The Legend

Purshotam Lakshman Deshpande- an inseparable part of every Marathi heart. 'Jack of all trades and master of none'- he is the person who has proved this proverb wrong...This man has seen peak of success in his life.

With the end of P K Atre's reign it was like Paradise Lost but with rise of another monarch of literature-P L Desphpande- it was paradise regained. Although his sad demise has disheartened many he is still immortal in our hearts, making us laugh as he made all his life.

His journey as a writer began with a portrayal of character sketch name "Anna Vadgaonkar" in a magazine named Abhiruchi in the year 1943 and after this he never looked back. List of the books he wrote goes on an on..everyone is aware of it.. Varayvarchi Varat, Batatyachi Chal, Khogir Bharati, Maitra, Vyakti ani Valli. He has also written travelogues like Purvaranga, Apurvai. He has very good Marathi dramas based on foreign plays for eg: Ti Fularani, Ek Zunja Varyashi .

Most of his writings are part fiction and part reality but when we read his literature we seldom experience the fiction part of his writing. Especially when we read his character sketches vyakti ani valli.. its like a impersonation of people in every Marathi life..!! Once he was questioned about the existence and reality about these character sketches, he answered, "अशा व्यक्ती माझ्या आयुष्यात आल्याही आणि नाहीही" But trust me, while reading his writings we never experience the "नाहीही" part of it. They are so realistic. This feeling is not just limited to just this book but all the books he has written. Antu Barva, Narayan, Annu Gogte, Chitale Master are some of the articles that I have really loved and thoroughly enjoyed while reading.


He was born in 1919 and brought up in a middle class family. After matriculation, he completed his post graduation in arts which was quite creditable in those days. He married to a girl named Sunita and started his career at an age of 24. Comedy was his main genre of his writings but he has done quite a lot of serious writing on social topics like for eg leprosy, untouchability, etc. In the year 2000 he left for his heavenly abode ending his mind boggling period of 57 years of literary career.

Besides a novelist he was an excellent actor. No one can miss his master piece Gulacha Ganpati , famous as sabkuch pu la..!! He had directed, composed music , produced, given background score and also acted in it. He has also acted in epoch making mono act Batatyachi Chal. Also his play Varyavarchi Varat is another master piece.
This is an immortal song composed by legendary P L Deshpande for his movie gulacha ganpati sung by another legend Pt. Bhimsen Joshi. The organ in this song is played by the vocalist Pt. Vasant Rao Deshpande.


While PL used to be lost in hills and vales of literature-it was only literature excellency that he hungered for and not monetary aspects of it. But life does not give you so much liberty..but he was never concerned about it. He always thought out of the box something much ahead of monetary gains and materialism. Its quite true that every successful man has a woman behind him..in it also proved quite true for our legend as Mrs Sunita stepped into the box to take care of both of their monetary needs.

P L Deshpande was an excellent harmonium player. His fingers ran on the buttons of harmonium with inexplicable ease and the notes that came out of it sounded eternal. His pen had also ventured the poetry aspect of literature though not more. He himself accepted that he was not a born poet.





P L Deshpande was indeed a legend and an All Rounder in real sense. His success was well deserved and well earned. A very down to earth person and indeed a jewel in diadem of Marathi literature. I would like to end this blog in his own style.
He was never Annu Gogte in his life..!! And we all wish that he is very happy and content in heaven with celestial nymphs all around him, as described by him in his own words.." मेनका डोक्यावर तेल थापते आहे आणि रम्भा पंख्याने हवा घालते आहे..!!"

Nathuram Vinayak Godse

Nathuram V. Godse

Godse is often a misunderstood character. He is referred to as a Hindu fanatic. It is often hard to understand Godse because the Government of India had suppressed information about him. His court statements, letters etc. were all banned from the public until recently. Judging from his writings one thing becomes very clear – He was no fanatic. His court statements are very well read out and indicate a calm and collected mental disposition. He never even once speaks ill about Gandhi as a person, but only attacks Gandhi's policies which caused ruin and untold misery to Hindus. Another interesting point to note is that Godse had been working with the Hindu refugees fleeing from Pakistan. He had seen the horrible atrocities committed on them. Many women had their hands cut off, nose cut off, even little girls had been raped mercilessly. Despite this Godse did not harm even single Muslim in India which he could easily have. So it would be a grave mistake to call him a Hindu fanatic.

