Born into an Amil family of Sindh just 10 months after Partition in Varanasi, India, Padma Gobindram Shahani, head of the M.Ed. department of the Gokaldas Hindu Girls Degree College, passed away 21 years back
Saaz Aggarwal
Padma Gobindram Shahani, also known to some as Shaku, met an untimely death on this day 21 years ago, when she was only 55.
Born into an Amil family of Sindh just 10 months after Partition in Varanasi, her parents were Rukmani and Gobindram Shahani. Being born after 3 sons, Jivat, Indru, and Kamal, she was ‘tikhar’, a most auspicious daughter.
Padma grew up in Varanasi, studying up to intermediate arts at Basant Kanya Vidyalaya, Kamacha, and completing her BA (Honours) in Political Science, followed by MA in Political Science from BHU.
To these credentials, she added many more:
MA in Hindi (Sahit Ratan) from Sahitya Samelan, Allahabad; LLB (1st Class First with distinction) from Mahatma Jyotiba Phule University, Barrielly (formerly known as Rohilkhand University); Doctorate in Education from MJP University, Barrielly; Diploma in Distance Education from IGNOU.
With this impressive list, she certainly did justice to her Amil heritage! Her father, Gobindram, had qualified with BA from Elphinstone College, Bombay. After Partition, the family migrated from their home in Hyderabad, leaving behind their lands in Badin, and started life afresh in Varanasi. Over time, they received some compensation by way of farmlands in District Pratapgarh. As they settled and save, they were able to also open shops in Lanka and Pandeypur, areas of Varanasi.
Two of Padma’s maternal uncles were senior and highly respected academics. Atmaram Malkani served as principal of Jai Hind College as well as of DG College, Baraut, UP. Harkisondas Malkani was principal of BHU; he was one of the 2 founding professors of BHU from Sindh, handpicked by Madan Mohan Malviya, the other being Acharya Jivatram Kripalani. His children, including his 7 daughters, Padma’s cousins, were highly educated achievers – as she was – rare indeed for an era when most women did not leave the house except for family functions.
Padma shone in the UP National Cadet Corps (NCC), a cadet right from her college days at BHU, later company commander, and commissioned as a Second Lieutenant in 1970. In 1975 she was promoted as Lieutenant, in 1978 as Captain, and in 1986 as Major. She was due to retire in 1998. However, she was given two extensions and only retired in 2000.
In appreciation of her long and devoted service to NCC, she was awarded a Long Service Medal. The Director General NCC on behalf of the President of India also gave her permission to use the designation and rank of Major permanently, which was added to her professional honorific Major Dr Padma Gobindram Shahani. Padma was proficient in weapons and an excellent marksperson too. An active member of the Civil Defence Corps too, she was helpful to the administration and police during the calamitous riots of 1980.
Tall and good looking, Padma was very pleasant by nature and extremely intelligent. With her attractive voice, her broadcasts on All India Radio, Moradabad, on social issues such as literacy, family planning, and others, were popular. She had travelled extensively around India and was instrumental in social work activities including adult education, pulse polio, and other village development programs of the UP government. Padma lived with her brother Indru in Moradabad, where she was head of the M.Ed. department of the Gokaldas Hindu Girls Degree College, before her untimely demise.
Read: The Satha-ghari Kirpalani family of Hyderabad Sindh
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Saaz Aggarwal is an independent researcher, writer and artist based in Pune, India. Her body of writing includes biographies, translations, critical reviews and humour columns. Her books are in university libraries around the world, and much of her research contribution in the field of Sindh studies is easily accessible online for example in:
https://www.sahapedia.org/sindhworkis-unique-global-diaspora https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCZVBQWpTX4Uww1e-ZP_kT8A
http://blackandwhitefountain.com/
Her 2012 Sindh: Stories from a Vanished Homeland is an acknowledged classic. With an MSc from Mumbai University in 1982, Saaz taught undergraduate Mathematics at Ruparel College, Mumbai, for three years. After a career break when she had a baby, during which time she established a by-line as a humour writer, she was appointed features editor at Times of India, Mumbai, in 1989, where she launched Ascent, the highly successful HR pullout of the Times of India Group. From 1998 to 2006, she was HR and Quality Head of Seacom, an Information Technology company based in Pune. As an artist, she is recognized for her Bombay Clichés, quirky depictions of urban India in a traditional Indian folk style as well as a unique range of offerings at the annual Art Mandai event in Pune. Her art incorporates a range of media and, like her columns, showcases the incongruities of daily life in India. View all posts by Saaz Aggarwal
Courtesy: Saaz Aggarwal | Sindh Stories
