A tale of a hero.

Northern India. Early 1940's. A young girl enters a Government school of a small town in Eastern U.P,Ghazipur. She, along with her sisters, is one of the only girls to do so in the surrounding area. This is because in a path-breaking act, a teacher of that school chose to enroll his daughters into it, since, on paper, there was no rule saying it was just for boys. Other parents follow suit.

A few years later, he also chooses to send his daughters out of station for further education. The first woman in the family to graduate from an educational institution in Lucknow, was my grandmother.

This is the story of Shree Girija Dayal Singh. 

The aforementioned act, to be of such futuristic thinking, was quite rare among people of those times.

His feminism, however, wasn't limited to his daughters. In a time where women were told to stay behind closed doors and a piece of cloth (purdah), he used get his wife dressed up in shoes and take her outside on morning walks. Because of how fair-skinned she was, many people used to say that he has married an English woman.(Indian women would not do such a thing!)

Despite being a Government employee, he used to help freedom fighters in indirect ways. When the police used to attack the protestors, some of them used to hide in his house.

Once, a toy-seller told him how the toys he has brought this time will be irresistible to his children and if it is not so, he will gift each of them a toy himself. My great-grandfather argued that his children will not act stubborn. So it was, that all the siblings went to the toy shop and started to play with them. The moment he told them to go they all did so without saying a word (without buying anything). The seller was, quite frankly, bamboozled.

His legacy can be summed up in an incident experienced by his grandson, my father. He had went to the passport office sometime in the late 90's. An old man with a beard had lined up behind him. In small talk, he got to know that the stranger was also from Ghazipur. My father added that although he passed away before he was born, his maternal grandfather was from there. "Oh really? Who was your Grandfather?" "Babu Girija Dayal Singh". The man's expressions changed as if my father had named a saint."Who doesn't know of him?" he replied.

He was no politician, or activist. Just an ordinary school teacher. His memories were still alive in people's hearts decades later after his passing.

This is the tale of a feminist, virtuous, and disciplined man. My great-grandfather.

A tale of a hero.