50th ANNIVERSARY MEMORIES

We wanted to pay special tribute to our parents on the occasion of their 50th Wedding Anniversary and thought that Banaras would be the ideal place for this. All of us spent our childhood at Banaras and it has also been the “Karmbhoomi” for both the parents. Our fondest memories of our lives are from this city and today, while we live out of Banaras, we reckon, Banaras still lives in us. We thought of organising this surprise party for them on the 30th of May, 2014 and getting all our close relatives and parents’ friends to join us for the celebrations at Banaras without our parents’ advance knowledge- relatives and friends who we had not met for a long long time. In a way, it was also an excuse, rather an opportunity  for us children to re-discover our roots and connect with our glorious past when relationships were the only tangible and intangible asset we had.

The day started with a Shiv-Gauri pooja for parents at Vishwanath Temple at BHU. Later, in the evening function at HHI Hotel, we presented the life history of our parents through slides and movies and recounted the various episodes of our collective lives as a family and our parents’ role in shaping their children’s lives. We tried to capture their 50-years of their togetherness in 180 minutes-an impossible task but our parents always taught us to chase the impossible. So we tried.

We hope we brought few cheers for everyone who was present in the function including our parents. But frankly, at the end of it, we think that we children enjoyed the function the most and it was as if the parents’ completed their marathon innings as much for themselves as for us. In doing so, they created an opportunity for us to laugh, to cry, to enjoy and connect with our past. Truly, parents will always remain givers.