This picture made me both nostalgic and proud. It immediately took me back to a bygone era – with an almost Gone With The Wind Sensation. It shows my grandmother Poovie Medapa, when she was young. She always had a quiet elegance and dignity about her.
The picture was taken in her ancestral house “Nest”, in the heart of Mercara, Coorg. She had returned to her parents home, as was the custom, for the birth of her first child. As is the case , in many homes in India, a new baby is received with celebration and feasting. We see her dressed in all her finery after the birth of her first child. I imagine the family was overjoyed and delighted for her. The picture is certainly about 80-85 years old.
As a person she was a gentle soul and quickly adapted to “city” life after moving to Bangalore as wife of the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court. A gregarious and generous person at heart her home in Cunningham Road still stands. She was known to have kept an “open” home – there was hospitality and food to be got by anyone who walked in. People from out of town and Coorg came regularly as she kept up her relationship with her old home. She managed all the entertaining and bureaucratic engagements with élan. We will always cherish her memory.