Anandvan must have experienced total darkness today. This wasn’t the usual load shedding or an eclipse of the sun. The light of Anandvan has gone.
ANANDVAN (Chandrapur): Anandvan must have experienced total darkness from the early hours of the morning today. This wasn’t the usual load shedding or an eclipse of the sun. The light of Anandvan has gone.
The people of Anandvan must be mourning the loss of their Father Figure. A patriarch, who gave them a second life, gave them a livelihood and with it, brought back their pride. Many would have felt orphaned.
Baba Amte died in the early hours of Saturday. Till this very moment his large family which consists not only of his blood relation but also those of his co-workers and admirers had never thought of him as a mortal being. They all knew of his terminal illness and his deteriorating condition. Yet they all hoped for a miracle that would save him, and that he would start taking rounds enquiring about their well being, their problems, admiring agricultural produce or furniture. But that was not to be.
I had been to his Anandvan just a month or so ago to attend a public function to award . Sadhanatai Amte with ‘Jeevan Gaurav Puraskar’ instituted by Chaturang in the capacity as chairperson of the selection committee. I got to see him being brought to the venue lying on a cart. My heart lost a beat when I looked at him. I had seen him first at the height of his glory. He was the centre of attraction wherever he went. Baba Amte’s entire life was spent in nursing the sick, whether lepers or the visually impaired, physically challenged or orphaned. People who met him were inspired by his example.
No wonder persons of the stature of P.L. Deshpande made it a point to visit him frequently, and help him in his projects. Even Nana Patekar never spared efforts in helping him, not to speak of common people.
Baba was lawyer by training but the call to do something for the less privileged proved stronger than his own success. Little wonder that he became an icon for youth as well as others who still had some idealism in them. He and his wife brought a smile on the face of hundreds whose lives they touched.
‘Yah kriyavaan sa panditah’ goes a Sanskrit saying. By that definition, Baba was a prakand-pandit, a man of real erudition!
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
)
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
)
)
)
)
)
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}