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...
No comments:
Post a Comment