Let us start by studying the motive behind Godse's act. By seeing the nature of the assassination in public space and Godse's act of turning himself over to the Police, we can see that Godse did not do this for personal reasons. He very well knew that he would be hanged and his name would be disgraced as Gandhi was considered a saint. And again Godse could have ran away and escaped punishment. But he did the reverse. He called a police officer and courted arrest. Before we proceed it would be wise to understand the backdrop of the assassination.

The central government had taken a decision — Pakistan will not be given Rs 55 crores. On January 13 Gandhi started a fast unto death that Pakistan must be given the money. On January 13, the central government changed its earlier decision and announced that Pakistan would be given the amount. On January 13, Nathuram decided to assassinate Gandhi.

Nathuram Godse was a learned man, very sharp and intelligent – editor of "Agrani" (one of the most famous newspaper of that time – with Nana Aapte). In his last editorial of "Agrani" which he changed overnight – he said "Gandhi must be stopped – at any cost" and he justified why Gandhiji's assassination was not only inevitable but also a delayed action, sth tht shud've happened LONG AGO.

In Nathuram's words - " I don't refute Gandhi's theory of non-violence. He may be a saint but he is not a politician. His theory of non-violence denies self-defence and self-interest. The non-violence that defines the fight for survival as violence is a theory not of non-violence but of self-destruction.The division of the nation was an unnecessary decision. What was the percentage of the Muslim population as compared to the population of the nation? There was no need for a separate nation. Had it been a just demand, Maulana Azad would not have stayed back in India. But because Jinnah insisted and because Gandhi took his side, India was divided, in spite of opposition from the nation, the Cabinet. An individual is never greater than a nation.

In a democracy you cannot put forward your demands at knife-point. Jinnah did it and Gandhi stabbed the nation with the same knife. He dissected the land and gave a piece to Pakistan. We did picket that time but in vain. The Father of our Nation went to perform his paternal duties for Pakistan! Gandhi blackmailed the cabinet with his fast unto death. His body, his threats to die are causing the destruction — geographical as well as economical — of the nation. Today, Muslims have taken a part of the nation, tomorrow Sikhs may ask for Punjab. The religions are again dividend into castes, they will demand sub-divisions of the divisions. What remains of the concept of one nation, national integration? Why did we fight the British in unison for independence? Why not separately? Bhagat Singh did not ask only for an independent Punjab or Subhash Chandra Bose for an independent Bengal?

I am going to assassinate him in the open, before the public, because I am going to do it as my duty. If I do it surreptitiously, it becomes a crime in my own eyes. I will not try to escape, I will surrender and naturally I will be hanged. One assassination, one hanging. I don't want two executions for one assassination and I don't want your involvement, participation or company. (This was for Nana-Apte and Veer Savarkar as they were against ghandhi's policies too, Godse wanted to assassinate gandhi all by himself and took promise from Nana Apte that he will continue helping Veer Savarkar in rebuilding India as a strong free nation.)

On January 30, I reached Birla Bhavan at 12 pm. Gandhi was sitting outside on a cot enjoying the sunshine. Vallabhbhai Patel's granddaughter was sitting at his feet. I had the revolver with me. I could have assassinated him easily then, but I was convinced that his assassination was to be a punishment and a sentence against him, and I would execute him. I wanted witnesses for the execution but there were none. I did not want to escape after the execution as there was not an iota of guilt in my mind. I wanted to surrender, but surrender to whom? There was a good crowd to collect for the evening prayers. I decided on the evening of January 30 as the date for Gandhi's execution.

