Renowned scholar and founder of the world’s largest selling publication - the almanac Kaalnirnay, Jyotirbhaskar Jayant Salgaonkar passed away at Hinduja Hospital on Tuesday after a brief illness. He was 84. He is survived by his wife and three sons.
Salgaonkar was admitted to PD Hinduja Hospital in Mahim on August 17 following food poisoning. His condition deteriorated on Sunday and he was shifted to the Intensive Care Unit. He had suffered from a cardiac arrest which led to complications. Dr. Sanjay Agarwala, Medical Director, Hinduja Hospital said, “Salgaonkar’s condition was critical and he breathed his last on Tuesday at around 5.15 am.”
Started as a hand-printed almanac for 10,000 Marathi subscribers in 1973, Kaalnirnay has grown to be reputedly the world’s largest selling publication, with around 19 million copies being sold annually.
“Kaalnirnay” has acquired an unbeatable reputation as the most authentic almanac, providing up-to-date information on all Indian traditional festivals, auspicious ‘tithis’ (dates) and timings, cultural tidbits and information on all major religions practised in the country alongwith railway time tables, recipes and yoga charts. This popularity has cut across regions and age with publication even launching an almanac app.
An indication of how acceptable the man who headed the traders association and began the umbrella organisation of all Ganesh mandals across the city comes across from the spectrum of people who turned up at his funeral. The procession, which began from his Matunga (E) home to the Dadar (W) crematorium, included Revenue Minister Narayan Rane, senior journalist Baharatkumar Raut, BJP leaders Vinod Tawade and Kirit Somaiya, MNS leader Bala Nandgaonkar, and Saraswat Bank chairman Eknath Thakur.
Lamenting his passing away, veteran actor Sulochana recounted her family’s 50-year-old association with the Salgaonkars.
“Jayant Salgaonkar’s mastery over language was amazing. He would spend long hours in the company of littérateurs like Pu La Deshpande, and Ga Dee Madgulkar,” she reminisced and added, “It was his crossword special magazine Shabdaranjan which first drew me to finding out more and getting to know him.”
According to her despite the Kaalnirnay growing into a big empire, Salgoankar never gave up his simplicity and humane nature. “The first to help out people in times of need, he had strong affinity for his native Malvan. All his close friends, including me, would be sent amazing made-in-Malwan mithai unfailingly every Diwali. I don’t recollect missing any Ganpati festival celebrations in the Salgaonkar home.”
She pointed out to a Zee Lifetime Achievment award given to her last year at the hands of Salgaonkar and emotionally said, “This will be a hard-to-fill void.”
It’s a view which finds resonance with writer-columnist Shobhaa De who said her late cousin Gautam Rajadhyaksha enjoyed a good rapport with Salgoankar. “He was a man who was able to pioneer an idea that went on to become so big. Wherever I have travelled across the globe, I have come across Kaalnirnay calendars in NRI homes. It is almost as if the calendars help the diaspora stay connected with India.”
Long time friend and veteran journalist Aroon Tikekar told DNA how he will miss the race to call a man who shared his birthday. “We would try to good humouredly beat each other at wishing the other first,” he said and insisted, “Though he was a believer and practiced astrology, he thought of the latter as science and did not go around spreading dogma or scaring people. His approach ot both was rational. Proof of this is our enduring friendship of over three and a half decades where he never pushed me into accepting anything simply because he believed in it. He knew and respected my non-belief.”
A senior Sena leader who was close to the astrologer bemoaned his passing away as a big loss. “Anyone who went to him for advice, whther it was the poorest or richest, he was able to provide an insight in such way that the problem would be solved to the maximum satisfaction of all parties involved,” he said and added, “His empathy for anyone beleaguered came from the two instances when he faced total insolvency. Yet he had re-emerged as a leading light.”
Apart from the thousands of astrology columns in newspapers, Salgaokar has written several books, like Sundermath, a biography of Samarth Ramdas; Deva Tuchi Ganeshu (Ganesha, You are only Lord); and Dharmashastriya Nirnay (Decisions of Dharmashastra).
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