More than One Label

As Gillette Venus and BlogAdda takes the one-dimensional labels out of women, and brings to light, those multitude of things that make them who they are, I would like to contribute with something about my cousin sister about whom I have always had pride, and who has always deserved more applause and love than anyone else. I have known her since my birth, and I am proud about the choices that she has made in her life.

She has been the good daughter in her family, helping her mother in all ways possible along with studying at the college. Her being a good sister was evident with her elder brother as well as with us cousin-brothers and sisters as she became a great role model to all of us, and her presence as the guiding light was there even when I was going through dark times. Still, there was no random advice, but help.

A very old photo of my cousin-sister and sister 😀 Don’t tell my sis that I didn’t write on her 😛

She has been firm in her decisions, and powerful in her ideas, and the quality of compassion was something that she seemed to have had for a very long along with her time spent in prayers. Being a compassionate human being was never something of lower preference for her. She knew that her prayers had answers, and never hesitated or doubted, unlike a number of her cousins which included us.

So, when we went to Kolkata in 2011, meeting her again was a major reason for that journey, while not denying the everlasting love for the City of Joy. She had joined the congregation of Missionaries of Charity hoping to do something for the poor and the downtrodden. We went to a number of children’s homes, old-age homes and places like Home for the Dying and Mother House. Visiting Kolkata had a lot to do with visiting her, who had spare time now after years of joining the service.

A photo taken during the journey in 2011 – tomb of Mother Teresa at Mother House, Kolkata

When I was a child, I used to wonder why she had joined that Roman Catholic group of religious sisters which needed more sacrifice and a lot more of the vow for poverty than any other group of nuns. Even her relatives had wondered if she could have joined a local congregation of nuns and did well in that community. But now, I know that it was because she was ready for it and this was another role that she wanted to do not for herself or to the taste of the people who knew her, but for the society.

Compassion had been coming naturally to her, and helping people was something that she longed for. Almost each and every place which had children needing help, she was there, and anger was something that never found her. In my whole life, I have never found her angry. Not ready to make a choice, she chose to be educated, and also decided go the way she wanted to, and that was related to social service, no matter what the relatives had said. Salute to her for that decision.

This post is a part of #UseYourAnd activity at BlogAdda in association with Gillette Venus

I thank BlogAdda and Gillette for the opportunity to write on this topic. I also take this opportunity to tag Moon, Najm, Anita  and Sucheta to share their awesome views on the topic. Click on this link to know more about it: http://blog.blogadda.com/2015/01/08/useyourand-break-free-with-gillette-venus-indian-women-bloggers. And please don’t forget to acknowledge me in your posts. Thank you. *All photos used in this blog post are mine only.

TeNy