Thoughts on my beloved mother 💜 ( My grandmother in the picture)

It is a SPECIAL DAY for me AND my family today as it is my dear mother Smt NIBHA DATTA's BIRTHDAY TODAY. She would have been 97 today. She was the elder of the two daughters of Dr PN SEN  - the retired Asstt Civil Surgeon of Shillong who thereafter served as the first Medical Officer of the Ramakrishna Mission Charitable Hospital in Laitumkrah Shillong for about twenty years till early eighties while his younger daughter Km Bina Sen was a popular Superintendent at the Office of the AG Shillong.who I greatly Miss too. Let me at this point also remember Srimat Swami BHAVYANAND JI - the Doctor Swamiji AND Secretary of the Ramakrishna Mission. Order of Shillong in the mid seventies with whom my late Grandfather started work at the RK Mission Charitable Hospital Shillong serving humanity. As a child I remember accompanying my grandfather ( now late) AND Doctor Maharaj in the Medical Mobile Van to the villages around Shillong in the Charitable hills to treat the patients at their homes AND also the old people there

Remembering my dear late mother - sitting at her home  in Doon she would  get nostalgic about her school - The Govt Girls High School in Shillong where she both studied AND also taught with people like her teacher turned colleague Mrs HELIMON KHONGPHAI a pious AND scholarly lady from one of the very well known families from the KHASI Community. There were many others her bosom friends in school too she would remember like  Smt Mukul Choudhury , Smt Nilima Choudhury AND the Km AnjaliDas

( the leading woman leader in the establishment of the Women Wing of the Communist Party of India who later married Mr Niren Lahiri -- Advocate General of Assam AND who I had the good fortune to meet too) 

My mother was Nostalgic about  her College "Lady Keane's College for Women in Shillong of which she was from the first batch. The College did a great honour to invite her to the Golden Jubilee celebrations though she could not be physically present there from. Dehradun as she was convalescing after an illness. However she took to pen AND paper AND wrote a lovely piece of literature for the occasion which was as we were told read out at the celebration Hall. 

Ma left Shillong And teaching In  1954 when she joined her husband --my father Shri Kshitipada Datta at Dehradun AND later from town shifted to the Govt residential estate attached to father's office behind TDE ( Instruments) Dehradun called SUNDERWALA CAMP while TDE (I) was in 1960 rechristened as IRDE ( the. Premier  Instrumentation Lab of the DRDO).  It is here that I grew up . Sunderwala Camp was one BIG FAMILY with an average of 4 in a total of around 50 families together in around 50 of those  red bricked big verandahed Quarters with its gardens trees And birds. Those  years  in  Sunderwala Camp have given me AND my parents sweet memories of beautiful bondage AND camaraderie that was  Sunderwala Camp. Ma was the Universal Bowdi to all the ladies there ( Bowdi means Bhaabiji in Bengali) AND she was also best remembered for the tasty  SANDESH sweets she used to churn out in different designs -- something we call "Chhancher Sondesh " in Bengali. 

There was this Nepali girl from the nearby village AND the wonderful lad from Tehri Garhwal called Uday Singh who were an integral part of our household AND who helped Ma And Baba in the family while to me they were elder sister And elder brother. They helped us look after my grandparents And it is no doubt in all their blessings AND the blessings of God that they have in years ahead lead successful independent lives. Uday Singh I addressed as Bhaiyya unfortunately passed away a few years back after retiring from service. They have both been integral parts of our lives 

post retirement Ma And Baba shifted to their EC Road house in 1975 AND and so did I with them. With more such sweet memories in this house Ma used to be full on with gardening AND Baba too in addition to  their time with books And articles. Today my wife Madhumita remembers Ma And Baba for all their love And support when she came AND joined us from New Delhi in this house. My  children Shyamolima And Rajat remember their grandparents for all the stories AND ways they were helped by Dadu  AND Thamma in doing their  home work too 

Today in remembering dear Ma on her Happy Birthday And paying Tributes to her memory we also pay tributes  to the memories ofmy dear father AND that of 

my Masi Km  Bina Sen too who. breathed her last. In Doon too. Along with our tributes to the memories of all. my Kaku Kakima, Jethu Jethima, Uncles AND Aunties both at Sunderwala Camp AND at EC Road in  Dehradun who left .