The Proposed Meeting

Harappa and Mohenjodaro are now in present day Pakistan. These were great cities known for the huge number of residents, the burnt bricks used in construction, the drainage system, their guilds, their merchants who visited many countries on basis of their seals found in other countries.

Harappa has structural remains include those of a citadel/fortress, a massive monumental building once called the granary, and at least three cemeteries.

Mohenjo-Daro had a Citadel and the Lower City. The Citadel supported public baths, a large residential structure designed to house about 5,000 citizens, and two large assembly halls. The lower city had a central marketplace, with a large central well. Individual households or groups of households obtained their water from smaller wells.

Wastewater was channeled to covered drains that lined the major streets. Some houses, presumably those of more prestigious inhabitants, include rooms that appear to have been set aside for bathing, and one building had an underground furnace (known as a hypocaust), possibly for heated bathing. Most houses had inner courtyards, with doors that opened onto side-lanes. Some buildings had two stories. Something like how the present city of Chandigarh has been built.

Lothal was the port city of Indus Valley Civilization and had the world's earliest known dry dock, which connected the city to an ancient course of the Sabarmati River on the trade route between Harappan cities in Sindh and the peninsula of Saurashtra when the surrounding Kutch desert of today was a part of the Arabian Sea. It was situated in Gujarat, India and was excavated by S.R.Rao in the year 1957. It is said that the dockyard was located away from the main current to avoid deposition of silt. It is speculated that Lothal engineers studied tidal movements, and their effects on brick-built structures since the walls are of kiln-burnt bricks.

Kalibangan, in present-day Rajasthan, India, was a major provincial capital of the Indus Valley Civilization. Kalibangan is distinguished by its unique fire altars and "world's earliest attested ploughed field". The citadel and the lower city were in evidence here too. Things found here were small blades of chalcedony and agate, sometimes serrated or backed; beads of steatite, shell, carnelian, terracotta and copper; bangles of copper, shell and terracotta; terracotta objects like a toy-cart, wheel and a broken bull; quem with mullers, a bone point, and copper celts, including an unusual axe, etc. Toy carts suggest carts were used for transportation in Kalibangan.

Tania was musing about her situation.

At the age of 24 years, tragedy had struck her small family. Her parents were involved in a car accident. Her father was driving and it was a head-on collision. As per the hospital records where they were rushed to, it was instant death for both of them. They lived together and left together for their abode in heaven.

Her maternal relatives, one after another, left from Ukraine and started to do the rounds of her house in Moscow. She understood that these steps were being taken by them to take her back into their fold.

"How can they make a 24 years old girl accept them as relatives when they had cut off all ties from her parents," she muttered angrily to herself. " Even after I was born, they ignored my family so, shouldn't I ignore them now in return?"

"My God! Look at these relatives of mine" They can't take no for an answer." She thought.

"The driveway has become dented with their coming and going." She thought.

Her paternal relatives had also started showing interest, and she was being contacted through the Indian embassy in Moscow.

"Why were her relatives, from both sides, so concerned about her after so many years?"

"How do I tell the embassy people to back off." This was her next question to herself.

Ultimately, her relatives from both sides combined forces and started to press upon her to either go to India to her father's relatives or go to Ukraine to her mother's relatives. She was not to live alone as being pretty, young and alone in the world, she would be a target for bad men, meaning wolves in sheep's clothing. To tell you the truth it was to scare her.

Given a choice, Tania would prefer to go to both sides respectively, for some time. She would also prefer to retain her freedom. But she understood that they both had a point. A young pretty girl living on her own in a big city, that too in a huge house, in a way meant an invitation to the burglars and swindlers. Life would become problematic for her. She could be swindled out of her property, fall into bad company or something bad could happen to her while she was going to the university or on the way back.

Furthermore, being alone had disadvantages. After her parents' death, the house had become too quiet for her. She used to keep jumping at any sound made by the contraction or expansion of the woodwork. She would think of them being ghosts or something to that effect. Her sleep was drastically affected. She would sometimes imagine thieves breaking into her house. Such worries kept her awake and soon she developed dark circles below her lower eyelids. In order to camouflage these dark circles, she had to apply a great deal of makeup.

The house was indeed huge. It was a double story house in a good neighborhood. It was the only real investment that her parents had made. They had, of course, put aside some savings and fixed deposits for a rainy day which meant her education, marriage and any unforeseen eventuality.

Then one day, she got a call from her paternal grandfather. She recognized the country code on the display screen of her landline.

"Good morning Tania! How are you beta?" The voice at the other end spoke. (Beta means child /son).

"I am your paternal grandfather, Dinesh Sharma, calling from India." The voice added.

"Beta, your Dadi ji and I want to come to Moscow and visit you."

"We know that we committed a big mistake by not accepting your parents and you and we also cut off our relations with all three of you."

"Your father, my son, was arrogant, like I was at that time. We could not communicate with each other properly. This led to us drifting apart."

"Your Dada ji and Dadi ji just want that you forgive us and let us meet you so that we can start afresh."

"We all make mistakes and because of our being stubborn we wasted too much time.

Unfortunately, we lost our son and daughter in law, who we cannot bring back. But we need to meet you, our granddaughter, as you are the blood of our blood and we wish the best in life for you."

