A fairy tale romance and a blueprint for anyone who wants to venture into social service, this autobiography of Sadhanatai Amte – a woman who chose to marry a frenzied man and a dreamer, Baba Amte – is also a tale of her willing surrender in love without the slightest loss of her identity. It is a document of the dreams they dreamt for humankind and their struggle to put life into them. These memoirs present the portrait of a woman beside a man; a perfect consort who has the ability to tame the living storm, Baba Amte.
Written without a stance, the distinctive simplicity of this transparent narrative, as compared to other similar writings by women, it has the power to stir its readers with its salty sea-air tang, and the warmth of a fruitful mad pursuit of a goal—at once personal and impersonal.
A book like this – a saga of suffering, hopes, tensions and success, as well as the thrill of pleasure of work the two experienced while pursuing their goal – will serve as the beacon of light for posterity, and as a model in human relationships.
Shobha Pawar is a Student and Teacher of English literature, and currently a lecturer at S. P. College, Pune.
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