Shashikala Pritamlal Parikh

Shashikala Parikh was born on November 13, 1926, in Surendranagar, Gujarat, India, to Ganpatlal and Vijyagaori Parikh. She was the second oldest of six children.

She and her family moved to Dhanghadra and Jaipur during her early years. She learned English in sixth grade and attended high school at Maharani Gayatri Devi Girls’ School, started by the Queen of Jaipur. While her dream was to go to college to pursue medicine as her father did, she sacrificed her wishes and instead completed a home study program where she received a B.A. in Hindi. In addition to her studies, she pursued private sewing classes, allowing her to provide free sewing instruction for 3-4 hours daily to the local community. She found a new passion as a result, leading to years of sewing and knitting clothing for her family, a skill she maintained well into her eighties.

As a young adult, Shashi made some treasured memories, including traveling to Mount Abu and Delhi and horseback riding on vacations. One of her favorite activities was accompanying her father on house calls to patients’ homes by bicycle. But, since women were severely discouraged from taking on roles in medicine, Shashi found a way around this by wearing t-shirts and long pants and riding a men’s bicycle to travel from house to house. She assisted her father as a nurse, brought food to patients, and took care of patients’ children during visits. During the three years she worked by his side, from age 16 to 19, the always fearless Shashi also observed many autopsies he performed.

Around this same time, Shashi became engaged to Pritamlal Parikh. While engaged in 1942, they waited to be married until July 10, 1947, seeing each other only once a year for those 5 years. The reason for the extended engagement was because both of their grandparents had passed away between those years, and they abided by the rule of no celebrations for one year after the passing of a family member. This type of sacrifice is a testament to the type of woman Shashikala was and continued to be throughout the remainder of her life. Once married, Shashikala and Pritamlal created a life together in Nagpur, raising their three children, Ila, Naresh, and Meera. Over the years, she remained selfless, caring for her elder extended family members and spending many sleepless nights helping her children study for their exams in an effort to facilitate their success. Decades later, she took on the noble role of raising four of her grandchildren in India while her children pursued their careers in America.

Shashikala was intelligent, compassionate, vibrant, fearless, and a beautiful person inside and out. She lived to serve others, and always had a smile to share, a comforting shoulder to lean on, and wonderful words of wisdom to provide. As the matriarch, she created a lasting legacy that will be passed down to her family, inspiring them to fulfill their dreams, lead with positivity in the face of adversity, and live life to their fullest potential.

Shashikala is survived by her three children: Ila (Harish), Naresh (Asha), Meera (Kiran), seven grandchildren: Payal (Steven), Puja, Cheryl (Matthew), Michelle (Amit), Mona (Anand), Melissa (Jonathan), and Nirav (Ishita), and nine great- grandchildren: Dev, Charlie, Ariana, Sarina, Hailey, Kiran, Marlie, Shaan, and Sophie. In addition, Shashikala is preceded in death by her brother Dwarkadas (Das) and leaves behind two other brothers: Gunvantrai (GG) and Nirmal and two sisters: Hansa and Usha.

Throughout her ninety-seven years, Shashikala impacted so many lives, and those who had the great fortune of knowing her were truly blessed by her presence. Her family loved her profoundly and will be perpetually grateful to her for all of the love, kindness, and compassion she showed on an unconditional basis. Shashikala will be forever remembered and truly missed. May her soul rest in peace.