Friday, May 04, 2018

About my grandpa's family - Pragathi

My dear grandpa was born on June 19, 1940 in Telangana, India. This was 7 years before India got Independence.

He was born into an agricultural family.  Ramayya and Devamma were his parents. He had 2 brothers and 3 sisters. He was second youngest in the family.

My grandpa's family was deeply involved in the struggle for Indian Independence and in the resistance to the bad Nizam rule. His elder brother Sri Kasani Narayana and Brother-in-law Sri Neelarapu Yerraiah led the area in this resistance. So, their family and village were targets of attack by the Nizam's private army. In this struggle, my grandpa lost his relatives, and their house was burnt. In 1947, India got independence and soon Telangana got freedom from Nizam rule.

My grandpa did his education in Bachelor of Arts - English literature, and Bachelor of Education. He worked as a school teacher for 33 years after that. He encouraged his school children to be brave, dream big, focus on learning.

After his retirement, my grandparents moved to North America to be closer to us, the grandchildren and children. We are very glad you moved here, grandpa๐Ÿ˜Š.

Here in North America, my grandpa pursued his learning. He joined institutes, learnt courses and met many wonderful friends. He has been actively part of volunteer organizations (Ankur Multicultural Organization, Edmonton Telugu Cultural Association and more) and political parties (New Democratic Party in Canada; and Democratic Party in USA).

My grandpa loves children the most. He loves me, and my cousins - Vikram, Vinod and Prabhat. But he also loves all children and believes that children will lead our world to its best. Thank you for your love and confidence in me, dear Grandpa ๐Ÿ’“๐Ÿ˜Š.