BHUBANESWAR: Every year, August 15 gives the family of Rajesh Sahoo in Rourkela three reasons to celebrate. Not only does his large family of 10 observes India’s Independence but also celebrates the birthdays of two of its members from two different generations.
Rajesh’s father late Jai Hind Lal Sahoo was a Midnight’s Child, born a few minutes after India was declared an independent nation from the 200-year British Rule on August 15, 1947. Born into a family of small-time jewellers in Birmitrapur of Sundargarh district, Jai Hind Lal also shared birthday with his granddaughter and Rajesh’s daughter Janvi Sahoo who was born on the same day in the year 1998.
“My great grandparents used to sell silverware during festivals and melas in places like Panposh, Joda and Barbil prior to the Independence. My father had told us that he was named Jai Hind Lal because he was born a few minutes after India’s independence and the small town reverberated with slogans of Jai Hind”, says Rajesh, who owns the JaiHind & Sons Jewellers in Rourkela.
The jewellery shop was established in 1951 by Rajesh’s grandparents who along with Jai Hind Lal shifted to Rourkela after work on the Rourkela Steel Plant began. “For many years, August 15 was a big affair at our house as the grandfather and granddaughter duo celebrated their birthdays together till my father passed away due to old-age related ailments in 2019”, says 55-year old Rajesh.
But that is not all. There’s more to the days of National importance and birthdays in the family. Rajesh was born on January 26 - Republic Day - in 1966 and his youngest daughter Saanvi Sahoo took birth on the Gandhi Jayanti day on October 2 in the year 2012.
“It is a happy coincidence that we are born on one or the other National days. The rest of my family members including my brother and his children are either born on Shivaratri, Rath Yatra or Dhanteras”, says Rajesh.