It was a doubly exciting time for Shelina Assomull, a student at Gibraltar’s Westside Girls Secondary School, when she accompanied her grandfather, local businessman and founder of the Alwani Charitable Trust, Kishin Alwani, not just on a tour of some of India’s greatest attractions but also to meet her 88 year-old great-grandmother Kamla Aswani in the diamond city of Surat.

The meeting was particularly memorable as 14 year-old Shelina was meeting her great-grandmother for the first time. Shelina, daughter of Ajit and Sangeeta, was also accompanied by her Aunt Usha. The trip took in such sites as the Akshaydham Temple in Delhi, and one of the seven wonders of the world, the Taj Mahal.

Shelina’s great-grandmother Kamla Aswani is the head of a religious and spiritual group belonging to Dada Laxmi, in Surat. She has been a member of the group for more than 50 years, and during her lifetime has seen many changes in the people with whom she comes into contact.

During the visit, Shelina came to see, know and experience at first hand the love and respect that the people have for her great-grandmother. She saw mothers bringing their newly-born babies to her great-grandmother for blessings; and she witnessed mothers bringing their children along for blessings on their way to sit school exams. Even newly-wed couples came to her straight from their weddings for her blessings while Shelina was there.

Her great-grandmother’s 88th birthday celebrations, held last month in Surat, included a gathering of over 400 disciples who got together to decorate the entire premises and take part in discourses and dances. The ladies danced to the songs, losing themselves in the moment of peace and joy.

Shelina was fascinated by the discipline of her great-grandmother’s daily life. Each morning Kamla rose at 4.30am and the ladies would start assembling at her palatial bungalow from 6.30 am. The morning gathering would be conducted by her companion, Jyoti, a pretty, bubbly, young and active disciple who stays in the bungalow and looks after the entire household. The other ladies would join in the initial singing at the gatherings, which would last about half an hour before being followed by a question and answer session, when the disciples were free to ask questions of Kamla. She would then retire to her room and Shelina observed that this was the opportunity for those ladies who wanted to have a private talk to meet with her. By 10.00 am all this would be over, and her Kamla would retire to rest and pray. The lunch that followed was a simple affair, but lavishly and lovingly prepared by the disciples. The evenings took a similar form to the morning sessions, starting by 4.00 pm and ending by 6.30 pm.

Shelina’s great-grandmother, known as the Spiritual Leader, stresses that everyone should do their duty within the community and not expect any thing in return. While not advocating rituals or idol worship, she believes in the doctrine of cause and effect and the importance of being a good human being. She strongly believes that what has to happen will happen, at a predestined time. Therefore, it is best to accept the vagaries and uncertainties of life as God’s wishes and commands and to live a happy life by accepting them.

Shelina thoroughly enjoyed meeting her family and her experiences of a world very different to her life in Gibraltar. She hopes very much that she will be able to return to India to join in the special celebrations which will take place on her great grandmother’s 90th birthday in two years time.