Kharemaster

by Vibhavari Shirurkar

An extraordinary true story of Anant Khare who appeared to be an ordinary drawing teacher living and working near Pune at the turn of the century He decided that his contribution to the nationalist movement would be to ensure that his daughters were educated to the highest level By the twenties his daughters were independent single career women at a time when their peers had been married by the age of ten His wife too was running a flourishing dairy Everyone was successful Yet Kharemaster felt inadequate against his better-educated daughters and sons all adept in a world seemingly out of his reach About The Author Vibhavari Shirurkar was the pen name of Malatibai Bedekar 1905-2000 She graduated from Karve University at the age of seventeen and went on to do her Ph D in Sanskrit She was a distinguished writer and her main focus was on womens issues and social oppression

Genres: Marathi

134 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1998

About the author

This is the pen name of the author Malati Vishram Bedekar

Reviews

[Pranav Sakulkar · Rating 5 out of 5]

मालतीबाईंनी लिहिलेलं हे आपल्या वडिलांचं चरित्र आहे. वडिलांबरोबर हे विसाव्या शतकाच्या सुरुवातीच्या मराठी समाजाचं एक चित्र उभं करतं. खरेमास्तरांनी त्यांच्या गावात शिवाशिव आणि अंधश्रद्धेविरुद्ध केलेलं काम, मुलींच्या शिक्षणासाठी घेतलेली धडपड, मुलींना नोकरीसाठी वेगळ्या शहरात स्वतंत्र राहू देणं, परदेशात पाठवणं वगैरे अनुभवांतून त्यांचं पुरोगामीत्व दिसतं. पण त्यातलीच एक मुलगी मग जातीबाहेर प्रेम करू लागली तर त्याला दर्शविलेला विरोध बघून ते देखील त्याच काळातील एक पुरुष होते हे कळून चुकतं.

आपल्याकडे साहित्यात व्यक्तींचं दैवीकरण करण्याची फार परंपरा आहे. त्यामुळे ती चित्रणं खोटी वाटतात आणि वाचायची पण इच्छा होत नाही. इथे मात्र तसं काहीच नाही. स्वभावातील गुण-दोष, त्यांच्या आशा, मुलामुलींनी लग्नाला सुद्धा न बोलावल्यामुळे पदरी पडलेली निराशा वगैरे सर्व दाखवून मालतीबाईंनी त्यांच्या वडिलांना खरा न्याय दिला आहे. त्यामुळेच हे खरेमास्तर 'खरे' वाटतात.