Shakuntala Bidaye Shetye May 29, 1933 ~ Jan. 14, 2025
KATY: Shakuntala Shetye passed away peacefully on January 14, 2025, in Katy. She was known to her family and friends affectionately as Shaku.
Shaku was born to Ganpati (Bapu) and Indira Bidaye in Rajapur, a small village in the Konkan region of Maharashtra, India. She spent most of her childhood in the coastal town of Devgad, surrounded by coconut trees and the Arabian Sea. She often referred to herself as being a tomboy, preferring boyish games. She was also a voracious reader and a regular at the local library, a habit she maintained for the majority of her life.
Shaku grew up in a family of five siblings. She was the second of two daughters, Mai and Sudha, and they all had two younger brothers, Raya and Ashok. Shaku pursued her post-secondary education in Mumbai. She was the first of her parents’ children to complete a university degree, let alone a Master’s degree, specializing in Hindi literature at KC College. Like her father, she became a teacher. She first taught at an all-girls school in 1960s Bombay. She was so enamored by her students that many decades later, a teaching colleague gathered a group of graduates from the school for a reunion with “Miss Bidaye.”
In 1963, Shaku married Gajanan Shetye in Bombay and she immediately immigrated with him to North America. They initially settled in Sudbury, Canada, where she was mistaken for an “Indian princess” and invited to speak on
local TV and attend gala events. Shortly after, the couple moved to the United States and in 1967, Shaku gave birth to their beloved daughter Swati (aka Shetye). The family shifted across the country – Cleveland, Niagara Falls, Detroit,
Lakeland and eventually Katy, just outside Houston, Texas. Shaku continued to teach as a substitute teacher, but also took on different jobs like banking, especially as Gajanan moved for work in Pottstown, PA, and Secaucus, NJ.
Among friends and family, Shaku was best known for her vibrant personality. She had an insatiable passion for exquisite food and music of any style. She loved to dress up, sing and dance at social gatherings. She had a booming
voice and an endless thirst for conversation in any of the languages she so effortlessly spoke: Marathi, Hindi, and English. Ultimately, Shaku will be remembered for the profound love and commitment she so generously gave to her family and closest friends. Throughout her six decades in America, she made biannual trips to visit her and Gajanan’s family in India as well as her two brothers’ families in Canada.
She loved and was equally loved by friends of many backgrounds and ages throughout her travels, but especially nearby her home in Katy, Texas. She had a brilliant memory for birthdays and a penchant for offering the most gracious wishes on every occasion. She also loved to share stories of her childhood, her parents and elders, and more. She was a living archive of an enormous family history. As her spirit makes its transition to the next realm, Shaku
continues to be loved, missed, and remembered by her daughter Swati (Shetye), her grandson Tristan, her son-in-law Brian, and stepgrandchildren Lizzy, Casey, and Cameron, alongside so many dear relatives and friends from North America to India and more.