A naturalist to the core

Amid the crowded Jogeshwari Temple area off Laxmi Road, lies a nondescript small gate.

If you push the door and enter this 161, Budhwar Peth structure, a narrow walkway leads to an old, dilapidated, house with a cat, a dog and birds to welcome you. The wada which was once a three-storey structure is now reduced to a single room occupying 189 sq feet area.

The most interesting part, however, is that the 161, Budhwar Peth Wada hasn’t seen electricity for decades, and willingly so. If you think the house is interesting, wait till you read about the owner, Hema Sane, the 73-year-old retired head of the Department of Botany at Abasaheb Garware College in Pune. Sane lives in this antique house with her brother Suhas, and shuns the use of electricity for environmental reasons.

An alumnus of Hujurpaga School, Fergusson College and University of Pune, Hema worked as a Botany teacher. But she did not restrict herself to botany and explored Indology at Tilak Maharashtra Vidyapeeth. She says, “It was just for fun that I started learning Indology and later did M Phil in the subject.” She adds, “Since I had no plans of getting a job in this field, I enjoyed Indology and stood first in the course. A student even did PhD under me, but it was so taxing that I felt that I can do another PhD instead of guiding students.” However, that didn’t stop Hema from teaching many students, without charging any fees.

With many species of trees and animals for company, Hema has visitors who come to enjoy nature. “We welcome everyone. We have an owl in our house and even a mongoose, apart from many cats and dogs,” says Hema who strikes as a nature lover more than a botanist. She steers the conversation to Ixora Parvi Flora, a beautiful plant with white flowers, saying, “I call this (naming plants in Latin) as the science of abusing beautiful plants and flowers. When you pronounce it you feel like someone is abusing.”