{"id":336,"date":"2017-04-30T14:47:37","date_gmt":"2017-04-30T09:17:37","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/museumofmaterialmemory.com\/?p=336"},"modified":"2021-08-13T00:43:05","modified_gmt":"2021-08-12T19:13:05","slug":"life-inside-the-grey-briefcase","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/museumofmaterialmemory.com\/life-inside-the-grey-briefcase\/","title":{"rendered":"Life inside the Grey Briefcase"},"content":{"rendered":"

TEXT BY NAVDHA MALHOTRA<\/strong>
\nPHOTOS BY\u00a0NAVDHA & AANCHAL MALHOTRA
\n<\/strong>New Delhi, India<\/em>
\n<\/strong><\/p>\n

For as long as I knew my grandfather, he had been diagnosed with Parkinson\u2019s disease. I have no recollection of ever being able to understand what he said, because by the time I was old enough to, the disease had worsened and the would tremble all the time. The only person who could understand him- fully and completely- was my grandmother. Even as a child, I used to be baffled at the fact that we could be listening to the same thing my grandfather was saying and I could barely understand a word, but she comprehended perfectly.<\/p>\n

A day or two after he died, my father and I were cleaning out his cupboard. The cupboard was the kind built into the wall and the shelves were a part of the wall construction, an alcove or sorts. This briefcase was in one of those shelves. I think that he must have already had some documents in it, because when we opened it, I recall seeing an old family tree written in Urdu. And this stuck with me because at the time in school, we were learning about family trees and genealogy. So the fact that I knew what it was and it was in a language I could not read made it very \u2018cool\u2019…more so than the briefcase itself, and at that time, maybe more so the man who had so dutifully penned it down.<\/p>\n

Over the years, the briefcase and all that it contains has become a representation of him and the man he was. Through the items inside, I have come to learn about his interests and beliefs. Apart from the family tree, the briefcase has his passport, education certificates, reference letters, receipts and pension documents. Most importantly, it holds a copy of Max Ehrmann\u2019s prose poem \u2018Desiderata\u2019<\/em> (which hangs on my study wall now) and a political sufferer certificate issued to him by the Government. Born on 15 April, 1924, my grandfather quit his education to participate in the 1942 Quit India movement. He was arrested and remained in Mirzapur District Jail from August 1942- June 1943.<\/p>\n

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Passport of Tilak Raj Malhotra, b. April 15, 1924 in Bhalwal (now in Pakistan)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
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Contents of the briefcase<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
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The envelope within which the family tree was folded and kept.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n