Shared by Shivani Pandita from her personal family collection.
She writes:
In the center holding the baby (my eldest masi, Chuni Pandit), is my maternal grandmother, Leelawati Pandit. She must have been 20-21 yrs old in this picture. The others are Leelawati’s siblings. This picture must have been shot at her parental home in Dadsara village in Tral sub-district of Kashmir . My Nani was 11 years old when she got married but she had her first daughter after 10/11 years of marriage. This picture is shot somewhere between 1934-36 and is one of the few that survived time and migration. My maternal family has been matriarchal as my grandfather died at a young age. Leelawati was not educated but very intelligent and hardworking, she even learnt reading and writing Hindi later from her grand daughter and even in advanced age was keen to learn.
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