Mrs Bhagirathi Yenagi: A Helping Hand, Then...Now...And Ever

Bengaluru: Mrs Bhagirathi Yenagi is now a Nonagenarian keeping her age as a parameter. But, when it comes to day-to-day activities she is much more active than the girls of the present era. She has a vast extended family with five children, sons-in-law, daughters-in-law, nine grandchildren, and five great-grandchildren. But, she continues to remain a child in the heart as she is the first person to extend help whenever requested. In that way, she is an ideal example of the saying, advanced age is for the body and not the human mind!

A hard worker since her childhood days: Mrs Bhagirathi Yenagi, despite her ripe age remains slim, and beautiful with a fair complexion. She had been very active since her childhood days helping her grandmother at home while her mother went to the paddy fields for work. She took responsibility for the household activities at a very tender age by feeding the cattle with fodder and water apart from fetching water from the lake and wells. She also used to accompany her mother during the harvesting of Paddy and Jowar crops.

Marriage at the age of six years! Mrs Bhagirathi Yenagi was married at the age of six years, when, perhaps she even had no idea of what a marriage meant. However, she remained at her home continuing with her usual routine of helping the family with domestic chores. It was only after attaining puberty she moved to her husband's house and continued helping her mother-in-law, co-sisters and brothers-in-law with the domestic responsibilities.

A host in a magnanimous style: Perhaps she was 20 when she shifted to Belagavi with her husband to continue her family life. Over a period of time, she gave birth to five children, two sons and three daughters. Although Mrs Bhagirathi Yenagi's family consisted of seven members there was no count on the number of relatives and friends thronging the house from the husband's side for various purposes. Now and then the house used to be overcrowded with family relatives and friends and she never bothered about the footfalls and rejoiced to treat the guests in her own magnanimous style!

Showed doors to matrimony offers: However, a strange thought of not becoming literate kept on haunting her and ensured that all her children, with the active support of her husband, became well-educated. Both her sons became engineers while the three daughters went on to complete Master's and Doctoral degrees. Some 'well-wishers' came with many marriage proposals to their daughters on the pretext of 'what's the use of education to the girls'. But Mrs Bhagirathi Yenagi never budged in her stance of ensuring the best education for all kids including the three daughters. She was blunt enough to show doors to the matrimony offers!

Bought 16 acres of land and a site to build a house: Mrs Bhagirathi Yenagi was hurt by the utterances of her father's elder brother, who felt that she was given in marriage to a person who didn't own any farmlands. She took the taunt too seriously and systematically continued to save money from her husband's salary given to her to run the family. Her meticulous way of handling the family and financial matters paid rich dividends and she handed over a huge sum of her savings to Mrs Savithramma, her mother. Her mother helped her daughter in buying 16 acres of farmland and a site to build a house in Belagavi. Such was the guts and grits of Mrs Bhagirathi Yenagi in accomplishing her desires over a loose talk by a close relative.

Served husband relentlessly for eight years: Mrs Bhagirathi Yenagi, despite being a woman never shied away when it came to shouldering responsibilities of the family. She along with her husband saw to it that all her children got the right daughters-in-law and sons-in-law. But a much more significant aspect of her life is her dedication and commitment to taking proper care of her ailing husband for eight long years. He was affected by Alzheimer's disease and that was no reason for her to her unhindered loving care towards him without any feeling of being sad. She used to sing any number of 'Beesuva Pada' (folk lyrics sung while grinding the grains with the traditional two circular shaped stones) to enliven the mood of her sick hubby.

A tale of woes with never-ending enthusiasm: Mrs Bhagirathi Yenagi lost her husband in 2018 and she became a sad person lamenting the passing away. Now, she is 91 years old with a bending neck and the skin gives an aged look. Against all such physical odds, her penchant for helping others never looks like ever ending. Thanks to the unfriendly farmers meant to take care of the farmlands; she sold all of them only to keep weeping at the end of the day. Even today, whenever someone comes asking for help, she is the first person to come forward!

-Manohar Yadavatti