Thousand
Full Moon: Vasudev Shridhar Karmarkar (Anna अण्णा)
83+
Contributed
by: Rohini
Anna
Karmarakar has worked and lived in three major cities in the US since 1971. He and
his wife Kusumtai currently live independently in California close to their younger
son. Karmarkars are people’s people and have been active in the Maharashtrian
community for many years. They have formed bonds across generations with their
helping nature and lively attitudes.
I
had heard a lot about Anna Karmarakar and Kusumtai from friends but never
really had a chance to meet with him till recently. I had heard that they were
the local guardians to a lot of my friends. I had heard that Anna regularly
gave discourses on Dnyaaneshwari /Bhagavad Geeta at his place.
Anna and Kusumtai had come on a ten day visit from California. Everyone wanted
to have them over. They had a packed social calendar. Friends had cleared their
prior engagements to accommodate this wonderfully warm, and energetic couple…
I
felt privileged when they made time to come to my house for an afternoon tea.
After some snacks and casual conversations I brought up the subject of Thousand
Full Moons blog and asked Anna if he would like to share any of his cherished
memories with the world. Initially, as is common with most octogenarians he was
not sure about how to go about picking 'a' memory to share from his treasure
trove of happy moments.
We
talked a little bit about his family, his five brothers and parents, his
childhood and schooling, and college in Amalner, Maharashtra. We touched upon
his first job in PWD, his transfer to Pune, completion of his BE degree after
the birth of his first child, his job at the Polytechnic as a Sr. lecturer. Then
came the subject of his travel and extended stay in Germany. A wonderful time with
heartwarming memories that lit him up and took him back 52 years to 1964…
...Anna
was a Sr. Lecturer at the Polytechnic institute then. Government of India had
wanted to award scholarships to Lecturers to go to Germany to learn why German
students were job-ready as soon as they finished school while Indian Polytechnic
students were not, and to bring the German Education System to Polytechnics to
India. Anna was one of the recipients of the scholarship and was sent to
Kochel, Germany with a group of 30 other lecturers.
The
day after the group landed in Germany they were transported to Kochel. At the
breakfast meeting, the group was handed books to learn German and was told that
there will be no further English communication, and that they were to figure
out their own way from then on. Anna recounted his first encounter at the post
office where he managed to get some stamps using a lot of hand waving and words
like India, letter etc. First task on his to do list was to inform Kusumtai
back home about his safe arrival in to Kochel. The group learned German through
German in this immersion program.
After
two months Anna attended a Technical Terminology Course followed by practical
training in Hannover. Anna started work in the field of Soil Mechanics under
the guidance of Dr. Geise, the owner of the company. Once preparing for a short
group vacation, Anna was at the bank, cashing Dr. Geise’s check for 2000 Marks.
The cashier by mistake handed 1000 extra Marks to Anna. This was in addition to
the 2000 Marks that Anna was to withdraw. Upon realizing the error Anna
promptly tried to explain to the cashier what had happened. The cashier could
not comprehend what Anna was saying and called his supervisor. The supervisor
also failed to understand and told Anna that the confusion arose from the fact
that Anna did not understand German very well. Anna tried to explain in vain,
that although he did not understand German very well, he understood ‘money’
quite well!
Anna
reluctantly came back with the extra 1000 Marks and explained the situation to
Dr. Geise. The bank called in the afternoon telling Dr. Geise about the mistake
and asked that the 1000 Marks be returned. Anna went back to the bank and very
assertively reminded them of his efforts earlier to return the money. He told
the bank officials that he was glad he had created a scene earlier else not
just Anna, but the entire Indian community could have been labeled 'unethical'.
Anna told the bank very firmly that he was an Indian and that Indians are an
honest people!
...Anna
can still speak German and wants to take Kusumtai to Germany to show her all
the places that are special to him.
The memories were flooding in...There was so much to say, so much to hear. But Anna and Kusumtai had to leave for their next engagement. I closed my notebook with a promise to visit them again to get another download of the enlightening stories…
The memories were flooding in...There was so much to say, so much to hear. But Anna and Kusumtai had to leave for their next engagement. I closed my notebook with a promise to visit them again to get another download of the enlightening stories…
Image:
Courtesy https://www.babbel.com/learning-german
