A family photograph that endured 115 Years, borders, and generations

This photograph is probably the oldest in our family photo albums. Taken around 1911, it shows my great-grandfather, Kartar Singh Dugal — whom the family called Bauji — standing on the left. He was about 18–20 years old. His father, my great-great-grandfather, Soba Singh Dugal, a stoic figure, is seated in the middle, and leaning on him from the right is Bauji’s younger brother — around ten years younger — my great-granduncle, Raghubir Singh Dugal. The photograph was most likely taken in Rawalpindi, about 80 km from our ancestral village, Syed Kasran (both now in Pakistan).

The Airforce Wives of Gorakhpur

Adjustments began with her family moving to Vijayawada and then to Nallakunta, Hyderabad in 1955; right in the middle of the Telangana agitation of 1954-56. She was just a school kid at Narayanguda Girls High School but remembers being teased as ‘Gongura Gongura’ by boys following in bicycles.