| Welcome To My World | |||||||||||||||||
| The Me Myself & I |
Hi! Welcome to my world. What you see on the left is my photograph taken some 4 years back, I still look the same but of course with thinning hair day by day. | ||||||||||||||||
| |||||||||||||||||
|
I will be moving my belongings in shortly. In the meantime why not check out the link below to get your own 20MB of free webspace? | |||||||||||||||||
|
| |||||||||||||||||
| My Personal Articles |
This Lady, My Grandmother Today is the 18th of December 1998, 2 years after the passing of one lady I adored very much, my beloved Grandmother, the late Mdm.T.Rengamah. This lady my grandmother was very special to all of us the member of the family as well as many Bah�� friends who come in contact with her. Today on the 2nd anniversary of her death, I would like to share with the friends, about this unique lady whom I am proud to call my grandmother. As a staunch Hindu, in the late 60s, when my dad accepted the Bah�� Faith, my grandma decided to pack his bags and ask him to leave the house for he has chose to accept a religion very strange and alien and sounds more Islamic than Hindu. Ignorant to the inner essence of that Faith and want nothing to do with it or have a child practicing something alien other than Hinduism. She was always hostile towards the Faith. When I was born, in 1970, my dad was away in Labuan , due to his job in the forces and he was not there when I was born. My grandmother worried I may be named something that may sound Islamic, took that opportunity to name me in one of the Hindu avatars name and registered my birth certificate, before my dad came back 7 months later. Such was her hostility to the Faith. Another time s I could remember she showed her hostility towards Bah��s when one of the Bah��s, my beloved Bah�� uncle, Mr. Y.Mari got a job in my hometown in the late 70s and needed to rent a room. My dad offered a room in our house to him, while we were in Taiping at the time. My grandma as usual with her hostility requested Uncle Mari to use the back door to come in and go out of his room, as she dislike Bah��s. In 1978, back in Taiping a new member was added to our family, my brother Rabbani was born (now deceased). We had to request her to come over and stay with us to take care of the newborn, and at this time we were staying in the Bah�� Centre in Taiping. From here began the journey of self-discovery for this lady who was over the years been hostile of the Bah�� Faith. My grandmother never been to a formal school, the least education she had was from the school taught under the trees in the estate she lived, before WWII started. She only knew the basics of Tamil alphabets. But as determined she was, she learned how to read and write on her own. Everyday to thank God the Almighty for what He has given her she will write the name of �Lord Muruga� for 100 times before she goes to sleep, such was her devotion to her belief and practice and to God. So coming back to Taiping, in Taiping she had for the very first time the opportunity to meet many Bah��s of different background and colours, they were all very friendly and the love they shared among them and to others caused her envy. She decided for once to find the inner depth of this religion, and as we were living in the centre, we had all those literatures available in Tamil for her to read. She did, she read but my grandma, is a lady of pride, she wanted nobody to know she were reading Bah�� literatures, none of us know actually nor did she asked anybody what was the Faith about. She read herself for all the time she was in Taiping . When she felt it was time that her babysitting job is over she decided to head back to our hometown, but she never left empty handed�without our knowledge or anybody�s knowledge she took with her a Tamil book, writings of the Faith relating to Hinduism. In 1982, we were back in our hometown as my dad was posted to Ipoh than. One day, at that time I was a 12 year old kid, after her normal way of devotion to in her Hindu way of practice, she came out of her room and ask me to bring a declaration card. I was so amused, as a kid I thought she was out of her mind, maybe some nuts gone loose, because this is my grandmother, whom I knew has always been hostile towards the Faith, and here she is with just coming out with all that reverence and devotion to her Hindu belief asking me a declaration card to become a Bah��. Well I did give her and she signed immediately. Just after that she went back to her room and packed the entire picture in her altar and sent it to the temple nearby. For five years without our knowledge, as the immediate family, she was reading and researching about this Faith which eventually will change who she was. She had more resources to read given to her by the man who turned to become her adopted son, none other than that person she asked to use the backdoor to come in and go out the house. But for five years nor did Uncle Mari told us, maybe she might have asked him to keep it a secret. I wouldn�t know. The day she accepted Bah�u�llah, she bought a new notebook and replaced �Lord Muruga� 100 times to Bah�u�llah. With such a drastic change, I asked her what is it really happening, and she said for 5 years she tried to discover Bah�u�ll�h, and now she is convinced that He is none other than the 10th Kalki, or the �Kalki Avatar� who is awaited by the Hindus, like the return of the Christ. Amazingly this lady for me like transformed overnight. This part of the story I am gonna tell you is about how my grandmother as a Bah��, left a deep rooted marks in our life, and many who came in contact with her, especially members of the Ipoh Bah�� Community. Since that very day she accepted the Cause of Bah�u�ll�h, my grandmother never rest. In the Writings it has been said that Bah�u�ll�h visits us in the dawn and found out us to be in deep slumber(please check for the exact Writings in the Bah�'� text), this writing made this old lady of 65, to wake up early in the morning everyday about 5.30am and after her chores by 6 am in the morning to say her prayers and she is my alarm clock when I went to school. When she starts praying, I know it was 6 am in the morning already. Not only that, she never misses as far as I could remember till the day she was bedridden, her obligatory prayers. If my grandma was praying in the noon, the time is 12noon, and if she does in the evening it is 6pm. Such was her punctuality and devotion to her Lord. This lady my grandmother was very unique in many ways, her zeal and courage, I adored very much. In the evening in our village where we live, the neighbours will be relaxing oust side their house, chatting with others mostly gossiping of what�s happening in the neighbourhood, but not for her. She my grandma will carry a teaching kit or a Bah�� book and teach those neighbours in the evening. Well she