"We are getting old and who knows how long we can manage to get around before we become immobile."

"Before we get to that stage, we want to meet you, our only grandchild."

"Whatever we have here, is yours. We cannot bring back our children. We will not force you to come back to India with us."

"I am sure your mother's parents will also try to talk to you. Beta, it is your wish where you want to settle, with us or your maternal grandparent's family or stay alone in Moscow and visit both sides whenever you feel like it."

"Whatever decision you take, will be acceptable to us."

Tania could not get a word in, even sideways. Her Dada ji started speaking and all she managed was a small 'Hmm' in between his sentences.

His words made her ponder. Yes, it was true that he was giving her a third option of living in which ever city or country she wanted to live in. He just wanted her to visit her father's home and meet everyone. Similarly, he wanted her to visit her mother's home and visit everyone there too. He was correct, if children can make mistakes even parents can make mistakes. No one is perfect.

After hearing him, she understood what he meant. She started to feel respectful towards both sides of her parents' families. He was right there. Her parents and their parents should have resolved their differences. They had left this world but had passed on the guilt factor to her grandparents and now it was for her, Tania, to resolve this issue.

"I want you and Dadi ji to come to Moscow to visit me and stay with me for a few days." She told her Dada ji.

"When can you come to Moscow?" She asked.

"Beta, at present, it is cold in Dharamshala which experienced all the seasons of Spring, Summer, Monsoon, Autumn and Winter. Spring is in the air but it is still cold. We would prefer to travel as soon as the weather became pleasant." Her Dada ji responded.

"The Moscow weather, in March, is freezing with temperatures of -4° and 3° degrees and slight rain. Spring commences in April with maximum daytime temperature of 10°C while at night the temperature goes to be 2°C. The month of May in Moscow is the warmest month of the year with daytime temperatures of 19°C and night time temperature reaching 8°C. I think you should come in May."

" Yes, I think you are right, May the 21st will be a good day to land in Moscow. Summer would have begun in India but it would be pleasant in Moscow."

"We will inform the details about our flight etc. Bye Beta, take care."

"Namaste Dada ji and Dadi ji."

During the telephone call she had decided to call representative from both sides of her grandparents i.e., maternal and paternal, to come to her home within a few months to meet her and discuss matters. Since it would take time for her paternal grandparents to come, she called the Indian embassy to help out. The embassy sent one of their persons to personally visit her and collect details from her pertaining to her father.

She was informed that there were official formalities and it would take at least two to three months for them to come over. This delay in their coming to Moscow would give her ample time to submit her thesis which was almost at the final stage of completion.

It is said that time passes slowly especially when you have lost some close relatives. In her case, the first 2 months, after the death of her parents, had moved very slowly but thereafter, the next two-month picked up speed. Maybe she felt so because she had picked up her normal routine of going to the University, meeting the professors, discussing with them about the thesis and finally submitting it. Soon she would get her desired PhD and with it the designation of a professor.

Before she knew it, April had arrived. She had earlier, sent out messages to her maternal and paternal relatives to come and meet her or at least send one relative from each side to discuss things with her. Her maternal grandparent was ready to send someone within a month but in case of her paternal relatives, it would take time as they would be coming from another country and that too from another town in that country.

The paternal grandparents would need a visa and to book a flight to Moscow from New Delhi, the capital of India. They hailed from Dharmshala, a small town in the mountain state of Himachal Pradesh which had become famous as a tourist attraction due to the presence of the Dalai Lama who had fled Tibet in 1959 and sought asylum in India. The Indian Government at that time had allocated upper Dharmshala called Maclord Gang area for him and his followers to settled down. After the Dalai Lama got the noble prize for peace in 1989, this area became even more famous. Since then, many foreigners have been visiting Dharmshala regularly to meet him. They also come as tourists and some come to get treatment in the Tibetan system of healing.

Both her paternal grandparents were alive. Her father had been their only child and had grown up as a stubborn child and a stubborn adult. It seemed that the grandparents were equally stubborn. Even after Tania was born no one took the initiative to break the wall of no communication. It is said that when a child is born in the family, all differences are resolved. However, this did not happen in their families from both sides.

Her maternal grandparents hailed from a small village in Ukraine. They were simple folks and had a close-knit community there. At present only her grandmother was alive as her grandfather had passed away a year ago. This was the information that had been passed on to her by her maternal relatives who had come to meet her earlier.

Her grandmother had two daughters and one son. Now, there were only one daughter and one son. Both were well settled and the son and his wife along with her cousins lived in the same village. Her uncle was the head of the village level organization that looked to the development of the village etc.

Her father would converse mostly in Russian at home and in Russian or English with foreign students or foreign patients in the hospital where he worked. He knew how to speak in the Hindi language as well as in the Punjabi language. He could speak kangri the dialect of Pahari language. However, her mother would speak Russian at home and like my father, she would converse in Russian or English with foreign students or patients at the hospital. She understood Hindi very well but her spoken Hindi was not so good.

Tania, on the other hand, had been taught to speak in all the three languages since her childhood. In college, she took up Sanskrit, as an ancient language, to help her understand the texts that were available in old books. However, the languages she used to converse in were Russian and English with the colleagues of her parents as well as the patients in the hospital where they both worked as doctors.