadi suburban area known as Ghatlodia. In 1982, on 13^th January, we shifted to our home sweet home.

 

The old princess got her good days back. She got everything that one would desire to have; that is a specious home to stay, car to travel, well settled children, two sweet grandchildren, housemaids etc.

 

But this was possible only because, in tough times she gave tough fight to the life and stood up shoulder to shoulder with my father. I remember her compromising on many things that she truly needed, just for our sake to have a better future. It was all her dedication to the family and “never say die” attitude gave her the happy days back.

 

I’ve been fortunate to have her as my mother, who has turned all the dark shades of life in to vibrant colours of happiness.

 

Thanks Mom, for everything that you have done for all of us at home. We all love you very much!