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Anuradha Nagaraj
NEW DELHI, February 7: About sixty-five years ago, ``a young boy from Allahabad'' wrote to Margaret Beardslay, a student at Mount Holyoke College near Boston. Margaret or Peg, as she was better known, read the letter, saw in it a chance to know more about India and decided to become Shiv Nath Katju's pen friend. Ever since, Margaret has maintained a relationship with the Katju family. What started out as a friendship with one person has today turned into a bond between two families.
``I know five generations of the Katju family now,'' says Margaret, smiling. ``I knew Shiv Nath's parents and today I know his great grandchild. It has been a wonderful association.'' Peg or Aunt Peg, as Beardslay is fondly called, is in India to attend a wedding in the Katju family, who live in Saket.
In the past, Margaret Beardslay was a keen follower of world politics. A student of Astronomy, she subscribed to Gandhi's newspaper Harijan and studied the history of India. It was at this time that she received a letter from Shiv Nath Katju. But it was only after she met Rabindranath Tagore that she decided to reply to the letter.
``Rabindranath Tagore visited our college and I was invited to sit next to him at the dinner table,'' she recalls. ``I was so much in awe of him. When I mentioned the letter I had received from Katju, he told me that he was acquainted with the family and they were nice people. It was then that I decided to reply. Moreover, I was interested in India and thought this would be a good way of knowing more about it''.
Through his letters, Katju told Peg all about Gandhi, the National movement, independence and the assassination of the Father of the Nation. ``The first few letters I received were largely about Gandhi. Later, it was more about what he was doing and the family. He told me about how he was going to marry a girl he had never seen. I don't really remember, but in response, I guess I wrote about Roosevelt and what I was studying''.
After a couple of years of correspondence, Peg got a chance to meet the ``young man'' who was discussing life in India with her and giving her an insight into a different lifestyle. ``He came to the US in spring,'' Peg says. ``Larry Walterman, the other person Katju wrote to, brought him to the college. All the girls knew that I was writing to an Indian boy and they were all leaning out of the window to see him. We took him to a dance also and though he didn't dance, the girls got him to shake a leg''.
And then in 1953, Peg made her first visit to India. ``Most Americans have the impression of India as being a romantic, mystic and beautiful place. But when I landed here, I realised that you have industries and businessmen here too. The Katjus took me around, I visited villages, beautiful monasteries and had a very nice time.'' One recollection that has stayed with her is of the dip she took in the Ganges. ``A dip in the Ganga was important to my hosts and they wanted me to be part of the ritual. I was really apprehensive about it, but did it any way''.
The letters Katju had written to her helped her understand India better when she visited. ``I didn't really understand the caste system but once I got here, I understood the customs and rituals better''.
Ever since, the Katjus and Beardslays have been family friends. They have visited each other frequently. ``We had strong family backgrounds in America and I was pleasantly surprised to find the same here also. Going into Indian homes I realised that deep down we are all the same''.
Visiting India to attend a wedding, Aunt Peg says: ``New Delhi has grown terrifically. The people are probably the same but the city is much more crowded now. I love the sincere spirituality of people here, but don't like some of the old religious customs.'' Admiring the mehndi on her hands, she adds: ``When the family insisted that I come for the wedding I said, why not? I wanted to see the entire Katju family and had a great time at the wedding. I loved the mehndi on the first day but now it shocks me. But I'm not complaining''.
Copyright © 1999 Indian Express Newspapers (Bombay) Ltd.
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This story was printed from Net Express located at http://www.expressindia.com. Net Express provides a portal to India, with news from The Indian Express and The Financial Express along with sites on travel and tourism, the entertainment industry, the power sector, the environment and much more.
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