City’s Gujarati daughter-in-law, 89, stands up for underprivileged kids

GUWAHATI: Ranjan Ben Ratilal Vyas (89) has been providing education and food to underprivileged children daily. She also runs sewing classes for women belonging to the lower economic strata of society since 1996 so that they can become “economically independent”.
Fondly called “dadi” by the residents of her neighborhood in the Fatasil Ambari area, Ranjan Ben was born in Gujarat’s Rajkot in 1935.She came to Guwahati in 1952 at a tender age of 17 after marrying Ratilal Vyas, a Gujarati businessman of the city’s Fancy Bazar area.
At present, about 100 children take lessons in language and mathematics and 25 women also attend her sewing classes every day. Every year in November, all the women of the batch of her sewing class are given machines after the completion of their year-long course. She has hired teachers tom impart eductaion to the children.
“There are many women in the area who work as domestic helps and their children are deprived of the right care and upbringing. These children come to the temple every day and take their lessons and also get food,” Ranjan Ben told TOI on Thursday.
Till date, thousands of children were taught, around 500 women got sewing training and 80 girls from families of economically weaker sections of society have been married off by Ranjan Ben. In 2019, she donated an ambulance in a remote place of Tamulpur district.
Recollecting initial days of her initiative, she said, “When I first came to Guwahati after marriage, there were a handful of Gujarati families in the city and we had no such means to pass our free time. So, in 1965, to have get togethers among the Gujarati families at regular intervals and pass our leisurely time, we decided to do bhajan, kirtan in the Gujarati households which sparked the starting of this initiative. With the donations we collected from the “satsang”, we started providing food to street dwellers near the Sukreswar Temple at Pan Bazar once a month and have continued the initiative.”
In 1996 on of her four sons, Shobhan Bhai Vyas, bought a land near the Fatasil Ambari area, and there she started feeding the underprivileged children of nearby slums. Her noble works attracted the attention of a Kolkata-based tea garden owner, N K Shah, who helped them with a donation of Rs 19 lakh to have a permanent accommodation. With this financial aid, she established a temple of Saint Jalaram (a 20th century saint from Gujarat) in the Fatasil Ambari area of the city in 2003 and since then the temple has become her address.
Brinda Vyas, grand daughter-in-law of Ranjan Ben, said they are inspired by the works she has been doing for the last 28 years and is motivated to carry on her legacy. “At this age also, she has been very active and perform her day to day chores without taking others’ help. Following in her footsteps, we are also trying to contribute to society in whatever way we can,” she said.