From our ancestors come our name, but from our virtues, our honours.

Okay, I picked that title up from the internet but it resonates with my post today. We just concluded my late father in law's 1st year memorial prayers. It was a solemn ceremony attended by family and close friends. Coincidentally, today would have been his late mother's 100th birthday.

Madam Saraswathi Mylvaganam

January 17,1917 - November 7,1957

His mom, the late Madam Saraswathi passed away at the tender age of 40 due to some medical errors. My FIL was 16. His two older brothers a few years older, his younger brother was 10 and his sister, the only girl in the family was merely 2 years old. Her death was a huge blow to the whole family and affected them in different ways. Her husband refused to remarry despite his family’s strong recommendation and chose to be a single parent for the next 26 years. He passed away in 1981. I don't know much about my father in law's older brothers as they were long gone before I married into the family. But I know from the stories and my simple observations that his younger brother became somewhat a rebel in his teens (he is doing great now) and his sister although very much doted upon by her father and brothers turned out to be fiercely independent. As for my FIL, he became the darling boy for every maami in town and was also very close to his mother in law.

From the bits and pieces I gleaned from her children, Saraswathi was a strict but a loving mother. She did not enjoy robust health but was always happy to lend a helping hand whenever she can. As the eldest daughter of 8 siblings (7 daughters and 1 son) she was the filial daughter and the perfect eldest sister everyone looked up to.

In the 1940’s, she and her children left to Sri Lanka to escape the war and to spend some time with her family. During her stay there, she supervised the constructions of some homes of her family members. Alas, although she did the same to the family home in Malaysia, she was not alive to see it complete. The whole family moved into their new house without the lady of the house.

When my FIL’s older brother got married, he apparently told his wife that he would like to name his daughter after his late mother. His wish came true when their second child was a girl. And she was the apple of his eye and my FIL was very close to her. This Saraswathi is fondly known as Sara. She is the personification of all sweet and nice. She married a nice bloke who was born on November 7 (The day Saraswathi passed away in 1957) Definitely an episode of X-files!

Fast forward a few decades later, when my hubby and I found out that we were expecting a baby girl, he mentioned that he wanted to name her ‘Saraswathi’. Okay, to be honest, it is a pretty traditional name but when he said that his father would be happy and I like names being passed down the generations (Mat Salleh wannabe..hehe), I relented on the condition she gets a another name that would sound nice with Saraswathi. We quickly settled on Diya Saraswathi. Diya means ‘Lamp’ and Saraswathi is the Hindu Goddess of Knowledge. Pretty grand name for a kid, eh? So yeap Pebbles is Diya Saraswathi who goes by Diya, Diyasara and Diyalo and sometimes Mangamma Jack :P Needless to say, my FIL was over the moon when he found out and always told everyone (who had functioning ears for the matter) that Diya was named after his mother.

 Sara and Diya

(Saraswathi II and Saraswathi III)

I know naming a child after someone who has been revered for years is a huge burden for a child. I mean what if she turns out to be the total opposite of the strict but loving Great Grandma Saraswathi or even the sweet and lovely Sara maami? Well, as any parents do, we give our children the roots to know where home is and wings to fly off and practice what has been taught to them. That’s what Great Grandma Saraswathi did and what Sara mami is doing with her children so Diya will do just fine.

Saraswathi may be 100 today and may have been gone for over 60 years but her legacy of sound family values lives on in her surviving offspring, her son in law and daughters in law, a host of grandchildren and the cutest great grand-children.

The great Mylvaganam family

Since there are holes on the heaven’s floor, she will be peeking over her loved ones with her husband and three older sons. They must be throwing her a really grand birthday party.

Happy 100^th Birthday, Diya’s Great Grandma. Like your son, Logen said, ‘You have hit a century, amma!,’