made enemies out of them mostly. But she never gave up, she organizes firesides, call people to the house and she herself will teach the Faith. Many though never accepted the Faith become very close and attached with her through these firesides. Before the computer revolution started with Internet etc, we never had many ways to relate the Faith to our relatives or friends, today I just ask my friends, staying in a distance from me, to go to www.bahai.com, but that wasn�t available than or not so popular. The first step she took was recording in audio, why she accepted the Faith and who is Bah�u�ll�h and what is His teachings, and sent it to all her children who were staying far from her by post. Some of them discarded the tape or threw it, and I remember one who cherished it because her voice is there. For Bah��s contribution to the Fund is one of the very important aspect of our Faith, because it is the �lifeblood of the Cause�. To my grandmother this was her handicap, with just a meager income of RM 180.00 she gets from her pension for her past government service, is only enough to support her life and actually she needs more than that as she was in some medication for continuos health problem. What else she could do, but her heart and thought always says �contribute� to the Fund. Our house was surrounded by empty space of land all 4 corners and usually we will plant all kind of flowers around. My grandmother was more innovative as always she was. She changed the surroundings, she planted it with a kind of flower favoured by the Indian ladies, to put on their hair for wedding occasions, known in tamil as �kanagamarampoo�. She sells that and that is the money where she gets to contribute to the Fund. At times when there are a lot of weddings she�ll be so excited that she�ll be able to give more to the Fund. We as kids in the house were always scolded if we take the �cangkul� and mess the land, infact the moment we carry �cangkul� in the house, she�ll be after us. As a kid I disliked it, but today as I write this and recall back all those things, I adore that devotion of hers. That is the land that gives her the money to contribute to the Fund, and if we would have mess it, it affects her contribution. In every Nineteen Day Feast, my grandma will come with a Fund box, tough she wasn�t the treasurer of our Local Bah�� Community, she always make sure that even kids were thought to give to the Fund. She was the trustee of the Fund box actually. She trains them by giving her own money for them to put for the fund. Such was the importance she placed on giving to the Fund the �lifeblood of the Cause�. My grandmother was 76 when she was already weak, and has no more energy to do anymore gardening to earn that money to contribute to the fund, and yet one of her very touching act was; as an old person, she buys this calcium milk powder, to sustain the calcium in her body. Every month she will buy two tins of it. The time came when she was unable to contribute, through the flowers anymore. She decided to cut that calcium tin to one and the other goes to the Fund that was this lady I adore as my grandmother. For my grandmother �lifeblood of the Cause� was so important, she placed a very high priority on it, in her life as a Bah�� that�s what I remember very vividly of my grandmother. If we want sincerely to contribute to the funds, He Bah�u�llah will lead us to a way, ask my grandmother she will tell. During a period when our beloved National Assembly launched the �Project 1000�, she as an old lady nearing 70s goes out in the street and taught the Faith to many. Infact the younger generations will be waiting at the car for her to turn up as she�ll be so engrossed in Teaching the Cause, and always she will be the last to return and we have to definitely wait for her. She was indeed a very dynamic lady, should I say a dynamic �old lady�. When she was first admitted to the Hospital due to respiratory problem, when I visited her, she told me in a very jovial mood, �Vijayan (as she calls me fondly) �pati�(tamil for grandma) will never come back home anymore�, she looked so healthy, I wondered why she has been admitted. I remembered she told me she always wanted to leave her last breathe in the house rather in Hospital, I reminded her that in the house is where she will die if she has to, not in the hospital. This healthy grandmother of mine was eventually bedridden in the Hospital itself, and we decided to bring her back home and take care of her, she was still talking than. A time came when she went speechless not talking anything, tough repeatedly called to her ear she answers nobody. She waited for her favourite son in law, I believe, amazingly when he whispered to her ear, she responded, nobody else. Days later on the wee hours of the morning on 18th December 1998, about 4 am I heard my grandma calling or saying �Bah� �u�ll�h, I had enough of this suffering�, that was the very last sentence I ever heard of my grandmother spoke. About noon on the same day her breathing become heavier, her closed eyes all this while opened, looking to a direction upwards, like awaiting somebody to take her, with tears in her eyes she parted with us. Once my grandma told me at time of her departure from the world, she wants my immediate family all of us, her youngest daughter and most of all her adopted son, my beloved Bah�� uncle, Y. Mari, to be at her bedside when she dies. That was her wish and that time during her departure from the world, God fulfilled her wish, all of us were there, wishing her farewell in our prayers. Today on the 2nd anniversary of her passing, I am sharing with you, the story of my beloved grandmother, the late Madam. T. Rengamah, for the friends to learn about this courage, this devotion, this love she had for Bah�u�ll�h. How from hostility towards the Faith, she became my role model of people I can relate to in the Faith. I pray for her progress of her soul in the next world. �the individual is charged by Bah�u�ll�h Himself with the sacred duty of teaching His Cause, described by Him as the �most meritorious of all deeds.� So long as there are souls in need of enlightenment, this duty must surely remain the constant occupation of every believer. In its fulfillment, the individual is directly responsible to Bah�u�ll�h. �Let him not wait for any directions,�Shogi Effendi urgently advises, �or expect any special encouragement, from elected representatives of his community, nor be deterred by any obstacles which his relatives, fellow citizens may be inclined to place in his parts, nor mind the censure of his critics or enemies.� Ridvan 155, Universal House of Justice The Story of the late Madam T. Rengamah is shared with you by her eldest grandson, Vijay Saravanen Vasudevan. | ||||||||||||||||
|
| |||||||||||||||||
| Favourite links | ||||||||||||||||
| |||||||||||||||||
|
This page has been visited
|