Harakhchand Haria & family
Sobhag’s Timeline by Harakhchand Haria & family
This timeline is written on behalf of a family starting from Harkhubhai (Sobhag’s father’s elder brother, Punjabhai’s elder son), his children, their children, their children, most of them living in Mumbai and Bhivendi. Most of the write up has been gathered by Simul from the whole family and written from her side.
Sobhag Haria is a person who always greets everyone with a warm hug and big smile.
My grandfather, Harakhchand Haria met Sobhag uncle for the first time around December 1965, at our ancestral house in our village, Kajurda, the place where he had come to visit India for a school trip when he was very young, around 15. He had come to visit village with few of his friends from the same village. He had a sparkling personality & and always curious mind. They went around the village and he had his keen observation on everything. They had groundnuts (Magfadi/Juggu) grown by in the village, which he enjoyed thoroughly. Being their first meet, they had some conversations. He stayed at the village that night. In the morning to visit open fields with lotto for toilets. In the early morning was served with tea and later with Bajri Rotla, Chillies and Dahi.
The next time they met was again at Kajurda, where he had invited my grandfather to visit Nairobi. He sent the tickets and my grandfather got an opportunity to visit Nairobi in the year 1980. That was the first time, he could experience flight and go out of India. He stayed in Kenya for 2 months. He explored Nairobi with Sobhag uncle and Raichand Dada. He visited their factories and office and every day was a new experience for him. Sheena, Sobhag uncle’s beautiful daughter was born when he stayed in Nairobi. He also stayed at Mombasa for few days at Jayanti Dada’s home. It was a wonderful experience for him to stay with them all and know so many new things other than what he had lived.
In one of the visits of Sobhag uncle to India, my father & uncles were getting married & setting up a business. At that time our home in Mumbai of one Bed Roomed flat, with 11 family members living in it, which was not much comfortable. Sobhag uncle saw this and asked if another flat was available, and when he found yes, during his one-week trip, selflessly arranged the money for purchasing a flat in the opposite building in Malad, Mumbai. His golden heart always wants to help others and he takes enormous efforts to help people grow and progress in life. By having the second one bed roomed flat, it increased our facility to extra three bed rooms as the second flat would be used for sleeping only, which had one bed room, Hall also used as Bedroom, Kitchen also used as bedroom. This change initiate by him made a luxurious living for the whole family from uncomfortable one.
Around 12 May 1996, on one of Sobhag uncles’s Mumbai trip, they bought a flat Ashoka in Versova, our whole family was invited to the opening and Simul (3.5 years, youngest in the family) was given the opportunity to do the opening vidhi. On the similar situation around 24 February 2005 (on Sheena’s Birthday) they bought another flat Bianca in Versova, we all family members were invited to the opening ceremony. They own and maintain these flats for the family and close friends coming to Mumbai from UK and Kenya for their holidays, shopping of weddings, medical treatments or relaxation.
Since so many years, Sobhag uncle & Anju aunty has made sure to attend each and every family member’s wedding in India, they even make sure to attend the family functions whenever in India. They take interest to know the way complete function is going to be held and even provide their ideas. Sobhag uncle likes to collect memories of the event and in case if any function is missed, he definitely wants to see the pictures and that makes us feel his willingness to be with us in all times. Everyone loves his nature of taking efforts to know what’s happening in everyone’s lives and wanting to be part of the happiness and that too in today’s world where most families do not have time for each other.
Sobhag uncle and Anju Aunty has been doing Counselling with our family members in cases of disputes regarding relationships, property matters, finance matters. Unfortunately, it might take long periods and it takes lot of his precious/short time in India, spend on us.
Sobhag uncle has made a family tree (aambo), for which he had done a lot of research to get the details on our ancestors, he gathered information from as many sources as possible. He even added everyone’s pictures as he found them. He presented the aambo (family tree) in the Dadar Mahajan Wadi of Halari Samaj, Mumbai (Banquet hall), where he had invited many people. This is a nice activity to make people know their family history and their respective forefathers. It’s now online as well.
Whenever Sobhag uncle and Anju aunty visit India, they arrange a family get together, so that everyone can come together (because Sobhag uncle would not accept disputes between families) and spend quality time with each other. The annual family get together helps all of us to unite again and knowing each other more. We really enjoy the parties, dance, talk to everyone, have amazing food, click pictures and create beautiful memories. No family member would like to miss these gatherings.
They always visit our home at Malad, Mumbai for a meal and there is lot of conversation with them. They even make visits to Bhiwandi, Mumbai at our relative’s place and meet everyone whenever possible. Sobhag uncle takes efforts to genuinely know everything happening around us and he always wishes for our well-being. He gets along with any person of every age group because of his vast knowledge. He can talk about every field from the recipe of cooking till the ideas of business. He encourages that one should always be active, productive, one should be open to new learnings. Sobhag uncle is a selfless person, he always states ‘if there is something, I can do for you, then you can always count on me’.
Sobhag uncle & Anju aunty had invited everyone from the family (of around 50 members, Visas sponsored, all travel and spending expenses paid with accommodation and organised trips to Scotland and Europe, accompanied by them) to attend the wedding of their son Vrush with Dimple, they insisted all of us to come to London. I, Simul, Saloni, Dhaval & Reekin had gone to London along with Hiren-Asha, Chirag-Krupali & Krish. They had arranged everything for us from travelling, stay over to exploring UK & Europe. We experienced many new learnings and enjoyed thoroughly and are thankful towards their kind generosity.
Sobhag uncle & Anju Aunty had planned family trips to Lonavala, Alibaug & Daman. The Lonavala trip was the first family trip in 2014, in which the complete family had come together. we enjoyed the stay in wonderful hotels and explored the beautiful places nearby. The complete trip was filled with games, sports or activities. Sobhag uncle always wants everyone to experience the better version of life, where one could express themselves without any insecurities or judgements. He believes in learning new things and even feels everyone should have that curiosity and hunger for learning. We all got chances to interact with him and understand him more closely during the trips. He shares his amazing life experiences, ideologies, which you like to listen more and more. He is a powerhouse of knowledge. His speech has the power of convincing and also makes you comfortable. We had kept a session of showing pictures of London-wedding trip to everyone in the Lonavala. We enjoyed playing the games on the beaches of Alibaug. Sobhag uncle insisted everyone to enjoy each activity, many of us did paragliding in Alibaug. Sobhag uncle wanted the East and West to meet and know each other’s culture and learn new things. Along with Anju aunty & Sobhag uncle, there bring more people from London who joined us for the trips. Jay Masa captured the best memories of the trip and a perfect fun-loving group photo at the end.
Sobhag uncle & Anju aunty are very generous. We will never forget the time spent with them and the complete family, we will cherish those memories forever. Thanks for being so kind, generous and warm. We are grateful to have Sobhag uncle and Anju aunty to be part our lives. May they continue keep touching people’s heart with the warm soul.
With all Regards,
On behalf of Harakhchand Haria & family.
