Ranchi

 CAST OF CHARACTERS

Uncle Kushi, my mother's uncle, my great-uncle

His mother, my great-grandmother

My maternal grandparents

Uncle K in 1954

Tuberculosis (TB) has historically plagued India, and despite steps taken by governments, remains rampant and often deadly today. Until the 1950s, the only way to cure it was believed to be waiting it out, often for months at a time, alongside rest, open air and adequate nutrition. 

Due to its highly infectious nature, several sanatoriums sprouted across the country to enable the isolation of TB patients. It was at one such centre in Ranchi, likely the Ramakrishna Mission Sanatorium, that Uncle Kushi found himself confined in 1956.

His mother kept him company, contagion be damned (or maybe she was immune?) When my grandparents got married on 3 October that year, Uncle Kushi was still unwell. My grandfather – his older brother – had taken exactly three days' leave for his wedding, and the newlyweds spent one of those in Ranchi. It looks like the journey today from Khagoul to Ranchi takes nearly seven hours.

A teasing message on the back of his portrait to my grandmother, whose name is Patience.

It was around this time that the need for sanatoria was being questioned as other methods of managing the illness gained traction. Uncle Kushi, fortunately, made a full recovery. My grandmother fondly recalls how he would accompany her to doctor's appointments during her first pregnancy while my grandfather was away working on a steamer.

The family at the birth of my uncle Vikram; L-R my grandfather, my great-grandfather, my grandmother, and Uncle Kushi.

Uncle K would go on to become a big part of my mother's childhood and life, and then of mine. He passed away last week, at nearly ninety, hopefully reuniting somewhere with my grandfather to engage in the pranks they were so infamous for in their youth.