write about topi shukla's family and iffan's family. especially about their grandmothers and their family background.
- Topi- Hindu, Iffan - Muslim
- Topi - real name - Balbadra Naraya Shukla, Iffan - Sayeed Jargaam Murtuza
Iffan :-
- Grandfather and great grandfather were Clerics / Logist in Islam (Moulvi). Belonged to land of Kafirs. Buried with honour after death in Karbala. Never visited India.
- Iffan's father, 'Sayeed Murtuza Hussain' was the first one to be born in India in the family. After death, he was buried in India itself without any desire to be buried in Karbala.
- Iffan's great grandmom was a true Islamic woman. She had visited all sorts of Islamic holy places like Karbala, Nazaf, Khurasan etc. But she also followed Hindu rituals like 'keeping a pitcher of water near the door when some one was leaving'.
- Iffan's grandmother also read the Namaz with all due respect but she also believed in Hindu rituals. (when her son was suffering from chicken pox, she stood on one leg near the bed and pleaded God to forgive her son [of all sins].).
- She was brought up in Parbu and was not of a Cleric family but was the daughter of a landlord.(I asked on meritnation where and what parbu is...). She got married at a young age and moved to Lucknow but only spoke in Parbu. Lucknow Urdu was her in-laws language from which she felt alienated. She felt connected to those who knew Parbu. Being married to a Cleric, her desire of dancing and singing was always suppressed like at the time of her son's wedding. [But they did celebrate on Iffan's Chatti (ritual on a child's sixth day after being born).]
-She was really attached to her house traditions and the ways of life their but after marriage she missed everything about her home, especially food like curd and ghee.
-She had to pretend to be a true Cleric's wife but disliked the fact about her husband that no matter what he always behaves like a Cleric.
-She always felt restless at her in-laws and told her son to bury her body at her home when she dies. Her house was called Kachi Haveli. At the time near her death, she fondly remembered all her childhood memories at Kachi Haveli and could not bear to be buried anywhere else.
-She was buried in Faatmein, because she was staying with her son there.
- Iffan was born after the death of his grand father. The differences between men and women in his family played a important role in his upbringing.
-Iffan was dearly attached to his grandmother the most. He was in fourth grade when she died and was heart broken.
-Iffan family consisted of his grandmom (dadi), father (abbu), mother (ammi), elder sister (baaji) and a younger sister named Nuzhat. Ammi and baaji would scold him sometimes, Abbu would start ordering like he does in his court and Nuzhat would scribble on Iffan's school notes. But never did Dadi upset Iffan.
- Everynight dadi used to tell Iffan all sorts of fairytales and folk stories.
-Though dadi's language was different and rusty, he never made fun of her. Infact, he liked how Parbu sounded. Abbu never allowed him to speak in Parbu. Dadi also used to tell him to speak like his father because she felt Parbu sounded illiterate.
~~Topi:-
- Topi also loved the language Iffan’s Dadi spoke. He found it similar to what his mother speaks.
- Topi hated his grandmom and the language she spoke. This was similar to what Iffan’s father spoke.
- Topi was also very close to Iffan’s dadi. He never tried to speak to Iffan’s ammi or baaji thinking they would laugh on his language. But Iffan’s dadi always made him feel comfortable.
- Topi learnt the word ‘ammi’ for mother from Iffan’s dadi. He really liked all the words they used at Iffan’s home for the family members.
- Topi’s father was Dr. Brigu Narayan Shukla ‘Neele Tel Wale’.
- His family was materialistically modern.
- When Topi called his mother (Ramdulari) ‘ammi’ with love for her Baigan ka bharta, every single family member was in shock. He had shaken the walls of tradition by using that word in a Hindu house, according to his family.
- Topi’s grandmom ‘Subhadradevi’ was the angriest.
- Topi was then allowed to play with Iffan because his dad realized Iffan was Collector’s son.
- Topi was beaten a lot by his mother and was forced to not meet Iffan but Topi never agreed.
- Topi’s elder brother Munni Babu and younger brother Bhairav were silently watching Topi getting hit. Munni babu even lied to his mother that Topi was eating kababs near Rahim Kababchi’s stall. But the truth was that Munni was eating Kababs there and Topi had seen him. Munni bribed him to not tell anyone. Topi told only to Iffan but got really angry seeing his brother lie. No one believed Topi. He was beaten a lot that day. He was really wishing to grow older than Munni babu but knew it would never happen.
- Topi was even willing to trade dadis with Iffan but understood it was not possible. (During this conversation is where Iffan gets a message that his dadi has passed away.)
- Both Topi and Iffan were heartbroken. Topi especially was really attached to Iffan’s dadi and they completed each other. Their friendship was a unique one, between a 8 year old and a 72 year old.
- Topi tried to console Iffan by telling him that Topi’s dadi should of died instead of his.
This is kind of a summary + character sketch till the part of topi and iffan’s friendship. The next half is mainly incident based and family points include how the members did not let Topi study well.
I really hope this helps. It was really time taking but helped me revising too….ALL THE BEST!