Contributor: Shailesh
Background - Mr. R. K. B., also known as Nana is 85 years young man who has not only struggled with adverse condition in his early years, but has used adversity as an opportunity to setup a fledgling business all by his own and then at the later stages of life, gone on to devote his heart and soul and time and money for social activity and religious service.
He started his working life as a mill-worker. For those who don't know, the power looms of vintage central Mumbai were notorious for a lot of labour abuse and infamous for angry strikes by workers struggling to feed their families 2 meals a day. They say that when the going gets tough, the tough get going. It was in this era when he not only made a bold decision to quit service, but also successfully set up a jewelery business based on the foundations of fairness and transparency and powered by hard work and dedication. Once the business was in auto-pilot mode, this man turned his attention to social service. 26 July 1989 was a dark day in this man's native village - Jambhulpada. In the aftermath of torrential rains and flooding of the local river, he arrived at a town which wore a look of a deserted village - a place where local people were shy of coming back to their homes fearing a repeat of the flooding. He rebuilt his hometown - a large part through his own personal finances and in many ways garnering support from government and samaritans. Today that village boasts of a full-fledged high-school, a medical facility, an old age home - for the uninitiated, these facilities are luxuries in most of rural India. He is currently spending most of his time and energy in re-establishing an old Ganesh mandir based in Jambhulpada - The Siddha-Lakshmi MahaGanapati Devasthan - and fortifying it into a facility where the village folk meet every evening for a devotional end to the hot and tiring day. In many ways, it has become the identity for the village now and attracts devotees from all over Maharashtra through the year, and especially on 26th December each year when a Ganesh-Yaag (divine sacrifice) is held at the temple.
I have this story narrated by this great son of God -
"Welcoming Goddess Lakshmi..."
In Hindu religion, when a man brings home his wife after marriage, the belief is that Goddess Lakshmi, the goddess of wealth comes to his home in the form of his wife. 'Arranged marriage' or a union which is decided by the elderly in the bride and groom's family was the norm those days as opposed to a couple choosing each other these days. In many cases, the bride and the groom got a glimpse of each other for the first time during the marriage itself! It was 1953. Nana was getting quite a few marriage proposals and had finally selected 2 possible brides out of which he had to choose one. He left the choice to his mother, as was the custom those days. His mother guided him to choose one Miss Indu as the one with whom he could share his life. He agreed, and 2 of his brothers met Miss Indu's brother for discussions on the modalities of the marriage. In Hindu culture, the bride's and the groom's families have to gift each other's extended families with gifts, pleasantries and sarees, etc during the marriage. In the discussions, Nana's brothers disagreed to the modalities that were acceptable to Indu's brother. They decided to snap ties and returned and informed their mother. On hearing this, Nana was upset and informed his mother about his disappointment on the outcome. He was a long-sighted man and the reason of rejecting a proposal based on petty customs was unacceptable to him. His mother agreed. He went to Indu's brother and informed him of his decision to pursue with the relationship. Despite continued disagreement from his brothers, Nana persevered and finally, got his way. Thus entered Goddess Lakshmi in his life - with whom he has shared last 55+ years of togetherness.
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Contributor: Ninad
"The Police Salute"
Nana was reading a newspaper one day when he read the news of his old friend Mr. J getting transferred to Mumbai as the Police Commissioner. Nana was excited by this news and decided to pay him a visit and catch up on old times. Thoughts were racing through his mind - from wondering whether he would even recognize him at all to what kind of tantrums will a high-flying police commissioner will throw. He finally decided to go to his office and see how it goes. When he arrived at the office, the commissioner was not yet in. He asked the constable outside his cabin as to when he would come and whether he could meet him. The constable, true to his duty, enquired if he had a prior appointment. Nana replied in the negative, but gave him his visiting card. The constable replied that the new commissioner was extremely strict and would most likely see him at the end of the day - when he was done with meeting all the people waiting to meet him, else probably would not even meet him at all! Nana decided to wait. Sure enough, sometime after that Mr. J arrived and walked right past him. The constable followed Nana’s friend to his cabin and handed over visiting cards from all the visitors. A few moments later, the constable came rushing to Nana requesting him to go in. Before Nana went in, his friend ordered the constable not to send anyone in till Nana was in. On entering the cabin, Nana's friend not only recognized him, but also showed a lot of warmth and offered him a seat. The two old friends revived old memories for some time and then finally bid goodbye. Nana came out and to his astonishment, found the constable saluting him! To top it off, he even escorted Nana to the gate.
In India, where a large part of the government establishment and related services is corrupt, rude and brash, getting a salute from a police constable was surely one memory to cherish for the rest of his life for Nana!
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Contributor: Shripad
"The secret donor..."
Nana spent a lot of time trying to rejuvenate Siddha Lakshmi Maha Ganapati Mandir in Jambhulpada. Obviously, the financial support required to carry out the kind of ambitious projects that Nana had in mind, was beyond a single person's ability. Nana, through his established business network, had a the uncanny ability and a strong divine support in finding donors who supported his aspirations financially.
From: Sulabha Nadkarni
ReplyDeleteTo contribute to 'the thousand Full Moons', I thought of dealing with the family.
My uncle Atmaram Bhende had his 88th birthday in May. I called him to wish on his birthday and in my 'gappaas' I asked him, :Bapu, tell me of any happy memory in your life' And he said, 'aga sulu, I have been blessed and I dont know if I deserve it, but my life has always been full of happy memories. I cannot select one from among so many. All along, people came in my life and made my life richer, happier and worth every minute of it. I am very much indebted to the Almighty who gave me this life'.
I had nothing more to ask him or probe further. Some ARE born LUCKY and some take every single happening as the blessing!
Thanks for taking an interest in the project.
ReplyDeleteThe sentiments your uncle has echoed are prevalent in majority of the people in that age group.
It will be a great honor to have at least a ‘token’ happy memory from your uncle Shri. Atmaram Bhende, may be from the days of experimental Marathi Theater (1940 -1950) when he worked to revive the Marathi theater or when he introduced ‘farce’ to the Marathi Theater.