73. True happiness is derived from doing something good for others

Thousand Moon: Shrimati Ushaprabha Kale, 84

Contributed by: Dr. R. Boradkar

Shrimati Ushaprabha Kale is 84 years old. She is fond of reading and spends two hours in the morning reading newspapers.

She is a graduate and has other accomplishments to her credit. She is a Marathi Visharad, Hindi Kovid ,has passed the 4^th standard Gujrati Examination, . She has also passed the Physical  Training Teachers examination conducted by the Maharashtra Mandal.and has worked as a Physical Training Instructor in Maharashtra Mandal. On top of this she has completed a Deaf Mute teachers  training course and has worked as a Teacher in a school for Deaf-mutes for a period of ten years.

She worked for 25 years in the accounts Section of Mumbai Corporation and retired from the Accounts Department of Mumbai Corporation.  She settled down in Pune after her retirement.

She narrates how she got the appointment in Mumbai Corporation. 

In Mumbai they were staying in a Bungalow .Her husband and his brother had a workshop on the ground floor and they used the first floor as their residence..One day a person working in the workshop came to ask for half day;s leave. The Bombay Corporation was recruiting clerks and he wanted to get the necessary form. She asked him to get form for her too.. On getting it she filled the form and sent it. Within a few months she got the Appointment letter  from the corporation and she was taken up in the Accounts section.After 15 years of service as a clerk she appeared for the departmental examination for the post of Head Clerk and  passed.and worked as a Head Clerk.

She feels that true happiness is derived from doing something good for others. And so never lets a chance slip.

She  once got a knitting machine from an Orphanage in Mumbai. She used to knit on the machine and sell the work to various people and donate the money to the said orphanage. She did this for a period of ten years and felt very happy that she could be useful to the society. She had to stop this charitable work when she shifted to Pune. The machine was give back to the orphanage I am sure regretfully as the work made her happy.

72. Difference between Chaarwak Neeti and Modern Economics

Matapurkar kaka as we call him, is my friend’s father. While we were growing up he was one of those formidable uncles upon whose arrival we would make haste to leave the friend’s house. I wonder why though, because when I talked with him today he seemed like a very likable individual willing to share the wealth of experiences from his 81 years.

Matapurkar Kaka and Mavshi live independently in an apartment in Pune. Kaka does yoga, uses computer and even manages to send text messages (SMS) to his son who lives in another city. I had called him before reaching his apartment at 4:00 pm in the afternoon. They were both happy to see me and after some small talk Mavshi went in the kitchen to make tea and I pulled out my voice recorder to record some of his cherished memories. Here is what he had to say in his own words (translated from Marathi).

Thousand Full Moon: Moreshwar Matapurkar 81+

Contributed by: Rohini

I was born in a very small village called Paatan. I don’t remember Patan at all. My father was in a government job and would be transferred every three years. I started my schooling  in Shrigunda, yet  another small village near Satara.  Since my health was a little delicate when I was young, nobody bothered to enrol me in a school even though I was past school going age. It was when I went to my father and insisted, that I want to go to school, was when I was enrolled. I went to school with my sister who was a little older than I was. She went in to the girls’ school and I went to the boys’. The teacher asked me, “Are you going to come every day?” and I said, “yes I am going to come every day”. He asked me to bring 2 Anaas (= 12 paise) from my father as fees and that is how my schooling began.

We came to Dhule and that is where my high school education began. In my new school once the teacher asked me to read out aloud for my English class. This teacher had taught the students to over stress the the ‘ed’ in the past tense form of the verbs. When I started reading and pronounced words like ‘walked’ in a normal way without over stressing ‘ed’, everyone laughed. The teacher knew that I was a good student in my old school and would always stand first. But hearing my pronunciation and not knowing any better he commented that I must have been a “lame cow in a bunch of calves” (this is a literal translation of a Marathi proverb). But later on as I consistently stood first even in my new school, he was satisfied and announced it to the whole school and praised me.

I graduated with Economics and Political science from Ruia College in Mumbai. I had enrolled my name at the employment exchange and got an interview call for the post of an “Excise Duty Inspector” at the Office of Collector of Central Excise and Customs. The day I went, there was a big crowed of interviewees. We waited and waited but no interview that day. Then they asked us to come the next day. Half the people did not show up the next day. The interviews began promptly at 10:00am. During my interview I was asked a lot of questions about economics and political science which I answered well. (Matapurkar Kaka did not mention this but if I recollect right, he is a Gold Medallist of his graduating class). But then one question he asked me was not part of the curriculum of studies. He asked me,” what is the difference between Chaarwak’s (an ancient Indian philosopher)  philosophy and modern economics”? This was a totally unexpected question. I don’t know how, but I remembered the Sanskrit saying, “Yaavat jeevet, sukham jeevet, rinam kritva ghritam pibet” meaning, as long as you live, live well even if you have to be under debt to do so. This sums up Chaarwaak’s philosophy. As for the modern economics, I said that it is the way, an instrument to satisfy unlimited needs with limited means. Even I was surprised at my answer and so was the interviewer, but he liked my answer and hired me on the spot!!!