Gandhi climbed the steps and came forward. He had kept his hands on the shoulders of the two girls. I wanted just three seconds more. I moved two steps forward and faced Gandhi. Now I wanted to take out the revolver and salute him for whatever sacrifice and service he had made for the nation. One of the two girls was dangerously close to Gandhi and I was afraid that she might be injured in the course of firing. As a precautionary measure I went one more step ahead, bowed before him and gently pushed the girl away from the firing line. The next moment I fired at Gandhi. Gandhi was very weak, there was a feeble sound like 'aah' (There are proof that Gandhi did NOT say "Hey Raam" at that time – it's just made up stuff ) from him and he fell down.

After the firing I raised my hand holding the revolver and shouted, 'Police, police'. For 30 seconds nobody came forward and I scanned the crowd. I saw a police officer. I signalled to him to come forward and arrest me. He came and caught my wrist, then a second man came and touched the revolver… I let it go…

Glimpse of the Rains

Standing in the window of my home..Staring towards the horizon, feeling fresh monsoon breeze caressing my face..and suddenly a cloud bursts, pouring rains..a loud shudder of thunder and quick sparkle of lightening..!! Its always a good thing to witness and experience such an atmosphere sitting at your home sipping your adrak chaai  with a plate full onion pakodas..!! Very very typical..isn't it??

I always wonder..is nature trying to convey me something..??? Try this out..close your eyes and listen to the raagas of nature..they're spell bounding..Changes in nature often lay down its imprint on your thoughts and actions..More than anything else in the world our emotions are not connected to a particular person as we all think but they are connected to different phenomenons of nature..Nature guides our emotions..I mean if there is a hurricane outside, you cannot even think of getting cosy with your loved one..!! For that you'll probably want a nice drizzling rain, a hill top or lush green meadow..walking hand in hand with your loved one..Its after all your choice..Walking hand in hand with your sweet heart in a hurricane/tsunami or a drizzle..!! Which one sounds romantic??? Make a choice..!!

Talking about rains..I remember the day when I was on a tour in Shimla. Whispering Pines..an apt name for my hotel..second day of my stay there I actually heard the pines whispering..rather rustling violently..Sitting back in my room I wondered what was all this chaos all about..I opened the curtains of my room to witness a hailstorm..another glimpse of rain..bright and blossomed red lilies that were lining outside my window had crumpled and had gone dull..that was one ferocious avatar of rains that I saw..I had to cancel my tour for the morning as the roads go slippery due to hailstones..and cars often tend to slip on the slippery road..but listening to those whispers of the pines and the thud of hailstones on concrete and tar..rooftops, gardens, roads and wind shields of cars going white was a bliss to watch..

Mumbai rains are often a headache..!! Over crowded platforms, muddy platforms, flooded rail tracks, trains running late...and hands of clock continuously running and waiting for no one..for we mumbaikars rainy season is only good when we are sheltered at our homes and not fighting with time to keep appointments..!!
In India its always a famine in towns and villages harvesting crops and flood in cities and metros..Farmers are  committing suicides due to lack of rain and in Mumbai we are witnessing 26/11 scenarios..!!
I always wonder..Why rain god, our own Indra dev so unfair with my farmer brothers..I always wonder this..better pour rains in their fields rather than our cities, at least they'll not curse the rain as we do when our 7.47am local train gets delayed..!!

 As kids we wanted to play in rains..puddles were our seas and oceans..and paper boats our unsinkable Titanics..!! We didn't feel bad when our clothes got dirty with mud or even when our own bodies soaked in rain and mud..That water soaked soil in pits and potholes in ground were our mascaras, foundations and facial creams and cosmetics..!! It was always fun to play football and cricket in pouring rains..Rains in our childhood are a blessing for kids and headache for their parents..!! I am sure everyone has got a scolding from their parents for playing in rains in their childhood..

As we grew up, puddles and mud became filthy and something that was forbidden...paper boats became a stupid child's play and we tried to run away from rain so that our mascaras, foundation and cosmetic creams remained in place..Maybe you would think its a time when parents will breathe a sigh of relief but you are wrong..!! It is the age when we enjoy walking under same umbrella with your sweet heart..Earlier it was just a head ache for parents now its a SHOCK..!!


Sir Charles Chaplin said "I love standing in rains because the world does not come to know that i am crying."
A Glimpse of rain can make you cry or make you dance...what only matters from where you are getting a glimpse...!!