Eternalising family tales in books

In December, 1919, the Indian National Congress held its 34th Session in Amritsar, Punjab, to convey solidarity with the civilians killed and wounded in the Jallianwala Bagh massacre
(Extreme left) Gita Gohel Rathore with the book ‘Flights of Valour-The Life of Group Captain HSR Gohel’. (Centre to right) Book covers of Chander M Lall’s ‘At The Pleasure of his Majesty’;
(Extreme left) Gita Gohel Rathore with the book ‘Flights of Valour-The Life of Group Captain HSR Gohel’. (Centre to right) Book covers of Chander M Lall’s ‘At The Pleasure of his Majesty’;

In December, 1919, the Indian National Congress held its 34th Session in Amritsar, Punjab, to convey solidarity with the civilians killed and wounded in the Jallianwala Bagh massacre. Of the many locals who attended this session was Prithvi Nath Deogun. Within the course of the day, Deogun “dragged Lokmanya Tilak’s cart through the bazaars, saved Mahatma Gandhi from being crushed against a wall by a crowd too enthusiastic about seeing him, and raised money for funds”. This tale is one of the many accounts Govardhan Bali would narrate to her granddaughter Samrata Salwan Diwan (38) when she was growing up. 

Listening to a collection of similar interesting stories narrated to a young Diwan by both maternal and paternal grandparents, she began to ponder the question: how can one keep these riveting stories alive? “I felt there was a need to preserve these stories and count them. When I lost two grandparents in 2015, I felt like I wished I had documented them because over time, these stories become fragmented,” shares Diwan. In an attempt to document family histories with the idea to eternalise them, she started the Vasant Vihar-based bespoke publishing house Family Fables Company (FFC).

Dr Kanta Nayyar going through
‘The Kanwars’ (2019), her family history book

Experiences of generations 

Diwan mentions that the origin of FFC was personal. She was looking for someone who could help pen her nani’s life story. Having found no one, Diwan plunged into the process of writing the biography herself. “It was purely [born] from the need that I didn’t want my family history to be fragmented,” she shares. Soon after, family and friends grew interested. “Others started asking me if I could help them do the same for their families.” In February 2017, Diwan’s passion project took shape and she founded FFC—they document family, personal, and institutional histories. FFC focuses on the undertaking from start to end; from interviewing the subjects—they have professionals who conduct these interviews—to writing, designing and getting the book printed. “What you have as an end product is a coffee table book that is like an heirloom for the family,” adds Diwan. 

Beyond personal histories 

“Sometimes personal stories have a larger impact on public events,” mentions Diwan. An example of how personal stories transform into important political narratives is At The Pleasure of his Majesty, a book by FFC that is already in the works. Written by Chander M Lall, senior advocate at Supreme Court of India, it throws light on the life of his paternal grandfather Inder Mohan Lall and a landmark case he won against the Privy Council [representing the British empire]. Addressing the role FFC played in bringing this book to reality, Chander concludes, “I’ve been working on this book for years now. FFC sort of put a timeline to the work, got it more structured. They helped us get the original petition, which added to the book.”

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