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

I chatted with both of them some more, thanked them for their hospitality and look their leave. When I came down four flights of stairs I realized that I had left my umbrella in their apartment. So I went up again. There was great excitement there. Mavshi was standing by the window trying to locate me. She was clapping to attract the attention of the Rikshaw driver to ask whether I had left. Kaka was ready with his shoes on, about to go downstairs to give me my umbrella.

I was overwhelmed and humbled at their sincere and affectionate caring as I walked down the stairs with my umbrella in my hand...

71. He ran all the way home, a distance of nine miles…

Thousand Moon: Colonel Vishwanath Dattatreya Deodhar “Bapu” (Born 1928, Age 85+)

Contributed by: Nandu

Col. Deodhar pursued a military career since a young age.  He attended Bhosla Military School (BMS) in Nasik from 6^th grade till matriculation, followed by two years of college studies in Pune.  For school, he would travel alone via train from his hometown Bhivpuri to Nasik independently, without anyone accompanying him any time at that young age.   In Bhivpuri, Tata Company had opened a power station, away from any major city, where his father was working as an Electrical Engineer.  As a starting establishment, there was no school for young Vishwanath to study.  So, right from the first grade, he studied in elementary schools in different cities, staying with grand parents or maternal uncle or aunt.   People would joke with his parents asking if they wanted Vishwanath to become a collector, a prestigious government post at that time, for sending him away so young for schooling.  His parents certainly wanted him to study well.  However, while completing his high school, he frankly told his father two things, one not to expect higher studies from him and second that he was to join military.

He remembered one incidence while reminiscing.  When he was to join college, he reserved a bicycle as it was the main mode of transportation in Pune.  The place to reserve it, at the closest railway station, was nine miles away from Bhivpuri camp.  Tata Co. had arranged a small train-cart shuttle for transportation that would leave in the morning and afternoon from Bhivpuri.  The last return shuttle used to be in the night.  So he traveled to the rail station, reserved his bike, and found that for some reason the return shuttle was cancelled.   He was to leave for Pune the next day.  Had he waited for the shuttle to return in the morning, he would have missed his train and disturbed the entire schedule.  While watching the train track, he suddenly decided to take control of the situation and just started running.  He ran all the way home in dark, a distance of nine miles, reaching home very late night, and was all set to embark upon the planned journey the next morning.

Another interesting story he recounted was writing to his father to ask whether he could eat Goat meat during Dasara celebration at BMS, this was significant since he hailed from a strict vegetarian family.  His father responded by saying that “there is nothing wrong in wearing shoes and reading the Holy Gita while drinking beer” giving his permission indirectly in his own special practical way.  

Although he is not superstitious yet he has experienced firsthand the “siddhi” or special power that some people seem to possess.  As a toddler, while playing, he had met with an accident wherein he had fallen down very hard and had injured his backbone and spine.  He was bed-ridden for almost two years.  A little after the incident, while traveling in a train, a passenger told his his parents that the condition and associated hurt was going to stay for a while and he gave exact date of recovery after which the boy would be fine.  Time passed and to everyone's surprise, one day, the prediction came true and young Vishwanath was miraculously restored to complete health.  Not being able to forget the mysterious prediction, Bapu tried to search for that individual, but was only able to offer his respects at the shrine of this extraordinary Yogi.

   

Before completing the college degree, and after two consecutive rejections for various reasons, finally he was selected in the Indian army.  He was in service till his retirement.  He recalled that his father, an Engineer, always wanted to be a soldier during World War I, so he believes that his father’s wishes were fulfilled through his selection.

He was posted in various military establishments in the group for Repair and Recovery Operations for military vehicles and ammunitions during peace time.  He was moved to different camps almost every two years, with family moving along with him or at times family stationed in Pune. Once, when he was transferred to north-east region, he was to stay in bunkers with other soldiers.  It was a scary part to live and sleep in the night with constant fear of jungle animals and possible collapse as he would hear cracking sounds of the stones above.  One day he decided not to stay there, informed his superiors, and left the bunker to safer area.  To his disbelief, the same bunker collapsed two days after and he was thus miraculously saved, with some kind of premonition.

After the war of 1971, he received a Gallantry Award of Mention-in-Despatch for excellent work at Fazilka, Punjab in the Western Sector.

After retirement, on the social aspect, he was involved in a tedious and time consuming task of compiling family history of the entire Deodhar family tree ‘Kulavrutanta’.  Its first compilation and publishing was already done earlier in 1967.  In 1992, he reviewed, revised, expanded, and coordinated the collection with the help of coworkers.  He traveled to many different cities to gather information about people with last name Deodhar, Dixit and Dhamdhere, and associated ones, sifted through many old documents tracing the family history over centuries, and wrote the information about additional families.  Now more experienced, he once again aspires to recompile and republish the ‘kulavrutanta’ with updated information by 2017, with younger team.

He wants to keep everybody happy around him. Due to love and support from his children and their respective families, he is not worried or depressed in the old age.  He attributes his good health to the hard work and exercise he did during his school days.